Dell Europe, with sales of more than $5m a week from its web site, and BBC News Online, the corporation's one year old 'third broadcast medium' are among the winners of this year's Business Web Site Awards, sponsored by UUNET, an MCI WorldCom company, in association with the Financial Times.
Dell whose site enables customers to review, configure and price systems within the company's entire product line won the award for large corporates, with the BBC winning the public sector award.
Other winners were GNI and the Co-operative Bank, joint winners in the finance sector, Photodisc Europe, winner among small to medium-sized enterprises and the Nature Conservancy, which was judged the best not for profit site.
The judges chose the winning companies whose use of the Internet and the Worldwide Web had led to real enhancements in business processes, demonstrated innovation in use of the latest technology, and produced financial or other quantifiable benefits. They were selected out of a strong list of 27 finalists representing the best use of web sites in large organisations, finance, small-to-medium sized enterprises, the public sector and not-for-profit organisations.
In addition to the winners, the judges from UUNET and the Financial Times also made a series of highly commended awards to Cellnet, Eastman Kodak, RS Components, ICICI Bank, Ministry of Sound, Sea Net Ltd, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Army Recruiting Group. There are two sites in the small-to-medium sized category that the judges have spotlighted as worth watching: Road Tech Computer Systems Ltd and TIMBER Web.
Richard Heyes, UK managing director, UUNET, said: "These sites set the standard for best practice in using the Internet to transform your business and show real results on the bottom line in terms of improved customer relations, greater efficiency or new revenues. Although only in its second year, these awards have revealed significant change and development in how many more organisations worldwide are making the Internet critical to business success today".
Rhys David, surveys editor of the FT, said: "The FT itself operates one of top ten most visited finance and news sites in the world, delivering 2m page views a week, with share prices and our same-day news summaries the most popular pages. Internet developments are also an important part of the coverage we give to information technology in our regular FT-IT survey each month and in the main paper. We are therefore delighted to recognise the achievements of other companies in helping to make the web such an exciting and fast-growing method of doing business."
The awards were presented at a special ceremony in the Café Royal on 30th November. Entry details for next year's awards will be available shortly. You can visit the FT Business Website of the Year web Site at: http://www.uk.uu.net/events/ft1998/.
The 1998 Business Website of the Year Winners are:
Large Organisation
Dell Europe - http://www.dell.co.uk
Note: Online facility for customers to review, configure, price, order and track delivery of PCs
Finance
GNI Ltd - http://www.gni.co.uk
Note: Online provision of data on GNI's broking services and research in the global derivative markets
The Co-operative Bank - http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk
Note: UK online banking service launched in March 1998
Small to Medium Organisations
PhotoDisc Europe Ltd - http://www.photodisc.com
Note: Customers can search, order and download images from a library of over 60,000 digital pictures
Public Sector
BBC News Online - http://www.news.bbc.co.uk
Note: The largest and most wide-ranging news site on the web with over 400 live stories at any one time
Not For Profit
The Nature Conservancy - http://www.tnc.org
Note: A site designed to communicate to a membership of 900,000 and aid in fundraising
Highly Commended Sites are:
Cellnet - http://www.genie.co.uk
Note: Online delivery of tailored news and information for Cellnet customers
Eastman Kodak Company - http://www.kodak.com
Note: Online and hands-on customer information on new imaging technology
RS Components - http://www.rswww.com
Note: Online ordering of 100,000 industrial products
ICICI Bank - http://www.icicibank.com
Note: Indian Internet banking service
Foreign & Commonwealth Office - http://www.fco.gov.uk/
Note: Site with information for travellers, plus latest news on foreign policy
The Army Recruiting Group - http://www.army.mod.uk/army/recruit
Note: Provides accurate and reliable information to educate potential recruits about a military career
Sea Net Ltd - http://www.seanet.co.uk
Note: Online service for international shipping community
Ministry of Sound - http://ministryofsound.co.uk
Note: Internet shopping off the world's "best" club web-site
This year's Worth Watching Sites are:
Road Tech Computer Systems Ltd - http://www.roadrunner.uk.com
Note: Provides transport companies with a service to place and search for backloads anywhere in the UK and the rest of Europe
TIMBER Web - http://www.timberweb.co.uk
Note: A web site that brings together timber and forest product companies and buyers
