For the past six years, the UK Cloud Awards has been celebrating the best and brightest of the cloud industry's talent, looking at the projects, products and people that keep this fast-moving sector progressing at pace.

In that time, the event has seen impressive entries from leading cloud vendors and startups alike, including the likes of Red Hat, Oracle NetSuite, Dropbox and more, with an even more expansive list of entrants expected for this year's ceremony. The man with the unenviable task of overseeing the selection process to determine a shortlist from all these nominations is Jez Back, who returns as head judge for the second year in a row.

We sat down with Back to get the low-down on everything you need to know about the UK Cloud Awards, as well as his thoughts on the broader cloud industry.

Please could you tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do?

I like to describe my situation as having three jobs. I am the Managing Director of Erebus Digital; we're a small, boutique consultancy that focuses on client business outcomes using technology. Erebus Digital offers 3 main strands in its portfolio; Digital Transformation, Technology Cost Optimisation and Digital Design Services.

My second job is as a board director for a Rugby Club where I lead the strategy, marketing and communications teams. Finally, I am the head judge for the UK Cloud Awards! I often remind myself that I have a family as well.

How would you describe the UK Cloud Awards in three words?

Credibility with Integrity.

This is now your second year as head judge - congratulations and welcome back! What made you want to do it all over again?

Getting to see what people are doing in the market, hearing their stories and seeing how positive outcomes occur is something I really enjoy, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to come back.

I also get to work with some of the brightest and best our industry has to offer as my colleagues on the judging panel. I come away knowing a little more every time I have a conversation with any of them - that's another great reason.

Finally, to work with my colleagues in the Cloud Industry Forum & Dennis Publishing to promote what our country has to offer in the cloud market is a great privilege and one I take really seriously.

You bring a great breadth and depth of experience to the judging panel in your role, what are you most looking forward to about this year's awards?

The stories that people have to share. I love to see a great story on how positive outcomes for clients are achieved when I read the entries. I love to see old friends in the industry and make new ones at the awards night as I discover what they have been doing, too. Essentially, it's the people!

This year's awards have had a bit of a makeover, with new categories and some other tweaks. Can you share details of the key changes and why they've been made?

Obviously, there has been a bit of a shift and I think it very much reflects an outlook that I discussed earlier. It is much more about outcomes and less about the products themselves. That's why we have reduced the number of product categories and have increased the number of project ones, whilst also adding new people awards.

Given those tweaks, what advice would you give to a) those entering for the first time and b) those returning for another year either to maintain their crown or win one of the accolades for the first time?

I would give three main pieces of advice. Firstly, read the entry criteria carefully. Judges want to give the points but often entrants lose them but simply not answering all of the criteria in the entry. Secondly, provide evidence in everything you say for the entry, backed up with client testimonial. That gives your entry more credibility. Finally, don't sell the product or service to us by adding marketing brochures - sell the product and service through the stories and outcomes in the entry!

When you're reading through an entry, what are looking for and is there anything that will really pique your interest?

It is always about the tangible outcomes; that's what I enjoy the most. The stories of positivity that are backed up with testimonials or delighted customers.

What would you say to those thinking about entering but haven't fully decided to do so as yet?

Do it - celebrate the achievements of you and your teams, and tell the world about the difference you make.

Do you have a category that is particularly close to your heart?

It has to be the People category, seeing what achievements they've made and celebrating them is a major reason why I love being Head Judge.

We're now in 2020 - how do you think the cloud landscape has changed since the beginning of the decade? What are the key trends and challenges that remain front of mind for you?

Wow, this is a big question and one I could talk for hours on. For me, I would summarise the change in two main areas. Firstly, the evolution and maturation of many of the major providers in the cloud market - look at Microsoft's transformation as a really obvious example. Second, the acceleration of business value that has come from cloud to businesses both big and small.

That means that the key trends and challenges that lie ahead for the industry will be to tackle the question of cloud security once and for all; it truly bothers me that those perceptions still exist. I also see the major providers doing a lot more co-operation and alliances as the service offerings seek to become more powerful. I'm seeing an increased demand for Cost Management and Optimisation for spend in cloud, especially in manging compliance spend in software licencing in Hybrid and Multi-Cloud. There are more, but these are the ones that are forefront in my mind.

Do you have a standout cloud moment from 2019?

Clearly, it has to be being the head judge for last year's UK Cloud Awards!

What are your top 3 cloud predictions for 2020?

Cost optimisation will become more important, the major providers will do more alliances and partnerships and finally, Service Meshes will become the next battleground.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

If you've got a cloud achievement that you want to celebrate, submit your entry today!

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) and Cloud Pro are excited to announce that the seventh annual UK Cloud Awards is open for business - with a revamped list of categories and a new location.

Aiming to celebrate the very best successes in digital transformation, diversity, innovation and customer experience, the 2020 UK Cloud Awards is seeking entries for its 20 new-look categories.

Organisations have between now and 20 March to submit an entry to the 2020 UK Cloud Awards through its website, with the shortlist announced on 28 April. The final awards ceremony will then be hosted on 4 June at the Brewery, in London.

"Back for a seventh year, the UK Cloud Awards continue to evolve," said CEO of CIF, Alex Hilton. "We have completely reshaped them, with a fantastic new location and twenty transformational awards that reflect the pace of change and innovation in the UK industry.

"Our emphasis for 2020 is recognising people, projects and innovative companies that are making an impact with their customers. We are thrilled to continue to be involved with shaping the cloud industry."

The awards are no longer broken down based on category and subcategory and have been expanded from the 17 categories organisations could enter last year.

This beefed-up list in 2020 includes project-based awards for excellence in particular areas, such as FinTech Project of the Year, Big Data/Analytics Project of the Year, and DevOps Project of the Year.

There will also be awards recognising cloud innovation, including Cloud Product Innovation of the Year and Cloud security Innovation of the Year.

All entries will be assessed and scrutinised by a panel of expert judges, spearheaded up returning head judge Jez Back, managing director of Erebus Technology Consulting.

Joining him are a string of recognised experts including chief technology advocate with Splunk, Andi Mann and industry analyst Jon Collins, among other widely-recognised industry figures.

"I am delighted to be back once again as Chair of Judges, for what really has become one of the most credible, stand-out events in the UK's thriving cloud industry," Back said. "This year the awards are bigger than ever, with a new list of twenty categories available to enter, covering AI, DevOps, partnerships, cloud project implementation and more.

"We aim to celebrate diversity and talent, and through the UK Cloud Awards recognise the leading figures at the forefront of this innovation."

The full list of award categories are as follows:

• Cloud Product Innovation of the Year
• Cloud Security Innovation of the Year
• Cloud Collaboration Platform of the Year
• SaaS Implementation Project of the Year
• Internet of Things Project of the Year
• FinTech Project of the Year
• Big Data/Analytics Project of the Year
• Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence Project of the Year
• DevOps Project of the Year
• Public Sector Project of the Year
• Enterprise Project of the Year
• SMB Project of the Year
• Digital Transformation Project of the Year
• Cloud Start Up Company of the Year
• Cloud Growth Business of the Year
• Cloud Technology Positive Action Award of the Year
• Cloud Team of the Year
• Cloud Channel Partner of the Year
• Cloud Leader of the Year
• Newcomer of the Year

"The UK Cloud Awards have gone from strength to strength since their creation," said Dennis group editor and editorial director of B2B, Maggie Holland.

