How Technology Affected the Emergence of New Categories of Industry Award Events

By: Tetiana Hanchar Tetiana Hanchar
Date: Oct 11, 2017
Comment: 0
Category: Awards Management

Technology isn’t simply a tool, but an integral part of award events in the 21st century. In fact, tech innovation has three major uses in relation to contests: technology as the tool that facilitates simplification, technology as a complementing aspect, and technology as the means of creating new awarding visions.

The good example of how the omnipotent technology changes things is the emergence of new categories of industry award events.

Industry award events: Definition

So, what is an industry award? Industry awards are events organized by professional associations, communities or businesses to add value or enhance credibility within a specific market segment. Such types of award ceremonies are great drivers of competitiveness on the market because they aim at evaluating progress and achievements, encouraging growth, and attracting talented professionals. Basically, you won’t be wrong if you claim that industry awards can be the prerequisites of economic prosperity both on local and international levels. The mission of industry awarding is to deliver just and objective judging experiences that showcase proficiency and set the mark for industry development.

New categories of industry award events

If we look at the trending event industry awards, we’ll notice a whole range of technology-inspired categories that one could hardly had thought of only 10 years ago. Here are some examples of the newly baked industry award categories:

Digital project awards. The tech-savvy industries are heavily impacted by digital tools that allow improvements in communication, simplified project realization, and immersive experiences. Accordingly, digital projects are turning into a must-be for each industry that strives to say the world: “we keep pace.”

Analytics awards. Most industries are embracing sophisticated analytics techniques to manage large projects and track progress. Accordingly, it’s not a surprise that analytics-focused event awards make a separate nomination category at the most industry award ceremonies today.
Cloud-technology awards. Cloud or not to cloud, that’s the question. Since most businesses across the globe choose cloud services to manage data and support work processes, cloud-technology awarding is (not surprisingly) the new reality of industry events.
Workplace awards. Technology changes the way people work, the places they work from, and the tools they use to achieve their goals. To encourage growth in flexible work conditions, many industries integrate workplace modification into their awarding strategies.

Sustainability awards. The great news is, people are gaining new agenda to enable sustainability in multiple industries. Eco-friendly technologies and venues, complemented by recycling techniques, promise the good future for our planet, as shown by the largest industry award experiences.

International awards. Online contests barely differ from the physical ones, in terms of organization. With the assistance of awards management software solutions, international industry awards that target entrants and judges from different countries become very popular.

Influence of technologies on new categories of industry award events

The fact that we have new terms in the sphere of industry awarding is a clear explanation. One word, ten letters: technology. The footprint of tech innovation may be tracked in the following tendencies:

#1. Globalization. According to the ability to work remotely and target different world markets from one place, the tech-savvy events industry moves global, which also promotes the development of the bigger number of international industry awards.

#2. Big Data Use. The emergence of analytics-focused industry award categories may be justified by the growing importance of Big Data, as well as the appearance of new tech services that allow processing it with top precision.

#3. Automation. Technology in the events industry helps simplify the processes like registration, networking, and crowd management. Automation and simplified experiences also help find new techniques when treating conventional problems. In the light of these transformations, the emergence of cloud-based and sustainability award categories is inevitable.

Trends in industry award events

To be the right fit for an industry award event and capitalize on your personal expertise or on the achievements of your organization, you have to follow trends in the event industry, as well as your professional sphere.

Based on the agenda from BCS Industry Awards, some conclusions about the trending patterns can be drawn:

While in the past the categories of personal, project and organizational achievement were the top priorities in industry awards, the category of technological excellence is added to the list in 2017.
Security, sustainability, and automation are the key niches in relation to awards in the event industry.
Due to extensive robotization and technology use, personal achievement awarding becomes rarer and gives way to project excellence.

What to expect in future?

The growing number of industry award categories indicates that they have a bright future. So, what should we expect from such events?

Firstly, industry awarding is going to travel a lot. Technology is disrupting geographical borders, due to which industry expertise will soon be viewed in global perspective, with no country limitations.

A year ago, the owner of Exposure Communications, Simon Burton, stated: “In 2017 event organizers will begin to fully realize the opportunities to marry their live and digital communities.” And the prediction came true in 2017: live streaming and virtual reality transformed the conventional image of award events industry. The trend is going to grow in value in 2018: digital space as the core platform for industry awarding may become the new reality in future.

Lastly, new categories of industry awards are going to appear. Due to the tech predictions, we can expect the new category patterns being related to immersive experiences (VR/AR), digitalization, Big Data, and recyclable materials.

Conclusively, the domain of industry award events is going to keep pace with technology progress on the levels of nominations, tools for event organization, and industry visions.

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