TM Forum announces 2017 Excellence Awards winners & Distinguished Fellows

Over a Dozen Member Companies and Professionals Recognized for Their Leadership & Commitment to Driving Successful Digital Transformation & Industry Growth

TM FORUM LIVE!, Nice, France—May 16, 2017: TM Forum, the industry association driving digital business transformation of the communications industry, today celebrates the exemplary achievements of its members who were recognized last night at the Excellence Awards Gala Dinner that took place at TM Forum Live! in Nice, France. They were also honored today during the event’s opening keynote session.

The 55 nominees and 29 finalists – which were the most ever in the long history of the Excellence Awards – were judged by a wholly impartial and independent panel of leading industry experts. The 2017 Excellence Award categories and winners are:

Digital Service Innovator of the Year Award

This award is made to the company or organization which has made the most significant and innovative contribution to advancing the digital revolution in society.

• RELIANCE JIO – Acquiring 90 Million Customers in 4 Months

Outstanding Contribution to Enabling Improved Business Agility Award

This award recognizes the company which has made an outstanding and innovative contribution to improving the business agility of its customers (measured in terms of improved time-to-market, ability to rapidly respond to market demand or opportunity and so on).

• NETCRACKER – Maximizing the B2B Revenue Opportunity with SDN/NFV

Open Digital Ecosystem Platform of the Year Award

The digital business revolution is driving the growth of complex business-to-business (B2B) relationships trading across a complex value fabric of relationships. To support such digital ecosystems, sophisticated platforms for digital business are emerging. This award is given to the company who is shaping the market, and in particular, driving open approaches to digital ecosystems.

• CHINA MOBILE & HUAWEI – Enabling Ecosystem Differentiation Through a Digital API Exposure Platform

Smart Service Provider – Business Transformation of the Year Award

This award recognizes the communications, digital infrastructure or media service provider which has made the greatest strides in transforming to a low cost, agile and customer-centric operating model. TM Forum recognized two major achievements in this year’s awards.

• BHARTI AIRTEL – Airtel Digital Acquisition
• VERIZON & ERICSSON – Growing Virtualized Managed Network Services with Dynamic Orchestration

Smart City Innovator of the Year Award

This award is given for the most innovative breakthrough focusing particularly on how cities can share assets or data with other cities to improve the lives of citizens and that can have widespread adoption and relevance across the world.

• BT GROUP, AGILE FRACTAL GRID, BEARINGPOINT, IBM, SAN BERNARD ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, CITY OF CELINA, TX – Agile Fractal Grid Smart Cities

Outstanding Contribution to Enabling Improved Customer Centricity Award

This award recognizes the company which has made an outstanding and innovative contribution to accelerating the use and adoption of data analytics within the communications industry, whether through enabling new levels of customer experience, supporting new IoT business models, enabling new levels of trust, or driving new service provider revenue.

• TELEFONICA & HUAWEI – Re-enabling Customer Usage and Service Experience Optimization for Encrypted Traffic

Details of the 2017 Excellence Awards winners’ entries can be found here.

“Congratulations to the 2017 Excellence Award winners,” said Nik Willetts, CEO, TM Forum. “This year’s winners feature the most forward-looking organizations in our industry, companies that are making exceptional progress in their digital transformation journeys. The winners represent the best of the best when it comes to commitment, not only to TM Forum and our broader member community via participation in our collaboration programs, but to companies across a wide range of industries who need to operate, compete, and grow across an ever-changing landscape of complex digital ecosystems.”

Distinguished Fellowship Award

TM Forum’s Distinguished Fellows are individuals committed to advancing the principles of TM Forum and contributing to its technical excellence. Until today, only 29 people have received this award in the Forum’s 28-year history. This year’s Distinguished Fellows are:

• Cécile Ludwichowski, Functional Architect at Orange : Cecile co-led the Information Framework (SID) team (part of TM Forum’s broader suite of digital best practices and models) for more than four years, ensuring this living model keeps pace with the needs of the digital market through enhancements such as support for virtualization and development of a revenue-sharing model to support new business models. Cecile has also provided significant leadership in enhancements to the Business Process Framework (eTOM) and developed the concept of ‘Engaged Party’ to support new business models and ecosystem partners.
• Andreas Polz, CTO Infonova R6 Solution at BearingPoint , has led the delivery of three major releases of TM Forum’s Open API suite, playing a significant role in its industrialization and overall growth and momentum of this important initiative. He has been a leading participant in the Open Digital Steering Group, leading the B2B2X work on tool creation. In addition, Andreas has been a strong advocate for and participant in multiple Catalyst projects over many years.

“Congratulations to the newest members of our very exclusive club – TM Forum Distinguished Fellows – who join a prestigious list of innovators and pioneers,” continued Willetts. “Cécile and Andreas have not only shown a sustained and valuable record of impactful service to our industry, but have proven their dedication to the Forum’s member community by driving the adoption of digital industry best practices and contributing to the future success of our industry.”

Special Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award: John Reilly

John Reilly has worked with TM Forum in a variety of capacities for the last 20 years, and during this time, has been a cornerstone in the continuous development of TM Forum’s Frameworx suite of standards – most notably, development of the Information Framework (SID) – now commonly accepted as the universal standard for information modeling across the industry and a cornerstone of TM Forum’s Open API Program.

For the last 11 years, John has held the role of Subject Matter Expert for Information Modeling and has trained hundreds of professional students around the world, while also finding time to lead continuous development of the Information Framework and author eight books on the subject. As John transitions to a Special Advisory role and part-time retirement, he has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his leadership and contribution to TM Forum and the industry as a whole.

Outstanding Leadership & Dedication, Most Distinguished Fellow: Pascal Viginier

In his role as Group CIO of Orange, Pascal Viginier has been an active Board member of TM Forum for seven years and most recently the Vice Chair of the Board. During this time, Pascal has contributed extensively to TM Forum’s success as a thought partner, advisor and advocate. He has also sponsored considerable investments of resources and funding to TM Forum’s Catalyst program and other collaborative initiatives.

As Pascal moves on to a new senior leadership position within Orange and concludes his role as a TM Forum Board member, he has been awarded a lifetime Distinguished Fellowship of the Forum in recognition of his long standing and significant contributions.