I remain as excited about the event and everything it stands for now as I was from day one. As a journalist writing about cloud computing, I get to see first-hand just how much talent and innovation this industry has to offer.

"Yet, as a judge, I am always still surprised and delighted by how the bar keeps on being raised.

"I can't wait to see the entries for this year's awards and to be able to help those shortlisted and the winners, as well as the great and good of the cloud industry, celebrate that success at the awards event night itself."

County Hall in London last night played host to the sixth annual UK Cloud Awards, where accolades were awarded in a number of categories to showcase and reward the innovation and success of this country's cloud industry.

The awards, which are put on by the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) and Cloud Pro, were supported by Platinum sponsors ScienceLogic and CDW, acknowledged and rewarded the best cloud providers, products and projects from the past year.

"From the standard and sheer number of entries we received for the awards it's clear that it's an incredibly exciting time to be in the cloud industry," said Alex Hilton, CIF's CEO.

"Having served as a judge every year since we founded the awards, I can say that deciding the winners this year was the toughest one yet, and that making the shortlist is an achievement in itself. However, there can of course only be one winner in each category and a big congratulations is deserved for everyone that took home prizes on the night."

The expert panel of independent judges was led by head judge Jez Back and despite the overwhelming number of submissions, just 17 were lucky enough to take awards home on the night.

"The UK Cloud Awards received yet another record number of entries this year, with a depth and quality which proves the health and strength of the UK cloud industry," Back said.

"The judges and I were looking for examples of unrelenting focus on helping to transform the way organisations operate and delivering meaningful outcomes for their clients. I'm pleased to say that our winners delivered on both counts and I'd like to congratulate the finalists and ultimate winners on their achievements and successes."

The winners are as follows:

Best in Class

Most Innovative Enterprise Product

Cloe from Densify

Most Innovative SMB Product

GoSimple Tax

Best Cloud Platform Solution

SuiteCloud from Oracle NetSuite

Best Cyber Security Product or Service

OnDMARC from Red Sift

Best Fintech Product or Service

Float

Best AI / ML Enabled Product or Service

Data Science from SnapLogic

Best Data Management Product or Service

Cloud Data Services from Pure Storage

Best Cloud Enabled End User Experience

Dropbox Business from Dropbox

Best Digital Transformation Projects

Public Sector / Third Sector Project

Financial Conduct Authority in partnership with Sopra Steria

Private Sector Enterprise Project

Manchester United in partnership with HCL

Private Sector SMB Project

Media Matters in partnership with Chalkline

DevOps and Functions as a Service Implementation

HeleCloud

Best in Class, Service Providers

Best Cloud Service Provider (CSP)

Workiva

Best Managed Service Provider (MSP)

Unify Communications Ltd

Cloud Migration Partner / Technical Collaboration Project

Ensono at Guinness World Records

Personal Achievement Awards

Cloud Newcomer of the Year

Myles Clarke, Product Manager at Cloud Gateway

Cloud Visionary of the Year

Chris Dunning at TechQuarters

A raffle was held on the night for the UK Cloud Awards' official charity partner, The Sick Children's Trust, with prizes donated by Sennheiser and Corona/3 Monkeys Zeno and Dennis Publishing.

Attendees dug deep in their pockets to raise money to support the charity's efforts in keeping sick children and their families together.

Paul Franklin, group publisher of Channel Pro, Cloud Pro and IT Pro, added: "This year's UK Cloud Awards was our biggest and best event yet so a huge thanks is owed to our Platinum sponsors CDW and ScienceLogic, and our Award sponsors, Fujitsu, Navisite, TechData and Veritas.

"We established the UK Cloud Awards to champion excellence and highlight the cloud innovation and leadership taking place in the UK, but they wouldn't be possible without the backing of the industry. We fully expect to repeat the success of this year's awards in 2020, so watch this space!"

What does cloud mean to you and what benefits do you think it brings to businesses?

The Cloud may be the generic term but businesses recognize that there is no longer a single cloud. Most businesses today are adopting a multi-cloud approach that employs multiple public and private clouds and even blends them with internal legacy infrastructure for a true hybrid approach to computing.

Cloud gives businesses tremendous flexibility as they embark on new digital transformation initiatives. By offloading much of the effort needed to build and maintain in-house infrastructure to support their business applications, Cloud enables businesses to bring those new applications to market rapidly and makes it possible to ‘fail fast’ so they can quickly learn what works and what doesn’t. This adds great agility as businesses respond to changing market conditions.

Do you think the UK cloud industry has an advantage over other geographies? Are we excelling?

Yes - the UK appears to be leading EMEA in public cloud adoption. With the opening of the 50th AWS Availability Zone in London in 2018 and continued expansion of Microsoft Azure services, getting to cloud has never been easier to access, even in a post GDPR world.

What else do you think needs to be done to champion innovation in the UK cloud industry?

The UK cloud industry still struggles with skills and experience which continue to be key inhibitors of adoption & maturity in the market.

Businesses need to invest more in their people – this is not just about the technical skills training but in the thinking and mindsets required within the business to fully embrace the cultural change needed to take full advantage of the agility promised by the move to cloud.

Can you provide a bit more detail for those not familiar with your company?

ScienceLogic is a leader in IT Operations Management, providing modern IT operations with actionable insights to predict and resolve problems faster in a digital, ephemeral world. Its solution sees everything across cloud and distributed architectures, contextualizes data through relationship mapping, and acts on this insight through integration and automation. Trusted by thousands of organizations, ScienceLogic’s technology is proven for scale by the world’s largest service providers and optimised for the needs of large enterprises.

Why have you decided to get involved with the UK Cloud Awards 2019?

As a sponsor for the past three years, ScienceLogic is keenly interested in the development of the UK cloud business. Our UK business is growing rapidly in large part due to the impact of new cloud services in the UK.

What key trends/challenges are you seeing with your customers around cloud?

As mentioned previously, we see a large portion of our customers now pursuing multi-cloud - not a single cloud approach. This multi-cloud adoption model poses unique operational challenges for businesses and our advanced monitoring platform helps them get control of cloud-based infrastructure that is increasingly diverse and highly ephemeral. At the same time our customers are rapidly employing container-based computing in the cloud, leading to widespread Kubernetes adoption. The dynamic nature of containers and micro-services is a major management challenge that traditional monitoring tools don’t address.

Beyond the complex technologies themselves, the speed of decision-making required in IT operations is now beyond the ability of human operators to keep pace. It is this that drives the need for machine speed and gives rise to demand for much greater levels of automation in IT operations.

How is your company helping customers address these challenges?

ScienceLogic helps customers manage these complex and dynamic technologies in production across multi-cloud environments, while also helping monitor and manage hybrid and traditional technologies. This is a major challenge for most monitoring tools as they don’t support newer technologies and cannot be easily upgraded. Traditional tools also lack the necessary automation capability that helps IT Operations teams keep up with the pace of change in IT.

