15th March 2010 - Steve Scores With Samsung

Despite Beckham's injury, World Cup fever is starting early for award-winning telecoms engineer Steve Williamson, who has taken delivery of a top of the range Samsung widescreen television, as his prize for beating off 300 competitors to score the UK Samsung Engineer of the Year award.

The award is open to all of Samsung’s Network Division engineers across the UK, and the prize is awarded to the engineer judged to have shown the greatest engineering ability and knowledge, and who has consistently delivered a top notch problem solving and customer care service.
Steve, who is a senior engineer in the new unified communications division at Gateshead-based technology experts ITPS, was completely in the dark about his nomination, which was made by Gary Ross, ITPS’s unified communications sales manager.

Steve’s role at ITPS sees him implement Samsung telephony solutions and applications as part of technology that integrates voice, video and data into IP communications, designed to help businesses reduce costs and improve efficiency.

The Samsung judging panel of senior executives praised Steve for his ability to consistently manage complex issues, and work with Samsung’s own engineer team on continuous product development.

Andrew Kenyon, Samsung’s product and technical services manager, said: “In a fast moving and pressurised customer engineering environment, being highly self sufficient and able to manage complex issues is a prized attribute for any telecoms engineer. Manufacturers are sometimes equally as reliant on their reseller’s engineering capabilities as they are on their in-house team, and a situation that needs that extra bit of skill or self sufficiency needs an outstanding engineer who can deliver high levels of customer and manufacturer support.

“Steve’s ability to ‘own’ an issue, whether it’s a simple one-off query or a complex situation where he works in parallel with us to find a solution, was a key factor in his success.

“He won the award in the face of a lot of competition. Over 300 other engineers from across the UK were put forward, so he can be very proud of his achievement.”

Steve, who lives in Hadston in Northumberland, said: “Winning the award was a complete surprise as I didn’t even realise I’d been nominated.

“Helping to bring together all the strands that streamline an organisation’s communications can be a challenge, but it’s all part of the day to day job of delivering what we promise to our clients. It gives me great satisfaction to be part of a team consistently delivering successful projects.

“Of course the icing on the cake would be if I get to see England score the winning World Cup goal on my new TV now.”

ITPS launched the new unified communications division in response to demand from businesses looking to streamline information delivery by unifying computer networks, handheld devices and telephone systems to create smoother, more efficient communications and improve productivity.
Kevin Almond, head of ITPS’s unified communications division, said: “We were delighted with Steve’s well-deserved win of this prestigious award.

“Our engineers play a critical role in the smooth installation of technology solutions that mean businesses can access and manage data, messages, contact books and other information from any device and any location.

“Steve’s hard work and commitment has made a real contribution to the success of our new division and we are very pleased that his talent has been officially recognised by a world leader in communications technology.”