Now into its sixth year, the National Infocomm Award has helped organisations establish a reputation for IT innovation.

The National Infocomm Awards (NIA) 2012, co-organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), is now open for nominations.

Now into its sixth year, the biennial NIA has helped organisations and companies establish a reputation for IT innovation, as end-user organisations or as solution providers.

"In today's digital landscape where technology and trends move rapidly, innovation is a key enabler and strong competitive advantage for both public and private organisations. The National Infocomm Awards aims to recognise the spirit of innovation through the development or adoption of infocomm products, services or solutions in Singapore. Through the inspiring success stories of the winners, we hope that more organisations will continue to pursue innovative ideas in infocomm," said Mr Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer, IDA and Co-chairman of NIA 2012 Steering Committee.

One such success story was the initiative by the 2010 winners of the Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology (Public Sector) category - Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS), National University Hospital (NUH) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) – to implement a Closed Loop Medication Management System (CLMMS).

“The CLMMS employs IT to enable the provision of drug therapy to patients in a convenient and safe manner. It allows us to get the right medication to the right patient and at the same time, free up our staff to focus on patient-centric activities,” explained Mr Wu Tuck Seng, CLMMS Project Leader and Deputy Director, Pharmacy Department, NUH.

As a result, hospitals have been able to set new standards of patient safety and care, said Dr Pauline Yong, Director, Clinical Support Services, TTSH. "Administering medicine to our patients used to be a complex process involving many parties and steps. Today, with the strong partnership between our three organisations and the strategic leverage on IT, we have successfully developed a single powerful holistic system that is truly focused on delivering patient care.”

Winning the NIA not only highlighted the innovative and ground-breaking work that was being done with the CLMMS, it also helped pave the way for subsequent deployments. “Few hospitals worldwide are able to fully implement the CLMMS as it involves the challenge of changing the way healthcare staff work. Winning the NIA has helped highlight the benefits of the system to staff at other hospitals, making its subsequent implementation easier and faster,” said Mr Ho Khai Leng, Group Director (Clinical Systems), IHiS.

For Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), winner of the 2010 Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology (Private Sector) award, the NIA achievement has been a great source of motivation to do more. “The NIA recognition has motivated RWS to achieve greater heights in innovation through the deployment of IT to improve efficiency and productivity, and most importantly, strengthen the customer experience at our resort,” said Mr Yap Chee Yuen, Senior Vice President (Management Operations), RWS.

RWS has since rolled out new technology capabilities in its award-winning Customer, Membership and Services (CMS) system to stay competitive and keep pace with changing business requirements. “We hope that this award will be an inspiration to other organisations just as it has done for us,” said Mr Yap.

The NIA also recognises small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which have broken new ground in their use of technology. An example is the winner of the Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology (SMEs) award in 2010 - GTW Holdings. "Winning the NIA has lifted our social media portal - HungryGoWhere and online reservation portal - TableDB to greater heights in terms of exposure and recognition. Besides opening up many business opportunities, it has also inspired our team to constantly pursue infocomm innovation,” said Mr Dennis Goh, Managing Director, GTW Holdings.

Another category in the NIA is the Most Innovative Infocomm Product/Service award, that gives recognition to companies in Singapore which have pushed the boundaries of technology to develop innovative infocomm products and services that benefit their customers. Since 2002, the NIA recognition has helped organisations and companies establish a brand name for themselves and make successful inroads into the overseas markets.

"The NIA is a well-received award in the industry that helps to create awareness on the importance of infocomm innovation in business growth and success, said Mr Eddie Chau, Chairman, SiTF and Co-chairman of the NIA 2012 Steering Committee.

One of the 2010 winners in this category was Ephone International, whose winning product “EPI Life” combines mobile phone functionality with a health monitor and the capabilities of an electrocardiogram machine. In his speech at the recent SiTF Asia Pacific ICT Summit 2012, Transport Minister and Second Minster for Foreign Affairs Mr Lui Tuck Yew described it as a “game changer in the timely detection of heart diseases” and noted that the consumer device has since made a successful foray into overseas markets.

Mr Eric Loh, CEO of Ephone International, credits the NIA for playing a role in these market expansion efforts. “Winning the NIA not only bears testament to our unique innovation that bridges healthcare and telecommunication, but also enables us to provide our impeccable mobile health solutions to the global marketplace," he said.

The second winner in this category in 2010 was Brandtology’s Business and Brand Online Intelligence Service, which enables companies to gain insights from consumer conversations online. Like Ephone International, winning the NIA helped the company to gain recognition in the industry and opened many doors internationally.

• All organisations and companies in Singapore are invited to submit their entries for the NIA at the website www.nia.sg by 30 June 2012. Winners of NIA 2012 will be honoured at a gala dinner to be held in October 2012.