How do you think the cloud landscape has evolved in the past five years?

The cloud landscape has changed significantly over the past five years. We have seen vastly increased adoption rates as cloud becomes truly mainstream, which initially provided potential cost savings and increased flexibility for businesses to eliminate the inertia of internal compute infrastructure. In addition, the services offered by the cloud hyperscalers have now become much richer and even more innovative, and containers and microservices-based computing have changed the nature of applications.

What do you think has driven this shift?

Innovation from the hyperscalers in their service offerings and the advent of containers and Kubernetes have combined to enable the groundswell of DevOps to reach critical mass and deliver real business benefits. As a result, cloud technology is now an important underpinning of business-critical digital transformation initiatives.

What other trends and patterns do you see around cloud computing and related technologies?

I see two trends this year, The first is the full emergence of the ‘hybrid multi-cloud first’ strategy. Multi-cloud will be the default for new workloads, with greater consideration towards a hybrid model particularly if the applications attract GDPR attention.

Secondly the rise of serverless. According to Ross Winser, senior research director at Gartner, "More than 20 percent of global organisations will have deployed serverless computing technologies by 2020, which is an increase from less than five percent today."

What role do you see cloud playing in business life a year or five years from now?

Five years from now, the cloud will be as mainstream as the internet is today, although not to the complete exclusion of legacy technologies or of private cloud in the data centre. Cloud technology will be viewed as a critical element of business, not just IT, as IT permeates business life in even more aspects than it does today.

How can we prepare for such change(s)?

Education, education, education. IT practitioners and executives alike should become much more knowledgeable about the cloud services that can enable new business applications and can serve as solutions to business problems, especially in areas of customer service.

Looking further along the line, how do you see cloud shaping the way we live and work in the future?

Further ahead we will see significant inroads being made by AI as a cloud-delivered technology that will help eliminate routine manual work through automation and which will improve the cost model behind many traditional business services.

What does cloud mean to you and what benefits do you think it brings to businesses?

That’s a big question! If I was to boil it down, I think that businesses that embrace the possibilities around cloud will accelerate their success in the future. To me, it’s the ability to shift the focus and energy away from maintaining IT to ensuring that whatever organisation you are, your customers - both internal and external, are served better.

Do you think the UK cloud industry has an advantage over other geographies? Are we excelling?

CDW being a global organisation gives me the advantage of experiencing cloud culture across the world. Individual cases aside, it feels like we’ve broken the back of the commercial versus technical/business led drivers for cloud adoption in the UK. It’s becoming a standard here, as it is in the US. Others are now starting to follow.

What else do you think needs to be done to champion innovation in the UK cloud industry?

I think we’re doing a great job. I’d like to see more IT leaders coming together regularly to help drive organisations large and small into cloud adoption, sharing the war stories and helping to overcome the perceived risks and challenges. Most of the time, with some experienced assistance, it’s not as hard as people think.

Can you provide a bit more detail for those not familiar with your company?

CDW UK is a solutions and services led organisation. We’re a leader in Cloud Services with continued investments in resources to support our customers. We help to enhance their use of cloud platforms and applications to drive innovation.

Why have you decided to get involved with the UK Cloud Awards 2019?

We’re really proud to be sponsoring the UK Cloud Awards this year. CDW UK is a big advocate for the cloud industry in the UK and we’re keen to collaborate with our peers in the industry to best help customers with their adoption. We’re also keen to tell the world about our capabilities.

What key trends/challenges are you seeing with your customers around cloud?

It’s inevitable that businesses will adopt cloud services, whether that’s today or in the future. Today, we’re seeing customers that jump into transformation very quickly and others that spend far too long deliberating. Both of these are challenging and can result in botched environments or pure inertia.

How is your company helping customers address these challenges?

We’re helping our customers to reduce their risk, learning from our experiences to help their cloud adoption. Design, planning and migrations are different for each organisation and CDW assists to ensure that we help our customers drive the most value from their investments in these new platforms.

How do you think the cloud landscape has evolved in the past five years?

It’s a case of when not if these days. In order to keep up with competitors in their industry, organisations need to make that shift, however challenging it might be. Five years ago there may still have been a question mark, not today.

What do you think has driven this shift?

The public cloud platforms of Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Alibaba in the UK have shifted the speed of adoption. Certainly, most organisations have a Microsoft relationship, and when Microsoft decided to go all in on the cloud, the tide turned.

What other trends and patterns do you see around cloud computing and related technologies?

Customers are now starting to move beyond the infrastructure layer, to more DevOps related projects including application modernisation, data analytics and AI. Some are more advanced than others, lots are still trying to work out how to take advantage of and monetise these types of technologies.

What role do you see cloud playing in business life a year or five years from now?

As cloud becomes ubiquitous, I’m not sure the phase will exist in the same way in five years’ time. As change becomes faster and faster, making the most of the scalability of cloud platforms will mean better use of data. Technology teams will become more and more important in a business and will be the department to drive innovation, growth and most importantly, profits.

How can we prepare for such change(s)?

A lot of that comes down to skills and culture. Companies can have all the best intentions but ultimately the delivery of this new role in business comes down to the expertise of the people involved. Organisations need to be able to either re-train their existing teams or make sure that they are looking at new ways to recruit talent – a mix of experience and raw youth, to ensure that end users and customers are delivered with the services they expect. In the future, these will be the differentiators.

Looking further along the line, how do you see cloud shaping the way we live and work in the future?

Technology will continue to evolve at a faster and faster rate. I have two young children and I’m certain that by the time they are introduced to the working world it will be very different from today. Cloud is enabling organisations to deliver against projects that were unthinkable only a decade ago; I wish I could see into the future to predict what that may look like in 20 years time.

CDW has pledged its support for the work organisations are doing around cloud by signing up as the lead sponsor for this year's UK Cloud Awards.

Established by the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) in association with Cloud Pro, the awards are designed to showcase and celebrate the most innovative providers, projects and individuals that are setting the benchmark in the UK cloud industry.

The window for making submissions is open now (with a special early bird discount running until the end of this week) until 22 February. An array of expert judges, led by Jez Back, founder of Erebus Technology Consulting, will be on hand to cast their votes on all entries, while the awards themselves will be held on 16 May at County Hall in London.

"As technology is increasingly the route to competitive advantage, the UK's cloud industry has become a vital cog in the UK economy. The UK has emerged as a leading player on the global stage when it comes to cloud innovation, and the UK Cloud Awards present the perfect opportunity to celebrate and recognise these successes," said Joel Berwitz, head of cloud services at CDW.

"We are delighted to be supporting this year's awards and look forward to seeing which providers, projects and individuals will take home a prize on the night itself."

Alex Hilton, CIF's CEO, added: "The UK Cloud Awards are a way for the UK cloud industry to come together to reward and celebrate excellence in the cloud sector and wouldn't be possible without the support of companies like CDW. We are honoured to have such a well-respected technology solutions provider supporting this year's UK Cloud Awards as headline sponsor. Each year we see an increasing number of companies and individuals enter the awards and I am confident that this will be the most exciting awards yet."

