Awards Reveal Increasing Confidence in Information Technology

	For More Information: Contact: norm.kirkpatrick@C.I.P.A..com (905) 695-6590

TORONTO, Sept. 4, 2002 - Barriers to the adoption of information technology in business are dropping away as organizations become more determined to transform themselves, the Canadian Information Productivity Awards (C.I.P.A.) says.

Results of the 10th annual C.I.P.A. competition, announced today, show that businesses and governments are pushing aside old barriers, such as small size, limited resources, isolation and conservative cultures, to improve efficiency and service.

"We have not seen this level of quality of entries from small organizations before," said Paul Nelson, chair of the C.I.P.A. National Judging Committee. "This year's winning entries reveal a determination to knock down information barriers, and a confidence that you don't have to be big and rich to do it."

C.I.P.A., Canada's largest awards program in the field of information management, announced that 22 organizations will receive Awards of Excellence at the C.I.P.A. Gala Banquet in Toronto on November 27 at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel.

They include: a small Prairie city whose "virtual city hall" has reduced transaction times to seconds instead of days; a fragmented, unfocused financial institution that reinvented itself through customer relationship management; the complete transformation of a stock exchange; a provincial government's development of the most advanced system in the world to manage business with the mining industry; a small manufacturer that turned its craft-industry operation into a sleek, integrated process that produces unique products for each customer, just in time.

"The C.I.P.A. showcase of solutions reveals the true value of information technology to Canadian business," C.I.P.A. President and CEO Robert Livingstone said. "It's not about flashy Web sites - it's about doing things faster, more accurately and with greater knowledge, in ways that make our economy stronger."

C.I.P.A. has been disseminating best practices in information management since 1992, when it was created by founding managing partners Canadian Business magazine, now published by Rogers Media, and Capgemini Canada Inc.

C.I.P.A. gathers nominations for the awards through its Web site, www.C.I.P.A..com, and through three affiliated awards organizations: the Fédération de l'informatique du Québec (FIQ), which manages the OCTAS awards for Quebec-based organizations; the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, which administers the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce Technology Innovation Awards, and the Vancouver Section of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), which manages the Innovators in Technologies Awards.

Larry Simon, chair of the C.I.P.A. Board of Directors and vice-president & chief technology officer of Capgemini Canada Inc., said: “Over 10 years, C.I.P.A. has compiled an irreplaceable record of Canadian achievements in information management. We are a knowledge source for innovators in business, government and education across the country.”

Award-winning organizations, and the technologies and services they use, are described on the C.I.P.A. Web site and in the Information Strategist electronic newsletter. Winners are honoured at the multimedia Gala Banquet, attended each year by hundreds of senior executives from the private and public sectors.

In addition to Awards of Excellence, C.I.P.A. will bestow Best of Category Awards and the coveted Best of Show Solution Award at the Gala Banquet. The banquet will also feature the induction into the C.I.P.A. Hall of Fame of an outstanding pioneer of Canada’s Information Age.

Award winners are selected by an 11-member National Judging Committee of information technology management experts from across Canada. Technology consultants from Capgemini Canada Inc. conduct independent on-site reviews of all winning solutions to verify the entries.

The 22 C.I.P.A. Awards of Excellence winners for 2002 are:

Category	Organization	Location
Customer Care	DUC Consortium (Bell Canada, Hydro Québec, Télébec)	Montréal, PQ
	Foresters	Toronto, ON
	Telus Mobility	Toronto, ON
E-Commerce	AGF Management Limited	Toronto, ON;
	Canadian Tire Corporation	Toronto, ON
	Ceridian Canada Limited	Winnipeg, MB
Government	City of Airdrie	Airdrie, AB
	Cities of Calgary and Edmonton	Calgary & Edmonton, AB
	New Brunswick Dept of Public Safety	NB
	Québec Ministry of Natural Resources (Ministère des Ressources naturelles)	PQ
Institutions	Sydenham High School	Sydenham, ON
	Toronto Medical Laboratories	Toronto, ON
Large Enterprises	Altamira Investment Services	Toronto, ON
	BMO Financial Group	Toronto, ON
	TRIDEL Corp.	Toronto, ON
Next Generation/Technology Innovation Solutions	Transplantation Research Group, McGill University Health Centre	Montreal, QC
Organizational Transformation	Gienow Building Products Ltd.	Calgary, AB
	Montréal Exchange	Montréal, PQ
	Ontario Power Generation	Toronto, ON
Small Business	Handsmiths Inc.	Lawrencetown, NS
	PG Systèmes d'Information inc.	Rimouski, PQ
	Pinnacle Physiotherapy Group Inc	Langley, BC