“Kinetics is proud and excited to be recognised as a finalist in a global awards programme. We strive to be the very best we can, and we’re delighted to achieve international recognition,” said Andrew Hunt, Kinetics Group CEO.

“The great majority of New Zealand businesses are small, so in a way it’s an award for New Zealand small business as well. Without a doubt working with Microsoft New Zealand and being part of the Microsoft Partner Programme has helped us to deliver a better solution to our clients.

“And although we didn’t win, it’s quite something to be one of only three companies worldwide to be recognised as leaders in this specialist market.”

Awards will be presented in a number of categories, with winners chosen from a pool of more than 2,000 entrants worldwide. The Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year award honours those partners who are using Microsoft technology to deploy innovative small business solutions. The winning partner will have demonstrated innovation in deploying a Microsoft-based small business solution (fewer than 50 employees or fewer than 25 PCs). The winning solution will have utilised key Microsoft products in the small business solutions stake including Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2, Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft Office Accounting 2007, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Microsoft Small Business Financials. The partner recognised by this award will have demonstrated how they helped small business to better connect with customers, partners, and employees, to manage business processes productively and to reply on dependable, flexible, and secure software.

Nick Fletcher, Partner Group Manager, Microsoft New Zealand, said Kinetics’ selection confirmed the world-class qualities of New Zealand small business technology partners.

“Kinetics is the only New Zealand organisation to have ever been selected as a finalist in these Awards. The nomination is testament to the quality of Kinetics’ delivery and passion for their customers and that a small New Zealand business such as Kinetics can compete against the best in the world.”

“Partners are critical to delivering rich business solutions and innovative excellence to customers,” said Allison Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft. “Congratulations to the 2008 Partner Award winners who have each demonstrated innovation beyond measure and an unswerving commitment to delivering the highest levels of customer satisfaction. We look forward to these partners continuing to raise the bar in the design and deployment of customer solutions built on Microsoft technologies.”

The Microsoft Partner Program Awards recognise Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions over the past year and continue Kinetics winning streak which included the 2007 New Zealand Microsoft Partner Award for Infrastructure Solution of the Year – Small Business.