What inspired you to be a judge of the UK Cloud Awards 2019?

Our industry has matured. There is greater emphasis on emerging talent, technology and deployment techniques as well as the continual innovation in the market, that is exciting as it means that businesses can focus more on value and outcomes. It is this that inspires me as a judge in the UK Cloud Awards.

What experience do you bring to the judging process?

I have been working in the technology industry for over 12 years and have led the Cloud Computing group at several organisations as well as providing advice to clients from SME to global organisations. I have been fortunate enough to straddle both the technical and the strategic sides of cloud technology which allows me to bring perspective from the micro to the macro level.

What advice would you give to those entering this time around?

Firstly, I strongly recommend that entrants read the FAQs on how to write a winning entry. The key is to be able to write succinctly and clearly whilst avoiding using sales or PR material authenticity is very powerful. The judges want to award points for your entries, so give them the reasons to do it. Focus on short, clearly articulated statements that have detail and evidence, with only 500 words, don't waste your precious content space.

When you read an entry, what do you look for /what influences your scoring?

Personally, I am looking for three things that will influence me to give maximum marks: Evidence, Authenticity and demonstrating Value through business outcomes. Our industry exists not for the technology's sake but for a positive impact on our customers show and delight me with facts and data backed up with testimonials from your customers.

How do you like to describe 'innovation'?

Innovation is such a tricky word in today's climate. I see innovation in three forms. Firstly, those that do research and discover new concepts, capabilities that are essentially prototypes. Second, those that differentiate from a basic idea and make it their own; and finally, those that take a product or service and make it a readily accessible commodity or utility service. The first definition is hard to prove, the second and third can be expressed much easier in terms of value but all are important.

Looking back on 2018, what was the one stand out moment for you related to UK cloud computing industry?

This is a very difficult question to answer! There have been many successes for the UK, many which have broadly gone unnoticed. In terms of people, I am delighted to see increased diversity in the technology industry. By that I do not just mean more women in technology, I think about socio-economic backgrounds as well as more widely talked about issues such as gender and LGBTQ+. This leads me to thinking about the continued growth of the technology sector in the UK, it has grown at a rate of over 2 times faster than the rest of the economy. You can see that in the investment of tech giants, such as Google and Apple starting to build large offices in London, Alibaba opening its capabilities in the UK, the growth of tech businesses in places such as Manchester and Bristol. There is lots to celebrate!

What are your top three cloud predictions for 2019?

Hybrid Cloud model growth. Many technology organisations are accepting the Hybrid Cloud reality for businesses, irrespective of their philosophy about it. AWS Outpost is a good market indicator of this.

Functions-as-a-Services (aka Serverless) will continue to build momentum. Awareness and greater common understanding have shifted FaaS from hype to reality I believe that it will start to go mainstream this year in the UK.

More acquisitions and convergence. I expect to see tech giants continue doing some big acquisitions of complementary or competition as certain areas continue towards commodity or utility type services especially in the Open Source arena.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Firstly, I wish to thank Frank Bennett, last year's Head Judge, for a sterling performance and I hope to meet the challenge of Head Judge as well as he did. I also want to thank everyone who supported UKCA 2018 - it was a record year for entries and it also managed to trend in the UK on Twitter during the awards ceremony! With your help, we can raise the bar again with even more competitive entries for UKCA 2019. I look forward to seeing your entries and meeting those that are shortlisted at the Awards ceremony in May. Best of luck!

The UK Cloud Awards 2018 judging process has now finished and the shortlist of contenders for the accolades has been unveiled.

The awards, which are designed to recognise talent, achievement and innovation in the UK cloud industry, are now in their fifth year, and winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, which will take place at County Hall, London on 16 May.

Alex Hilton, CEO of Cloud Industry Forum, co-host of the awards along with Cloud Pro, said: "This is the fifth year we have run the UK Cloud Awards and we are delighted to announce that we had a record number of entries this year, confirming our belief that the UK Cloud Awards are now a recognised feature of the technology industry's awards calendar.

"Over the past decade we have witnessed phenomenal innovation and the truly transformational use of cloud services. The depth, strength and maturity of the cloud industry in the UK is apparent. It's going to be extremely difficult to pick the winners in each and every category and we would like to congratulate everyone that has got this far. I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone that has made the cut the best of luck on the night."

The shortlist for the UK Cloud Awards 2018 is as follows:

BEST IN CLASS

Security Solution of the Year

Alienvault USM Anywhere by AlienvaultAmazon GuardDuty by AWSCipherTrust Cloud Key Manager by Thales eSecurityDarktrace Cloud by DarktraceVerify by Aspect Software

Storage Solution of the Year

Ceph Storage 3 by Red HatFlashBlade by Pure StorageRubrikScality RING7 by Scality

Collaboration Solution of the Year

BlueJeans with Dolby VoiceFreshdeskLifesize App by Lifesize

Business Continuity Solution of the Year

Druva Cloud Platformiland Secure DRaaS by iland CloudSolarWinds Backup by Solarwinds MSP

Most Innovative Enterprise Product

Adaptive Insights Business Planning CloudApttus ''Max'' by ApttusBoomi by DELLInteroute Edge by InterouteiPortalis Control PortalNew Relic by New RelicRubrikSilver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN solution

Most Innovative SMB Product

Advanced Voice Services by NatterboxCloudMigrator Go by Cloud Technology SolutionsGoSimpleTax by GoSimple Software Limited

Unified Communications Product of the Year

Advanced Voice Services by NatterboxGlobal Office by RingCentralstorm DTA by Content Guru

Fintech Solution of the Year

AccountsIQExpenses by SelenityFreeAgentGoSimple Tax by GoSimple Software LimitedMambuSage Business Cloud Financials (formerly known as Sage Live

Cloud Platform Solution of the Year

Anypoint PlatformCrowd Release by MuleSoftBoomi by DELLCloud Platform Solution by BoxCloud Protection Manager by N2W SoftwareOpenShift Container Platform 3.7 by Red HatSpotinstThousandEyes

BEST DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS

Best Public Sector Project

CityVerve supported by Chime-TechHealth and Social Care digital meal planning with Kafoodle KareManchester City Council supported by Cloud Technology SolutionsNHS in association with Kahootzstorm Citizen Engagement Hub with Content Guru

Best Private Sector Project (SMB)

Brother International Europe supported by EnsonoStephen James Group supported by Charterhouse Voice & Data

Best Private Sector Project(Enterprise)

Big Data European Concept Platform (UK) supported by ANSNuffield Health supported by Silver PeakThe Lidl UK Winebot supported by Aspect SoftwareSYNLAB Laboratory Services and AncorisUbisoft supported by Aspect

Most Innovative Emerging Technology

Project Freq by AmidoPulse by FinancialForce

CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER

Best Cloud Managed Service Provider (MSP)

4D Data CentresCenturyLinkClaranetDatabarracksEnsono

Best Cloud Service Provider (CSP)

CSI LimitedContent GuruIngram Micro CloudInterouteSesui LtdTechQuartersUKCloud Ltd

Best G-Cloud Public Sector Provider

KahootzUKCloud Ltd

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Cloud Visionary of the Year

Apay Obang-Oyway,Ingram MicroCraig Joseph,intYSimon Ratcliffe,Ensono

Cloud Entrepreneur of the Year

Geoffroy De Cooman, ProxyclickMitchell Feldman, RedPixieSimon Hansford, UKCloud Ltd

Frank Bennett, head judge for the UK Cloud Awards, said: "Entries for the UK Cloud Awards have improved year on year as the technology has continued to transform the business landscape. When we started the awards, cloud technology was in its infancy and companies had yet to realise the potential benefits that it has to offer.

