These new national awards aim to promote the use of OSS in Scotland and to reward those companies delivering Open Source excellence. The judges: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, and acknowledged OSS experts Dan Schearer and Greg Soper, all felt that Enterprise Management Consulting’s work demonstrated fantastic value for money for the Highland Council, providing a clear illustration of how OSS can be used to dramatically reduce government IT spending without cutting the quality of services provided.

The Northern Potential Project was created to encouraging online dialogue, collaboration and the development of business and cultural synergies within and between the three participating Northern Periphery territories: the Highland Council (UK), Landsdelsutvalget (Norway) and Norrlandsförbundet (Sweden). The Highland Council sites (www.northernpotential.net & www.highlandlife.net) provide information including regional statistics, news and information on businesses and local organisations.

Built on the Open Source eZ Publish content management system, the sites deliver dynamic content that can be easily maintained, updated and added to by non-technical staff. News is automatically updated using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to keep the sites current. Additional features include business directories with interactive mapping and strong multi-lingual support, which has allowed the sites to be used as a highly cost-effective source of up to date information for both tourism and new foreign immigrants to the region.

Enterprise Management Consult shared the awards with the Glasgow-based European Technology Centre of the international merchant bank JP Morgan:

“I am obviously delighted that our Scottish team have been chosen for this award,” commented Malcolm Macsween, managing director of Enterprise Management Consulting. “I believe that Sharing this award with a global financial giant like JP Morgan, shows how Open Source Software is levelling the playing field and allowing home-grown UK businesses to compete effectively in the international corporate IT arena.”

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