Leaders in digital transformation solutions sponsor Control Room Awards

Sopra Steria, a European leader in delivering successful transformation programmes to top private and public sector organisations, is backing the awards as Bronze Sponsor in addition to sponsoring the Call Taker of the Year category.

Seed Software, a company providing frontline software solutions for fire and rescue services in the UK, is also a Bronze Sponsor and backing the Young Achiever of the Year category.

Both organisations have long-standing relationships within emergency and critical control rooms.

The awards, launched by APD communications, a company specialising in mission critical solutions for the emergency services, are the first to recognise and reward the unsung heroes within critical control rooms across the UK.

The APD Control Room Awards will honour the life-changing work of control room personnel across the emergency services and within a variety of public and private sector organisations.

Andrew Fuller, Sopra Steria’s Head of Command and Control Solutions, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the APD Control Room Awards and in particular the Control Room Call Taker of the Year Award.

“Sopra Steria has a long heritage of delivering control room solutions to the emergency services. Working so closely in this environment, we see many inspirational people, working in challenging circumstances.

“It’s great to be able to honour those who make such an incredible contribution and help improve the lives of others. We look forward to hearing their amazing stories and wish good luck to all the entrants.”

With 40,000 employees in more than 20 countries, Sopra Steria provides specialist information and communications technology solutions to 60% of police forces and also fire and rescue services across the UK.

Sopra Steria has a partnership with APD Communications to deliver emergency services contact management technology through SmartContact®. SmartContact® combines the proven capabilities of Sopra Steria in Contact Management with the STORM command and control solution, and APD for Incident Management with Aspire and Communications Management with Cortex.

Part of the University of Hull, Seed Software was founded to give students industrial software development experience and provide internship opportunities. Now, Seed is a leading player in the development of software for the UK’s fire and rescue services across the UK.

Alan Dalgairns, Manager at Seed Software, said: “We felt it was a natural choice for us to support the Control Room Awards and sponsor the Young Achiever of the Year category.

“We’re very familiar with control rooms and we spend a lot of time at fire service organisations discussing and enhancing control room software to better serve their needs.

“We work with many fire and rescue services around the UK, so have first-hand experience of the amazing work done by control room personnel on a daily basis. These operators are one of the first to take the call from distressed individuals and deal with very difficult situations in a timely fashion.

“When you step into a control room the standard of professionalism is evident, and the shift of adrenaline in the room when a call comes through is palpable.
“These awards recognise the humbling and dedicated achievements of all the unsung heroes in emergency and critical control rooms across the UK.”

Using the latest cutting-edge development techniques, Seed Software provides dependable frontline, mission-critical software solutions to the public and private sectors, with a strong focus on research and development.

Mike Isherwood, APD Managing Director, said: “We’re delighted to announce Sopra Steria and Seed Software as key sponsors of our Control Room Awards.
“Momentum is really gathering pace for the Control Room Awards and we’re pleased to see so many high-quality nominations coming through. These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the hard-working, dedicated and highly-skilled people who work in critical control rooms around the UK.”

Sopra Steria and Seed Software will join heavyweight tech company telent Technology Services, which is the Platinum Sponsor of the Control Room Awards, and the British Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (British APCO) which is backing the awards as Media Partner.

Representatives from each organisation will present awards to the respective winners at the awards ceremony in March.

Nominations for the Control Room Awards are open until January 18, 2018, with the awards shortlists scheduled to be revealed on February 1, 2018.