"That is no longer the case and this year's entries have emphasised the outstanding work that vendors, suppliers and individuals have contributed to the UK cloud market. I would like to congratulate everyone that has been shortlisted and let everyone know that the process of choosing the winners is going to be the most challenging decision yet."

Paul Franklin, group publisher of Dennis Publishing's technology division, added: "The calibre and sheer volume of entries that we received for the awards this year demonstrates that the UK cloud industry has come of age. These awards were established to highlight innovation and achievement in the British cloud computing sector, benchmarking the amazing cloud leadership in the UK.

"A big thank you is owed to everyone who has helped make the awards possible and I have every confidence that this will be our best ceremony yet."

What does cloud mean to you and what benefits do you think it brings to businesses?

The interesting thing about cloud doesn't really have anything to do with the technology, but what it enables you to do. At its heart, it's about business transformation. It gives organisations the flexibility to react to changing conditions and frees up resources to focus on innovation rather than on just treading water and keeping the lights on.

Do you think the UK cloud industry has an advantage over other geographies? Are we excelling?

The UK has a deep heritage of technological innovation, and I think we're leading the way towards the fourth industrial revolution, in relation to cloud, but also a host of other next-generation technologies.

Last year was a record for UK tech investment and London is the technology capital of Europe, but it's clear the capital doesn't have a monopoly on tech innovation. We work with innovative technology companies throughout the breadth of the UK, and I think that's what makes the UK cloud industry so dynamic, but also so sustainable.

What else do you think needs to be done to champion innovation in the UK cloud industry?

There are broadly two elements that need to be looked at to further champion innovation in the UK. The first is digital transformation in the industry, ensuring organisations across all industries have a strategy that they are executing.

The second is centred on building a diverse and vibrant technology talent pool. We have a lot of homegrown talent, but there's a looming skills shortage in the UK that could stunt innovation in all parts of the industry. This will need to be addressed if we are to stay at the top of our game.

As a country, we need to do more to focus on STEM skills from an earlier age and encourage participation from all parts of society to build a more diverse tech workforce. Additionally, businesses need to invest in upskilling the existing workforce by improving access to dedicated cloud training.

Fresh blood is also important to the on-going health of the industry, so it's important that we can continue to attract the best possible talent internationally.

Please can you provide a bit more detail for those not familiar with your company?

Ingram Micro Cloud works with thousands of partners in the UK to help them responsibly transform their business through specialism, diversity, and innovation while helping end-users accelerate business outcomes from their technology investments. We've got partnerships with the leading innovative technology vendors in the industry, whose services we offer through the Ingram Micro Ecosystem of cloud, which provides partners with the ideal platform to deliver premium cloud solutions to their end customers.

The channel is an integral part of the Ingram Micro ecosystem of cloud and we recognise that we can only succeed as a business if we help our partners succeed. That's why we invest heavily in our partners, giving them the tools, capabilities, and knowledge they need to deliver transformative cloud solutions to the market.

Why have you decided to get involved with the UK Cloud Awards 2018?

This is the third time we've sponsored the UK Cloud Awards and we've been big supporters of the event since it was established for the simple reason that, as an industry, we've got a lot to celebrate!

What key trends/challenges are you seeing with your customers around cloud?

It's difficult to generalise. Some end users are already on their second and third wave cloud adoptions and are using cloud to springboard into next-generation technologies, like IoT, AI and Big Data. But many businesses are right in the infancy of their could migration journeys and need more assistance.

The same applies to the channel in some respects, and while some channel partners are leading the way in terms of innovation with a "cloud-first" motion, there's still a certain amount of education needed to get all partners on the same page.

How is your company helping customers address these challenges?

As a business, it's important that we can support our partners regardless of their stage of cloud maturity. We help our partners through envisioning, enablement, skills and a leading portfolio of cloud solutions offering within the Ingram Micro Ecosystem of cloud, all of which helps them to succeed.

How do you think the cloud landscape has evolved in the past five years?

Acceptance of cloud has grown exponentially, and for many end users, it's just another way that they do IT. There's been an enormous uplift in demand for cloud services from end users, which is great, but it's been a bit of a scramble for the channel to satisfy this growing demand.

Selling IT-as-a-service is a very different proposition to selling it as an asset, and partners have had to make some significant changes to the way that they operate to accommodate it, changing things like commission structures and upskilling staff to be able to support cloud services.

We're seeing the partners that have embraced this change doing really well, but it's going to be increasingly difficult for those in the channel haven't gone to the cloud you've got to go where your customers are! Ultimately, partners have to understand they are in a services world.

What do you think has driven this shift?

The industry itself has definitely matured, which has helped to drive end-user acceptance, but I think there's also greater awareness of the business benefits that cloud can deliver. Technology is a key differentiator today, much more so than it was just five years ago, and businesses are starting to recognise that they can't thrive in the age of disruption by managing their IT in the way that they always have done.

The workforce is increasingly technologically savvy at all levels, and this will continue to contribute to the speed of cloud adoption. Flexibility and agility are the orders of the day in uncertain times, which is exactly what cloud provides.

What other trends and patterns do you see around cloud computing and related technologies?

Cloud is the gateway to a whole host of other technologies, and you can't begin to explore things like IoT and Big Data in a way that is economically viable without cloud. We have been speaking about the IoT and Big Data for quite some time but, up until very recently, they have been the reserve of only the largest enterprises with enough available capital to invest in the computing resources needed to power them.

Cloud infrastructure, which offers the opportunity to successfully rent these flexible and scalable resources, effectively democratises the IoT and Big Data and lowers the barriers to entry for all organisations looking to exploit these technologies.

What role do you see cloud playing in business life a year or five years from now?

All of the upcoming technologies AI, machine learning, quantum computing progress, the IoT, chatbots, robotics will grow and develop, with cloud driving them. The channel absolutely needs to understand their role in the next generation of key technologies and to identify and realise the opportunities available to them.

There are some businesses that are quite comfortable with where they are, and others who know they want to accelerate with the cloud. But only those who recognise how important it is to play a role in the future intelligence of cloud will truly thrive.

The UK Cloud Awards 2018 are now open to entries, until 23 February. In their fifth year, the prestigious awards recognise cloud innovation and customer focus by rewarding vendors in categories like best product, best project and individual achievement. Find out more and enter the awards here. You can read the other half of our judges Q&A here.

