Kevin Rama
Cisco Business Manager
This month at Cisco’s annual partner conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Softcat received the Social Responsibility Partner of the Year Award for its innovation, leadership and best practice as a Cisco business partner across the UK and Ireland. The award is given to a partner that embodies a commitment to making a positive impact on the world.
Colin Brown, Managing Director, accepting the award on behalf of Softcat, said “Softcat are extremely proud to receive this new award which demonstrates our commitment to a visible and meaningful approach to corporate and social responsibility through investment and action.”
Softcat have always led with a strong Corporate Social Responsibility at the core of our culture and we continuously support and encourage our employees to involve themselves both at a personal level and through company-wide initiatives. This can range from our initiative to grant all staff 2 days paid leave to engage in charitable activity – the equivalent of 2,400 days dedicated to charity work each year, individual activities including the London marathon and skydives or the less strenuous pyjama and cake sales, through to our annual Charity Ball which raised over £230,000 for our nominated charities, or transforming our offices into Comic Relief callcentres to take donations and support their annual campaigns.
Angela Whitty, Managing Director, Cisco UKI Partner Organisation, commented on the win: “We were extremely pleased to present Softcat with our ‘Social Responsibility Partner of the Year’ during our Partner Summit event last week, in Las Vegas. This award recognises the culture that is celebrated within Softcat, and their overriding commitment to making a visible and meaningful impact in the communities in which they work and live, giving significant time, energy, skills and investment to making a substantial and lasting difference in the lives and welfare of their employees and others, and being an exemplar in the arena of social responsibility”.
Cisco also launched a new brand campaign at the event: “The bridge to possible” at the event, shaped by the belief that technology is key to solving the toughest challenges in business and society, and committing to positively impact 1 billion lives by 2025.
Outside charity, we are increasingly aiming to close the gap on gender disparity by supporting Women in Tech, and support initiatives such as ‘Ways into work’, designed to gain employment for individuals with Special Needs and Learning Disabilities, - those individuals employed as a result of this initiative also contribute to the very essence of Softcat’s inclusive and caring culture.
Finally, Softcat have initiatives centred on Health and Wellbeing where we dedicate time to raise awareness of mental health. Training is undertaken by all managers to help them spot the early signs of mental health in their teams and by raising general awareness across the business, and we have demonstrated our support through the signing of our Mental Health Pledge
Cisco Partner Summit Theatre awards reflect the top-performing partners within specific technology markets across the UK and Ireland. All award recipients are selected by a group of Cisco Global Partner Organization and regional and theatre executives.
Get in touch
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch, or, if you're interested in joining our team, take a look at our current vanancies here.