" ITREALMS: Ericsson’s App Awards 2014: SOP, WorkMode emerge winners

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Ericsson’s App Awards 2014: SOP, WorkMode emerge winners


The Nigerian team SOP and South African team WorkMode at the weekend emerged first prize winners in their various categories in the 2014 Ericsson’s App awards, ITRealms reports.

Also ITRealms reports that SOP from Nigeria won its first prize in company category for the app that monitors electricity supply, while South Africa’s team WorkMode won first prize position in the student category with its collaboration app.

ITRealms recalls that both teams were selected out of 300 teams from over 63 countries from all over the globe and selected semi-finalist apps were reviewed by a panel of global representatives and they decided on the two winning teams, who will each receive €25,000, about N5544331.36 in prize money.

Announcing the winners of the 2014 Ericsson Application Awards at a ceremony at Ericsson Studio in Kista, Sweden, the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Ericsson, Bina Chaurasia, while congratulating the winners, noted that the honours in the student category, Team WorkMode from South Africa created an app that helps workers collaborate by allowing them to see the real-time work context and tasks of colleagues.

According to the jury remarks made available to ITRealms, “We felt that Team WorkMode showed a strong business potential, and their focus on design and usability helped them when it came to innovation and addressing the theme of Apps for working life.”

Responding, Jacques Marais of Team WorkMode said, ”This award will help us to build our business and allow us to develop not only this app but also some ideas we have around education in South Africa. It will also enable us to purchase hardware so we can expand to different platforms. It’s a real boost.”

On the company category won by Team SOP from Nigeria, who created an app that analyses the availability of electricity in a given area, the jury outlined their reasons for choosing SOP, saying in a joint statement that “Team SOP presented a strong case of using technology in a way that anyone could understand, value and would invest in. 

“They cleverly combined consumer, society and business benefits around lifting transparency of power delivery in a well designed package,” the jury said.

Reacting, Toks Ogun of Team SOP said, “This award means we can continue to expand and develop our app, which monitors electricity supplies. We can see a market in parts of North America, in South America and in India and we will continue to develop our idea.”

The RSSA Technology for Good Award also went to Africa, with Sowertech’s Afta Robot app receiving the award for their smart solution for public transportation.


The jury motivated their choice by saying: “Every day 15 million people in Africa face long walks and sometimes longer waits as they make their daily journeys by taxi. Sowertech has helped connect taxis and their customers by providing information on location and much more through their Afta Robot mobile app.”

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