Jon Collins - industry analyst

Are you excited about being a judge for the UK Cloud Awards 2018? I'm seriously looking forward to seeing what entries we receive for the Cloud Awards this year. Over the past couple of years, we've seen service providers large and small facing up to the fact that just having a cloud offering is not enough: services have to be relevant, deliver clear value and work with everything else the customer is trying to do - the time for evangelism is over, now we are into the hard work stage.

Why should people get as excited about the awards - why should they enter? The UK Cloud Awards are not only an opportunity to showcase, but also to demonstrate what is now possible and what value it can bring. I will be less interested in yet another example of high availability office applications, and more in how providers have enabled their customers to move in new directions, open new markets, create new business models. Innovation is the key, not displacement of old technologies.

What has/have been your standout moment(s) in the UK cloud industry in 2017? Strange response I know, but I think GDPR has been a wake-up call, together with other examples where cloud providers can no longer deny responsibility for the services they provide, or what their customer organisations do with them. Couple this with the continued advancing capabilities being included in cloud platforms, it's exciting times, which need to be tempered with governance.

Michel Drescher - co-founder and director of MTR (Europe)

Are you excited about being a judge for the UK Cloud Awards 2018? I am proud to be identified and selected as someone to make a valued contribution to the recognition of outstanding cloud innovation.

Why should people get as excited about the awards - why should they enter? Be proud and bold about your achievements, because you have all reason to be! Whether accomplished or start-up, deciding to stand your ground and entering is always a good exercise in reflection and improvement of one's value propositions, whether actually winning in your category or not!

What has/have been your standout moment(s) in the UK cloud industry in 2017? For me personally, the emerging treatment of cloud resources and services as utilities in this year,reflected by the impact and success of, for example, Strategic Blue, mark the true acceptance of cloud IT as stock and staple of any IT operation regardless the sector.

Andrew Morgan - partner and TMT sector leader in corporate finance, Grant Thornton UK

Are you excited about being a judge for the UK Cloud Awards 2018? Absolutely - it is a great showcase for both established and emerging cloud solutions and highlights some fantastic UK success stories

Why should people get as excited about the awards - why should they enter? A great platform for recognition of fantastic applications of cloud technology to real world problems. A UK Cloud Award is a stamp of quality and success for both project teams and businesses, and showcases some real UK success stories

What has/have been your standout moment(s) in the UK cloud industry in 2017? Sage acquiring Fairsail to build out cloud capabilities in HR. A real made in Britain success.

Dave Cartwright - senior information security consultant, Grant Thornton Channel Islands; vice-chairman, Channel Islands Information Security Forum

Are you excited about being a judge for the UK Cloud Awards 2018? It's always a pleasure being part of the judging panel. Every year we see dozens of products and projects that show just how rapidly cloud computing is being developed by vendors and adopted by customers. Given that I work in the information security industry, I'm hoping that we see a big pile of security products in the 2018 awards: I don't believe security has really kept up with the growth of cloud, so here's hoping the vendors catch up this year.

2. Why should people get as excited about the awards - why should they enter? The UK Cloud Awards is respected in the cloud industry and the IT industry in general, and for a vendor to be able to say that they won - or were a finalist, for that matter - in the 2018 awards has genuine value.

3. What has/have been your standout moment(s) in the UK cloud industry in 2017? Rather the opposite of a standout moment, actually: in the last year or so cloud has pretty much made it into a commodity concept: companies that were nervous to adopt it a couple of years ago now treat it as a perfectly normal thing to do. So what stands out is that cloud doesn't really ... well, stand out.

Ash Patel - head of cloud, Daemon Solutions

Are you excited about being a judge for the UK Cloud Awards 2018? Very! This will be my 3rd year of Judging and every year the entries get better and more innovative. Just when you think "wow" you look at the next entry and are further impressed by how cloud is being used.

Why should people get as excited about the awards - why should they enter? The awards are a great way to get some recognition for the great work being done out there. But most of all I think it is a brilliant way to share ideas and experiences to better the industry we work in. It is such a transformative world now and to be recognised as a leader in it... well that has to be exciting! Make change, make a difference!

What has/have been your standout moment(s) in the UK cloud industry in 2017? For me it's a pretty big one... over the past 10 years I've had to bat answers and perceptions about cloud being bad and not secure, etc. This year I have noticed how cloud is THE choice for every one and "why would you not?!". This change in mind-set from small businesses to enterprises has to be the stand out moment.

Are you a cloud vendor? Has your business creatively used cloud services or implemented an innovative new cloud-based project? Have you played a key part in a successful digital transformation project in 2017 that was heavily reliant on cloud computing? Do you see yourself as a cloud leader, entrepreneur or visionary?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, we want to hear from you as the UK Cloud Awards 2018 are now open for business.

Now in its fifth year, the awards are back with a fresh look. Brought to you by Cloud Pro in association with the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), the awards will take place on 16 May 2018 at the prestigious County Hall in London.

The awards aim to celebrate cloud innovation and excellence and showcase some of the exemplary work going on in the UK cloud industry.

The deadline for entries is 23 February 2018, with the shortlist announced nearer to the time of the main event.

The event will see leading vendors, channel partners, customers and individuals throughout the UK's cloud industry battle it out for each coveted award by showcasing their achievements over the past 12 months.

Standout submissions showcasing the best products, projects and providers will be shortlisted by a panel of highly regarded independent judges, headed up by CIF deputy chair Frank Bennett. The full list of judges can be found on the awards website.

"The UK cloud industry is booming and is a global leader in cloud innovation. The UK Cloud Awards aim to highlight that innovation and recognise the leading projects, providers, and people that are propelling the industry to new heights," said Alex Hilton, CIF's CEO.

"The awards have matured massively over the last five years, showcasing the incredible innovation and transformative projects is testimony to this."

In addition to receiving one of the coveted awards and having their achievement acknowledged by peers and the wider industry, winners will also benefit from coverage in Dennis' B2B brands and social media promotion.

"The UK Cloud Awards play a vital role in showcasing some truly exceptional individuals and companies working in the UK cloud industry. We're therefore delighted to be bringing them back for the fifth year running. It is absolutely thrilling to see that there is huge interest and desire from enterprises in the industry to win a UK Cloud Award," said Paul Franklin, publisher at Dennis Digital.

"We've refreshed the awards categories this year which reflect cloud's diverse applications and we will bring together professionals from across the industry to acknowledge the value of their work."

The award categories are as follows:

BEST IN CLASS

• Security Solution
• Storage Solution
• Collaboration Solution
• Business Continuity Solution
• Most Innovative Enterprise Product
• Most Innovative SMB Product
• Unified Communications Product
• Mobility Solution
• Fintech Solution
• Cloud Platform Solution

BEST DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS

• Public Sector Project
• Private Sector Project (SMB)
• Private Sector Project (Enterprise)
• Most Innovative Emerging Technology

CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER

• Managed Service Provider (MSP)
• Cloud Service Provider (CSP)
• G-Cloud Public Sector Provider
• Best Start-Up

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

• Cloud Visionary of the Year
• Cloud Entrepreneur of the Year

To enter and for more information about the awards, head over to www.ukcloudawards.co.uk

UK Cloud Awards sponsor Tech Data's software business unit manager, Dwayne Earl, thinks the cloud can benefit everybody, from vendors to resellers to customers. He talks with Cloud Pro about how the technology has evolved in the last five years, why it's important, and what challenges remain to those yet to adopt cloud services and products.

