eNewsWire

The Sage Awards 2009, held in Newcastle on 25th November, proved to be a massive success for DMC Software Solutions. DMC were awarded SalesLogix CRM Business Partner of the year and gained entry in to the Sage Circle of Excellence for extraordinary customer experience. On top of this, DMC Software has been crowned Overall Sage Circle of Excellence Winners, out of 1250 Sage Business Partners across the UK, the highest accolade awarded by Sage (UK).

Mike Ramsay managing director of DMC Software Solutions, still reeling in the success of last week’s awards said, “I am enthralled by DMC’s success at this year’s Sage Awards, this year has been an incredibly tough year for everyone, including us! However, through delivering outstanding customer service and investing in sales and marketing, we have come through it and triumphed. In fact we are 15% up on last year which in this climate is remarkable in its self. Read more…

A London Metropolitan University student has scooped first prize in the British Glove Association’s Glove Design Competition. Eva Pospisilova is studying the accredited Foundation Degree in Fashion and Textiles at City and Islington College.

The London Met student won her prize in the ‘Design a glove for a pop star, past or present’ competition. Eva designed her glove for Madonna and incorporated a diamond motif on a printed fabric sleeve. Her prize will be GBP 300, three days’ work experience at the Textile Conservation Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and an invitation to an awards ceremony at The Drapers Hall. Read more…

HSBC is providing £120,000 in university bursaries to help four promising students realise their potential and make the most of their time at university.

The bursaries will be awarded to the four students in November 2009, with £10,000 made available every year for three years. To enter, students1 need to complete a short online application2 explaining why they chose their degree and how they plan to use the funding. Read more…

At the annual SMaRT Awards last week in Birmingham, UK, Actavis were triumphant, winning Best POM to P Switch of the Year Award for Clamelle. The Clamelle training materials were also awarded Highly Commended in the Best Educational Initiative for Pharmacists category.

The SmaRT (Sales, Marketing and Retail Training) Awards, sponsored by Numark, exist to acknowledge the excellence of training initiatives and sales and marketing support programmes provided by drug manufacturers to pharmacists and their staff.

Best switch

Clamelle was awarded the title of Best POM to P switch in the pharmaceutical industry in 2008. Following the reclassification of azithromycin 500mg from prescription-only (POM) to pharmacy (P, OTC) medicine status, the Clamelle Chlamydia Test Kit and Clamelle Azithromycin 500mg tablets were launched in November 2008, under the banner of the Clamelle Chlamydia Service.

Competition in this category was fierce with Feminax Ultra (naproxen), Bayer and Voltarol (diclofenac), Novartis Consumer Health.

Excellent Educational Initiative

The Clamelle training materials which were prepared to support the launch of Clamelle were highly commended in this category. All UK pharmacists and pharmacy assistants received the training materials which were accredited by both NPA and CPP.

DMC Software Solutions, the dynamic Sage, Dell and Microsoft Gold Certified Business come a close second in the CRM Reseller of the Year category at the Software Satisfaction Awards 2008

The closely contested CRM Reseller of the Year category at the Software Satisfaction Awards 2008 led to DMC Software coming a very close second, missing out on 1st place by only 0.08%

The hotly contested title of CRM Reseller of the Year is awarded to software companies in recognition of their outstanding service within the software industry. The Software Satisfaction Awards are based entirely on the views of buyers and end users of business software, not a traditional judging panel, and this is why DMC Software are so delighted with the results.

Mike Ramsay, Managing Director of DMC Software Solutions comments, “Although we did not win the CRM Reseller of the Year award we are absolutely delighted with the level of great feedback we have had and the positive attitudes of our customers. Customer service is our paramount concern and we constantly strive to provide the very best ensuring our clients receive the best service possible.” Mike continues, “We would like to thank all those that took the time to complete the survey and look forward to striving towards even better results next year.” Read more…

An innovative company, based in Worcestershire and known for their jute bags has been selected as one of the Top 12 green business leaders in the 2008 Barclays Commercial Bank Green Leaders in Business Awards.

The Awards recognise those companies who are using pioneering processes or new sustainable technology, products or services to help beat climate change and, crucially, boost their own profits.

Green Leaders in Business was open to all UK and Irish companies, and has three separate categories – companies with a turnover below £1m; between £1m and £20m; and above £20m.

Jutexpo, competing in the medium business category, is now one of 4 companies in this group hoping to be selected as a Winner in the Green Leaders in Business Awards.

One of the companies leading us away from our dependency on plastic is Jutexpo, who manufacturer, market, sell and distribute jute bags.

Although similar products are available elsewhere, Jutexpo have been able to produce their bags in large quantities at low prices, taking a traditional raw material and turning it into an accessible must-have item.

In practical terms, the 12 million jute bags sold so far equate to some 1200 million plastic bags saved from landfill. On a broader scale, Jutexpo believe their real contribution is in helping educate consumers about the environmental impact of non-recyclable waste.

Read more…

Generic drug company Actavis in Serbia has received ISO and OHSAS certificates for product quality, the environment and occupational health and safety.

Actavis in Serbia (Zdravlje Actavis) has been formally presented with certificates for the international standards ISO 9001:2000 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment), as well as OHSAS 18001 (occupational health and safety).

The generic drug manufacturer received the awards at a recent ceremony in Belgrade. The certificates were issued by the authorised certification house SGS, an international inspection an d testing company.

“Great teamwork and the efforts of all our employees have brought our company to the highest European quality, environmental and health and safety standards,” said Goran Stojilkovic, Managing Director of Zdravlje Actavis. “We are proud of our company’s commitment to developing environmental awareness in the local community.”

Other Actavis manufacturing sites holding an ISO 14001 certificate include Hafnarfjordur, Iceland; Dupnitza, Bulgaria; Barnstaple, UK and Norgesplaster, Norway, while Actavis’ Russian manufacturing site Zio Zdorovje also holds an ISO 9001 certificate.

Actavis is a leading generic drug manufacturer which specialises in the development, production and sale of generic pharmaceuticals. Based in Iceland, the company has operations in 40 countries and 11,000 employees.

Visit the Actavis website for more information on generic drugs.

Icelandic band Soundspell have won First Place in the Teen category (for songwriters 18 years old and younger) of the prestigious International Songwriting Competition. The songwriters of the winning song, entitled “Pound,” include Alexander Briem, Askell Hardarson, Bernhard Thorsson, Jon Gunnar Olafsson and Sigurdur Asgeir Arnason from the band Soundspell.

While they range from only 17 to 18 years old, Soundspell’s music defies their young age. Their fully matured sound blends the pop sensibilities of bands like Coldplay and Muse run through the blender of more adventurous bands like Radiohead and Sigur Rós.

In less than a year together Soundspell have developed a strong catalogue of songs, performed on national television and radio, signed their first record deal and have begun to create a small underground buzz internationally.

They attracted the attention of Los Angeles based producer Ronan Chris Murphy (King Crimson, Ulver, Terry Bozzio, Steve Morse…) who traveled to Reykjavik in the summer of 2007 and teamed up with Icelandic producer Albert Asvaldsson to record their first album, An Ode to the Umbrella, which was released on Tuddi Records in Iceland and is currently being shopped to larger labels in the United States and Europe.

“Pound” is the band’s first single and is already receiving significant airplay in Iceland. In addition to the regular prizes offered to all First Place winners, Soundspell win a full scholarship (tuition and room and board) to the prestigious Berklee College of Music’s five week Summer Performance Program in Boston, MA, USA.

Visit Soundspell’s MySpace and have a listen to their winning tune.

Pic by Leó Stefánsson