Business of the Year Award sponsored by
TalkTalk Technology is the network operator and wholesale arm of the TalkTalk Group, the fastest growing telephony and broadband business in the UK. We first started trading in Irlam in 1981 and are proud of our roots that reflect the strong tradition of innovation and success in the North West.
We are particularly delighted to sponsor this year’s coveted ‘Business of the Year Award’ that will showcase one company that stands above all others in terms of delivering outstanding performance and best demonstrates why this region has a vibrant and resilient future.
Renowned for our own forward thinking, TalkTalk Technology has built one of the most advanced and largest next generation networks in the UK – one that reaches 80% of households. This means that voice, data and internet traffic is carried over a single infrastructure which makes us highly cost efficient and allows for the development of new value-added services over time. We use over 5,500km of high bandwidth fibre optic technology on our network, digital transmission equipment and currently switch over 2.5billion minutes of voice traffic a month. Our internet protocol (IP) network already serves over 2.8m broadband customers and is backed up with award-winning technical support.
Because we own and control our network, we’re also in a better position to respond quickly and deliver superior service level commitment. This is particularly relevant for the 200,000 business customers we serve, who are looking to deliver Gigabit Ethernet services, connect a geographically dispersed workforce, improve operational efficiency and ensure business critical operations remain robust and secure. We currently have 23% share of the UK’s broadband market, so Internet service providers like to partner with us too because we have developed the capacity and scale to offer transit services at very competitive rates to meet today’s demanding climate for real time applications such as media distribution and online gaming.
But while our network is the envy of our competitors, we’ve never lost sight upon the fact our success is built upon the talents of our people. There’s a real focus on teamwork at TalkTalk Technology and innovation is part of everyday life in the business. It’s about giving our employees enormous scope to work at the cutting edge of technology, share ideas and find new solutions that overcome problems and better serve our customers.
We applaud all the entrants in this year’s Salford Business Awards and wish you continued success in the future.
Innovation Award Sponsor
The University of Salford has a rich history of teaching, research and innovation dating back to 1896 and we are delighted to be sponsoring the Innovation Award for a second year.
At Salford we're driven by Research and Innovation - our work has been recognised as being of national and international importance in governmental assessments, 83% of our research was judged of international class by the latest Research Assessment Exercise. What's more, 12% was judged to be world-leading – at the very cutting edge. Not only does Salford's research directly benefit people's everyday lives, but it also means that our teaching and business partnerships benefit as well.
As part of this success we've developed into a dynamic and cosmopolitan institution with a first-class reputation for real-world teaching, ground breaking research and employer engagement. What's more, our historic tradition of innovative thinking and commercial success means we're widely regarded as one of the UK's most enterprising universities.
We have proven track record of working closely with businesses, the public sector and community organisations for many years to deliver high quality solutions and first class services. Our dedicated Business Services Unit is a “one-stop shop” providing a customer focused service to support your business needs.
The Technology Award – Salford College
The Excellence Award - Bovis
The Green Award – Environment Agency
The Community Award – Central Salford URC
The Entrepreneur Award - MIDAS