What does cloud mean to you and what benefits do you think it brings to businesses?

Most businesses already understand the benefits the cloud brings in terms of providing greater scalability, flexibility and improved control. To Tech Data, the cloud is now an integral part of our own and to every reseller's services portfolio.

We enable them to offer and deliver solutions and the cloud is becoming an important part of every reseller's offering. For example, we have been successfully enabling resellers for the Microsoft Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) programme and we're now creating a complete Microsoft cloud ecosystem that will enable partners to deliver the vendor's software stack along with complementary solutions, quickly and efficiently through our integrated StreamOne cloud platform.

All of Microsoft's cloud-based solutions, including Office 365, Azure and Enterprise Mobility Suite, are deliverable under CSP and Tech Data has recently signed pan-European partnership agreements with four leading providers of complementary solutions - NetEnrich, Spanning, OneBizz, and Mandarine. We plan to make additional services available over the next few months.

This means resellers and MSPs can offer the full range of Microsoft solutions alongside complementary offerings through a single management portal, and make use of the monitoring and billing capabilities of our platform to manage their customer accounts.

Do you think the UK cloud industry has an advantage over other geographies? Are we excelling?

In the UK, we are certainly seeing accelerated uptake of Microsoft solutions and many more partners becoming involved in the CSP programme. Microsoft is leading the way amongst software vendors and that's giving end-user customers and the channel the confidence to push on with wider cloud adoption. The UK market is developing at a healthy pace and we see it accelerating over the coming year as customers become more comfortable and assured about cloud services.

What else do you think needs to be done to champion innovation in the UK cloud industry?

Vendors and cloud services providers are generally doing a good job promoting their services and encouraging customers to migrate to the cloud. Microsoft is very much leading the way in this respect, encouraging both resellers and end-user customers to move in this direction. Tech Data is supporting them in those efforts and we're making excellent progress.

There is perhaps, not so much a need to champion innovation, but to ensure that customers feel entirely comfortable and reassured that cloud services will deliver the same levels of availability and security as they have experienced from on-premises solutions. We need to encourage knowledge development, understanding and excellence in execution. Experience is extremely powerful - once they have used cloud services and gained enough confidence, organisations will accelerate their adoption of cloud services.

Please can you provide a bit more detail for those not familiar with your company?

Tech Data is a £23 billion worldwide IT products distribution business. As one of the world's leading distributors, we have an important role to play in educating, enabling and supporting resellers to develop their cloud services capabilities. We have developed the Tech Data Cloud as a complete end-to-end ecosystem that enables resellers to access, power and master the cloud.

Our cloud proposition enables resellers to advance their knowledge, build confidence, develop real value-propositions and deliver cloud services to their end-user customers. It provides access to the very best infrastructure, platform and software services, along with tried-and-tested solutions bundles and appropriate add-ons and promotions.

Resellers can simply offer our cloud portfolio via StreamOne portal, using it to manage all provisioning and billing. They can also integrate its functionality into their own e-commerce environment and offer our portfolio under their own brand.

Our Cloud Pro enablement programme is designed to suit both partners who are new to selling cloud and those who are already involved. This collection of resources and tools support businesses in making a personalised Cloud Mastery journey with Tech Data, providing access to a cloud expert to assist with business planning on-boarding

We offer a 'gap analysis' to help resellers understand their current state of 'cloud readiness' and a complete set of learning and enablement resources to transform their business into one that is ready to deliver hybrid IT and cloud services.

In addition, we recently launched our Advanced Cloud Services, which enable resellers to offer Microsoft cloud options as a white-label service under the vendor's Cloud Service Provider (CSP) programme.

As mentioned earlier, we are also building a complete cloud ecosystem around Microsoft solutions. We have recently signed pan-European partnership agreements with four leading providers: NetEnrich for advanced cloud services across assessment, migration, management and operations services for data centres, network, unified communications, cloud, and security operations; Spanning, a Dell EMC company, for Office 365 back-up; OneBizz for Microsoft ERP, CRM and productivity software; and Mandarine for instructor-led online training that drives user adoption.

Why have you decided to get involved with the UK Cloud Awards 2017?

We're very closely involved in carrying the flag - alongside Microsoft and other key vendor partners - for the cloud into the channel. As such, we feel it is important to support and encourage cloud services providers to deliver the highest standards of service delivery to customers. In doing so, they will all help to drive higher levels of confidence in cloud services and that in turn will lead to increased adoption and growth for the industry as a whole.

What key trends/challenges are you seeing with your customers around cloud?

In There are perhaps two stages to cloud adoption -the first is convincing end-user customers to adopt a service of some kind, so that they can gain confidence. Then, once they have that reassurance, to move more of their services into the cloud. The impetus provided by Microsoft's cloud-first commitment is playing a very important role at both stages, and many resellers are taking their first steps to delivery of cloud services through CSP.

That said, in the enterprise space, the move towards or adoption of hybrid infrastructures is now well underway and we'd expect to see that accelerating next year. The need to execute on digital transformation is driving more urgent exploration of what is possible and what can be achieved with IT now, and this is in turn driving the use of cloud services. Some IT services and applications are being moved across to the cloud completely, others are being given added scalability and extensibility, and some are being supported and made more resilient through the integration of cloud into the IT infrastructure.

How is your company helping customers address these challenges?

We're working closely with key vendors, such as Microsoft with CSP, on their cloud programmes. On educating and enabling resellers and supporting their delivery of cloud services through Tech Data Cloud and our StreamOne aggregation and management platform. We are seeing an increasing number of resellers engaging with us and helping their customers to adopt cloud services.

How do you think the cloud landscape has evolved in the past five years?

Of course, it's changed dramatically. Vendors like Microsoft are now entirely committed to the cloud and leading with their cloud offerings. That's taken us forward significantly, particularly over the past year. It has now become essential for resellers to offer cloud options to their customers. Cloud is becoming an integral part of the IT infrastructure and for IT suppliers, of their business mix. We are also seeing more sophisticated and tailored use of cloud services.

What do you think has driven this shift?

Initially, it was industry hype and the curiosity and desire that generated amongst end customers to explore cloud options. We are now seeing a firm commitment to cloud from key vendors such as Microsoft and its channel partners, and amongst end-users, a growing realisation that cloud services deliver real benefits. As more organisations look to transform themselves and harness the true potential of digital technologies, we'll see the use of cloud and its integration into the fabric of business systems and processes grow very rapidly indeed.

What other trends and patterns do you see around cloud computing and related technologies?

