Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), announces the finalists for the Hitachi Transformation Award to be awarded at NEXT 2017, the premier event for the digital revolution. The event will be held September 18-21, 2017 in Las Vegas, the Mandalay Bay Hotel. The award recognizes customers who are driving transformation and using digitalization as a strategic advantage.

This first annual award recognizes leading companies that are transforming their businesses in new and innovative ways, with the support of Hitachi group solutions. Five finalists and four honorable mentions have been selected based on the substantial benefits they have achieved through accelerating business transformation, improving user experience, innovating with data, and enabling the internet of things (IoT).

The finalists are exemplary models of how digital transformation accelerates business outcomes:

Award Finalists

** CPFL Energia: With over nine million electricity consumers connected to nine distribution companies, CPFL decided to convert to a Hitachi smart grid universe. With automation spread across their networks, they needed to speed up their mission-critical database to keep up with the enormity of their technical and business challenges. Hitachi helped them assure high quality services and safety for their customers.

** Curtin University: Curtin is making campus operations smarter and bringing innovation to Western Australia with data-driven research. By analyzing people’s movements in and out of classrooms and linking data sets, they will optimize building usage, capacity needs and schedules. Through co-creating solutions with Hitachi, Curtin can use data to lower costs, improve student retention and create a more effective, contemporary learning experience.

** Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA): How do you optimize livestock production? With data. Through MLA investment, Hitachi’s sensor-driven data collection and analytics helps the red meat industry identify best practices for animal tracing, supply chain efficiency, and on-farm operations. By automating data analytics and driving IoT- led decision making, MLA is helping foster the productivity and profitability of the Australian red meat and livestock industry.

** Spin Master: Transforming into the fourth-largest toy manufacturer and children’s entertainment powerhouse is not child’s play. Spin Master has adapted to strategically support innovation, acquisitions, new brands, and continued business expansion. With Hitachi’s assistance, they reduced SAP processing time, created significant savings, and gained a 360-degree view of their customers. Now they’re pushing the boundaries of innovation, creativity and fun further and faster.

** Wiggle: Wiggle, the leading e-commerce sports retailer, knew their inefficient processes and a range of custom systems could not support their ambitious growth plans. Working with Hitachi, they developed a cloud-based, sophisticated retail platform to standardize operations and support their global strategy. Staying customer-centric, with a single customer view, better process efficiencies and soaring customer satisfaction, they leave others trailing behind and The award winner will be announced on September 20th at  NEXT 2017.

Additionally, Hitachi recognizes the following honorable mentions for their stories of transformation:

Honorable Mentions

** Daicel Corporation: Daicel, a chemicals and manufacturing expert, improved quality and lowered costs with an integrated smart manufacturing solution co-created with Hitachi.

** Equifax Incorporated: Equifax worked with Hitachi on a software-defined infrastructure with analytics to improve efficiency, resulting in higher uptime and customer experience.

** Salford Royal NHS Trust: Salford Royal worked with Hitachi to prevent Type 2 diabetes with technologies designed to enhance care and support lifestyle changes.

** The University of Utah Health: University of Utah Health worked with Hitachi to streamline IT environments, improve data analytics and ensure all data is secure.

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