Acsys Takes Home a Silver Award for Innovation

Acsys, recognized for the numerical results of its SmartForms product that collects Web site inquiries and automatically routes them to the appropriate people within organizations, will receive a silver Connecticut Quality Improvement Award (CQIA) Innovation Prize plaque at CQIA's upcoming 17th Annual Conference on Quality and Innovation on October 13.

"Acsys has had great success in the marketplace with SmartForms and its sister products, which help companies streamline the way they market themselves and maintain content online," said Acsys President and CTO Stan Valencis.  "We're constantly trying to develop new solutions to help our clients interact with technology and it's an honor to be formally recognized as an innovator in this space."
  
This year the CQIA Partnership, the State's leader for creating and recognizing Performance Excellence in Connecticut organizations, received 111 CQIA Innovation Prize applications from 67 Connecticut organizations including manufacturers, service companies, schools, universities, hospitals, and not-for-profit organizations as well as local and state government.

"CQIA Innovation Prize award winners embody the critical intellect that is the foundation of Connecticut's long-term growth," said Sheila Carmine, Founder and Executive Director of the 17-year old Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership. "By applying this Connecticut Intellect, each of the prize winners is focused on helping humanity and improving our lives with novel and superior products and services. They are creating better health services, improving resource use, widening communications, enhancing education, and improving safety for us all."

Carmine continued, "The ingenuity of these award winners attracts more talented people to Connecticut, multiplying the business possibilities, and further strengthening the reputation of the Connecticut Intellect."

All 111 CIP applications were judged by 15 Baldridge trained CQIA examiners who read, ranked and met for consensus before determining the platinum, gold and silver winning levels.

The entry level CQIA Innovation Prize is broadly based on the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for Performance Excellence's three principles of Approach, Deployment and Results which are translated in CIP's criteria of Opportunity, Innovation and Numerical Results. The Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership's higher level awards are the mid-level Connecticut Breakthrough Quality Award which uses just 27 questions from the Baldrige Criteria and the highest level Connecticut Leadership Award which uses the entire current Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for Performance Excellence.

At the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership's 17th Annual Conference on Quality and Innovation on October 13 at Waters Edge Resort in Westbrook, CT, the Partnership will highlight methods that Connecticut organizations can use to drive creativity and growth with an emphasis on continuing quality improvement.  Speakers at the conference will include executives from the 2004 Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for Performance Excellence Small Business recipients and from CQIA winning organizations.