Cloud issues are becoming more intertwined with wider IT issues. Security is becoming even more important to customers for example, but the growing reputation and built-in security that is now being provided with solutions such as Azure, is giving customers more confidence. It's not so much that customers are concerned with the inherent security of cloud services anymore, it is more to do with the more sophisticated and advanced threats to data and the need to meet regulations, such as the new GDPR rules that come into force next year and for which all organisations must now prepare. There needs to be a more integrated and joined-up approach to security monitoring, detection and intervention.

What role do you see cloud playing in business life a year or five years from now?

It will be completely integral to and part of the IT infrastructure - so much so that it will not be seen as any more external or different than virtualisation or storage area networking, for example. Cloud will by then, play a much greater role and in many scenarios, most or all the IT will be run in the cloud.

How can we prepare for such change?

We are paving the way for it now, certainly in terms of the services that are being developed and delivered. Tech Data is working with key industry partners like Microsoft to make sure that resellers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and resources to support their end-user customers and become cloud services providers in their own right. End-user organisations are looking at how they can transform themselves and their processes - and cloud services will play a big part in giving them the agility and transformational capabilities they need.

Looking further along the line, how do you see cloud shaping the way we live and work in the future?

The rise of cloud services has been fuelled by the growth of mobility and both are now gathering momentum together. The cloud is already integral to the way we work and it will become increasingly prominent. From an end-user perspective, it matters very little whether the service is in the cloud or sits within a closed corporate data centre, as long as it delivers what they need. The cloud is inherent to the wider, more digitally-connected and mobile-oriented world we all now live in. It is a key part of the backbone that supports this more agile and dynamic way of interacting with other people, organisations and services.

What are the trends within cloud computing?

There are several answers to this: you can look at what the marketing gurus say are the hot topics – these are generally areas that are not even close to impacting on CIOs’ in-box though. They’re great for the Gartner Hype Cycle, but are often found hovering around the Peak of Inflated Expectations and have not even touched the Trough of Disillusionment.

This is the second year of the awards (the UK Cloud Awards, brought to you by Cloud Pro in association with CIF and sponsors HP, Ingram Micro and Microsoft) and the most gratifying aspect of the entries is how well defined cloud is now. Last year, there were a few entries that had only a minimal cloud content – the inference seemed to be that if there was some internet connectivity, then there had to be cloud. That’s not to say that all were like that – the shortlisted projects were excellent – but there seemed to be little understanding of the NIST definition of cloud computing – and those were the criteria we were using to make our assessments.

There is little doubt that the cloud market has matured and, rather unusually, a large part of this has been driven by the public sector. We’ve been so used to thinking that government computing is synonymous with boring and bland, that it comes as a surprise to read about interesting projects in both central and local government. One local authority in fact was nominated twice, by different companies, an indication of how far public sector computing will go in trying to shake up its image.

This is down to the work of several people: Mike Bracken, head of the government digital service; Liam Maxwell, the government’s chief technology officer,Francis Maude, the cabinet officer who drove many of the changes and - going back a bit -Chris Chant and Denise McDonagh who drove CloudStore (now Digital Marketplace).

When a government is willing to shake up technology, this change will trickle down to the private sector, and we’re seeing that many companies are looking to explore creative areas with cloud.

We were unsure what was going to happen with the awards for the second year: this time round we charged for entries and we were expecting slightly fewer. In fact, there was an increase in products, projects and provider categories of about 20 per cent. This year we attracted a lot more of the big guns: Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, VMware all submitted entries - an endorsement for what we’re doing with the awards and recognition that the UK Cloud Awards do, genuinely, represent all that that is best about the UK cloud industry.

There were some surprising aspects of the product entries. The only category where we had a fall in entries was security. This may reflect a belief that security is no longer the inhibitor for cloud that it once was or that the cloud security industry is a particularly mature one, having had to deal with those concerns for some years. Cloud management has taken over as the hottest topic, again, a reflection of the growing maturity of cloud as users try to get to grips with all the multifarious aspects of the technology.

One area where there has been a decline is in the number of entries for cloud personality of the year – although, gratifyingly, despite the fall in the actual entries, there are nearly twice as many people nominated. It’s certainly an area that we’d like to expand a lot more. The reason that cloud technology has reached the level of maturity that it has, is because of the work of a number of individuals.

As of the time of writing, the final winners have not been decided upon.We, the judges, are still ploughing through all the entries, so it’s too early to give a definite answer as to how the awards have changed this year. What has been mentioned so far are the headline trends.

Look out for the results of the awards: the shortlist is being announced on 25 February and the winners will be announced on 11 March at a ceremony at Canary Wharf. It promises to be a great night, the culmination of an important year for cloud … but then, aren’t they all now?

Dropbox users are being urged not to rely on the cloud storage service as their sole means of backing up data, after a system glitch resulted in one man losing more than 8,000 photos.

Jan Čurn, CTO of CGI effects software maker VirtualRig Studio, claims a bug in Dropbox’s Selective Sync function caused 8,343 files to be permanently deleted from the cloud storage site.

In a comprehensive blog post, charting the event, he explains how he tried to use Selective Sync to free up space on his hard drive by moving a large number of photo-containing folders to Dropbox.

The Selective Sync feature is designed for this purpose, by allowing users to stipulate individual folders they may or may not want to sync to their computers.

However, shortly after Čurn authorised the sync event to go ahead on 29 April 2014, he claims the Dropbox client froze, prompting him to restart it.

“These directories are large and they might be too big of a bite for Dropbox, I thought, and unsycned them one by one instead,” he explained.

“Everything worked well, the directories disappeared from the local hard drive, but they were still available on Dropbox’s website. All good.”

Except, when Čurn came to need the files some time later, he discovered the directories stored on Dropbox were empty, as the result of a “delete event” that culled 8,343 files on 29 April 2014.

“I was devastated. All those memories and the effort with collecting and organising the photos... gone,” he wrote.

“Because there was never any problem with the service and also because it’s already the year 2014, I thought it might be about time that one can trust a cloud-based storage service and use them as a sole backup of [your] files. Boy, I was wrong,” he notes elsewhere on the blog.

He’s used the sequence of events to piece together a theory that Dropbox deletes the files people earmark for Selective Sync locally before its settings kick in.

“Consequently, if the client crashes or is killed before the server is contacted, the files remain deleted without any trace,” he continues.

“After the client restarts again, it only sees there are some files missing and syncs this new state with the server.

“Unfortunately for me, Dropbox only keeps a copy of [the] deleted files for 30 days and I found out about this event after two months,” he adds.

Dropbox has since been able to reinstate 1,463 of his deleted files, and given him credit that he can spend on other services the firm provides.

However, he’s made a series of recommendations to Dropbox about how they can improve their service, and prevent similar incidents affecting other users.

They include making improvements to Selective Sync that mean if the process fails at any point users’ data isn’t jeopardised. He'd also like to see Dropbox keep a history of people’s deleted files for as long as their storage quota allows.

He also advocates the use of machine learning techniques to monitor strange activity on people’s accounts.

“Most of my activity over the years consists of adding [a] large number of new files and changing/deleting a small number of files from time to time. A sudden deletion of 8,343 files is surely a strange activity in this context,” he added.

Cloud Pro approached Dropbox for comment on this story, but had not received a response at the time of publication