Waikato software specialist Company-X has won award after award in the last decade. Co-founders and directors David Hallett and Jeremy Hughes share what it takes to build an award-winning company.
Company-X has won nine awards since it was founded in 2012.
The Waikato software specialist’s winning streak began in 2017 with a trio of awards.
Company-X received its first award in March 2017 when it won a Roading Asset Management Innovation Award for what became Transport Insights, the world’s first national transport quality assurance tool. Company-X won the Services Exporter of the Year category at the Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Awards in June 2017. In October 2017 Company-X received the Homegrown Innovators Independent Software Vendors Award at the Reseller News ICT Industry Awards.
Its latest award was presented last year by ExportNZ as it acknowledged Company-X as one of the Top Tech Companies of 2022.
So, what does it take to build a company that consistently wins export, innovation, and service excellence awards?
“We have great outcomes for relevant and interesting projects,” said Company-X co-founder and director David Hallett.
“A significant part of Company-X’s revenue is earned through exporting expertise to clients overseas, building genuinely innovative solutions, and thrilling clients in the process.”
Company-X has solved problems with innovative solutions for multinationals such as Cisco Systems Inc, in San Jose, California, and Delaval, in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as the New Zealand transport sector.
“We do cool things that make a real difference,” Hallett said.
For example, Company-X created Voxcoda, a software-as-a-service (Saas) product, to enable users to create artificial intelligence generated voices for training video voiceovers. Voices sound as human as possible with intricate control over emphasis, pitch, speed, and tone.
“Voxcoda is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“Company-X has won lots of awards because when David and I came together to form the company we pulled together a team of the best people we had come across,” Company-X co-founder and director Hughes said.
“We brainstormed who we wanted and built an amazing team. We were particularly focused on finding people who were focused on delivering an outcome and being able to do that well. Our first customers were delighted that a tech company was able to do that, and the judges could see that.”
Awards Company-X has won by Year
2017
The Roading Asset Management Innovation Award at the Road Infrastructure Management Forum for the One Network Road Classification Performance Measures Reporting Tool, now called Transport Insights, built for the New Zealand transport sector.
The Services Exporter of the Year category at the Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Awards.
The Homegrown Innovators Independent Software Vendors Award at the Reseller News ICT Industry Awards.
2018
The Service Excellence and Global Operator awards at the Westpac Waikato Business Awards.
2019
The Independent Software Vendor Award at the Reseller News Innovation Awards for a hands-free auditing application developed for AsureQuality.
2020
The Independent Software Vendor Award at the Reseller News Innovation Awards for Voxcoda, state-of-the-art software that turns text into human-like audio files at a fraction of the cost of booking a voice artist, recording studio and sound engineer.
2021
Best Professional Service Innovation Award in the Hamilton Central Business Association Central Business District Awards 2021.
Company-X software quality assurance tester Jes Elliott won the Reseller News Women in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) 2021 Rising Star Award.
2022
ExportNZ Top Tech Companies of 2022 award.