The Technology Leadership Awards and the ceremony at which they are presented have become an industry tradition. This year's award recipients will receive their awards during the Technology Leadership Awards Ceremony at the 2014 Ventana Research Summit on Oct. 22, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, California.

"The Technology Leadership Awards are the most prestigious annual industry awards provided today that acknowledge and honor individuals and organizations for their accomplishments using technology to deliver the best value in achieving specific goals and objectives," said Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer of Ventana Research. "Congratulations to all the Technology Leadership Award winners - individuals and companies that have gone the extra mile to advance the use of technology through best practices and leadership. We look forward to seeing you and those interested in learning more about your leadership and best practices at the 2014 Ventana Research Summit."

The Technology Leadership Awards, the largest business and technology leadership awards program in the industry, cover 27 categories spanning from big data to mobile technology to CIO and CFO awards. (Categories are listed below.) Submissions were evaluated by Ventana Research based on an established set of awards program criteria; these can be seen at www.ventanaresearch.com/awards. Those interested in hearing in detail how the best practices in technology across business and IT are changing the industry can attend the Ventana Research Summit by registering at www.ventanaresearch-summit2014.com to get a first-hand view of the award winners and insights into these award-winning individuals and organizations along with the technology vendors they depended on to help their success.

The categories and winners for the Ventana Research 2014 Innovation Awards are:

Overall Business Technology Innovation Award- Matthew James at Purity Life Health Products for using Qlik

Business Technology Innovation Awards- Big Data: Robert Fuller and Harte Hanks using Splice Machine and Cloudera- Business Analytics: Kevin King and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. using Tableau Software- Business and Social Collaboration: Abdul Qadir and Aon Hewitt using 8x8, Inc.- Cloud Computing: David James and Cbeyond using Xactly Corporation- Mobile Technology: Linda Oba-Sayre and Cisco using Saba Software, Inc.- Social Media: Pradeep Kumar Jha and PT. XL Axiata Tbk using SAP

Business Innovation Awards- Chief Financial Officer: Maxwell S. Rule CPA and Hames Corporation using Centage Corporation- Office of Finance: Pat Withrow and The Dow Chemical Company using BlackLine Systems, Inc. - Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC): Carmen Namenek, Kathy Kolodge and Angie Chang at Children's Hospital of Orange County- Human Capital Management: Leslie Daley and The Rush Fitness Complex using Ceridian- Sustainability: N. Uday Bhaskar Sarma and Prathista Industries

Operational Innovation Awards- Chief Operational Officer: Mary Bret Lineberry and GE using Synygy- Contact Center and Call Center: Angela Beitelman and Health Alliance Medical Plans using Panviva and Salesforce - Customer Excellence: Casey Kostecka and Convergent Outsourcing using TouchPoint One - Marketing Excellence: Cynthia Rodgers Maignan and Office Depot using Agility Multichannel- Sales Excellence: Computer Associates using Qvidian- Supply Chain/Service Chain Excellence: Snehashish Sarkar and Varian Medical Systems using SAP

CIO/IT Innovation Award- Chief Information Officer: Scott Skellenger and RainTree Oncology Services using Information Builders

Information Technology Innovation Awards- Overall Information Technology: Dale Denham and Geiger using Informatica- Business Intelligence: Scott Daron and Daimler Trucks using SAP- Information Optimization: Bentley Curran and Brady Corp. using Stibo Systems- Information Management: Israel Abraham and Liberty Mutual using Informatica, Teradata and MicroStrategy- IT Analytics: Pedro M. Vascones and Intel using Datawatch- Location Intelligence: Steve Carter and Phototype using Actuate- Operational Intelligence: Aparajita Gupta and Firstsource Solutions Limited using Verint- Predictive Analytics: Timothy Llewellynn and nViso using IBM

Ventana Research annually invites all vendors to nominate customers using their technology products to be considered for the awards; organization executives are invited to submit nominations as well. Award recipients are selected based upon organizations' or individuals' leadership accomplishments in innovating or enhancing the productivity and outcomes of business or IT processes. Ventana Research highlights and acknowledges the importance of these accomplishments through the Technology Leadership Awards. To learn more about the Ventana Research's awards programs and to see what previous award recipients have said about them please visit: www.ventanaresearch.com/awards.

About Ventana ResearchVentana Research is the most authoritative and respected benchmark business technology research and advisory services firm. We provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies through a unique set of research-based offerings including benchmark research and technology evaluation assessments, education workshops and our research and advisory services, Ventana On-Demand. Our unparalleled understanding of the role of technology in optimizing business processes and performance and our best practices guidance are rooted in our rigorous research-based benchmarking of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions in every industry. This benchmark research plus our market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver education and expertise to our clients to increase the value they derive from technology investments while reducing time, cost and risk.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; business and IT professionals worldwide are members of our community and benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. To learn how Ventana Research advances the maturity of organizations' use of information and technology through benchmark research, education and advisory services, visit www.ventanaresearch.com.

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