Waikato Business News August/September 2023

Company-X
Innovation Award
finalists announced
Company-X’s Jeremy Hughes joins innovation
award judges.
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2023 5
A
trio of Waikato businesses
are competing
for this year’s Company-X
Innovation Award.
Helix Flight Manufacturing
Machines Ltd, Flight
Structures Ltd and Emergency
Consult, all based in Hamilton,
were named finalists of
the Waikato Chamber of
Commerce Business Awards
on September 13.
Company-X co-founder
and director Jeremy Hughes
was one of the Innovation
Award judges and presented
the finalists with certificates.
“It is so good to see
innovation thriving in the
Mighty Waikato,” Hughes
said.
“Company-X has sponsored
the innovation award since
2017. It was an honour to be
asked to join the panel of judges
this year. Even experienced
businesspeople learn
something from the process
of entering and the feedback
process in these awards, and
that goes for judges too. I loved
hearing about the journey our
innovators are on. I enjoyed
the process tremendously.”
This category recognises
organisations that have
enhanced their success
through innovation - both in
thinking and implementing of
an idea.
Their innovation can be in
a product, service, technology,
or process.
Businesses entering the
Innovation category are
required to have a minimum
of two full time equivalent
employees and annual net
turnover more than $1 million.
“Company-X Innovation
Award finalists are a
testament to the creativity and
ingenuity of Mighty Waikato
companies,” said Company-X
co-founder and director David
Hallett. “We’re proud of their
work, and excited to see what
they do next.”
Head judge Dr Heather
Connolly of Waikato
University’s Management
School said the panel of 29
judges was impressed with the
quality of the finalists.
“We were also pleased to
see the number of entries up
on last year, with a total of 76
entries this year. The calibre
of entrants was excellent and
From left to right, Flight Structures founding director Jon Kerr and business manager Sally Kerr,
Emergency Consult chief executive Jenni Falconer, Helix Flight Manufacturing Machines global
marketing manager Graham Brown and Company-X co-founder and director Jeremy Hughes.
it’s always encouraging to see
businesses enter for the first
time,” Connolly said.
“As judges we feel
privileged that the entrants
again have provided us with
the opportunity to find out
more about what makes them
special. And as businesses in
the region, there are some
amazing things happening.”
Even experienced businesspeople
learn something from the process
of entering and the feedback
process in these awards
Project manager
joins Company-X
Company-X has announced
Basundhara Rai has joined the
software specialist as a senior project
manager.
Hamilton-based Rai manages planning,
scheduling, budgeting, execution, and
delivery of projects for a number of
Company-X clients.
Rai came to Company-X with extensive
experience as a project manager and
business analyst with a diverse range of
multinationals. Rai joined Company-X
from Canadian multinational media
conglomerate Thomson Reuters where
she was a project manager responsible for
legal content for the United Kingdom and
European Union. Before that Rai worked
for US multinational financial services firm
JP Morgan Chase and Co as an associate
project manager and senior business
analyst.
Rai is a certified scrum master, certified
in the most popular agile scaling framework
in the world, Scaled Agile Framework
(SAFe) and is Project Management
Professional trained.
Rai has a postgraduate degree in
Information Technology and a Master
of Business Administration from Narsee
Monjee Institute of Management Studies in
Mumbai, India.
Rai, who joined Company-X in June,
said she was enjoying immersing herself
in Company-X culture getting to know its
clients and their projects.
“It has been extraordinary,” Rai said.
“It is awesome to connect and collaborate
with such bright minds, each with different
specialties.”
Company-X professional services
manager Michael Hamid said: “We are
Basundhara Rai
delighted to welcome Basundhara to the
Company-X team. She has come up to
speed on several projects very quickly
and our clients are already benefiting
from her project management skills and
experience.”
In a short period, I have
experienced the array
of software services
Company-X provides.
I have already learned
so much and am really
looking forward to
expanding my knowledge
horizon.
Acquisition led
to Innovation
Award
Software specialist Company-X’s
acquisition of Pepper Creative
in 2019 led to the development
of the innovation award winning
software Voxcoda.
The inspiration for
Voxcoda came from
Pepper Creative founder
Lance Bauerfeind, who joined
Company-X as product owner
of the software after the acquisition.
Voxcoda uses artificial
intelligence to generate
natural-sounding audio files
from text. This makes it a
cost-effective and efficient
way for businesses to create
voice-overs for their products,
services, and marketing
materials.
In October 2020,
Company-X won the
Homegrown Innovators
Independent Software Vendor
category for Voxcoda in IDG’s
Reseller News Innovation
Awards. The judges praised
Voxcoda for its ability to
automate a labour-intensive
manual process and introduce
automated
workflow
technology to transform the
process for users.
“Voxcoda is one of the jewels
in the crown of our acquisition
of Pepper Creative,” said
David Hallett, co-founder, and
director of Company-X. “It’s a
product that revolutionises the
way that companies create and
manage voice-overs.”
Voxcoda was also
instrumental in Company-X
becoming an Amazon Web
Services (AWS) Partner. AWS
Partners are companies that
have demonstrated expertise
in using AWS services to
help customers achieve their
business goals. Company-X was
awarded AWS Partner status
following an AWS foundational
review of Voxcoda.
“We are excited to become
an AWS Partner,” said Jeremy
Hughes, co-founder, and
director of Company-X. “This
partnership will allow us to
provide our customers with the
best possible cloud solutions
and help them to achieve their
business goals.”
The acquisition of Pepper
Creative was a strategic move
by Company-X to expand its
capabilities in extended reality.
Lance Bauerfeind
As a result of the acquisition,
Company-X was able to build
a state-of-the-art virtual reality
(VR) training programme for
First Gas. The VR training
programme uses a true-to-life
VR model of the Te Kowhai
Main Line Valve in the Waikato
to train First Gas employees on
how to safely operate the plant.
Company-X also built
a VR welding fume risk
identification and control
implementation experience for
WorkSafe. The VR experience
allows WorkSafe employees to
learn about the risks of welding
fumes and how to control
them.
“The acquisition of Pepper
Creative has been a major
success for Company-X,” said
Hughes. “We have been able
to develop innovative new
products and services, such as
Voxcoda and the VR training
programmes for First Gas and
WorkSafe. We are excited to
continue to innovate and grow
our business in the years to
come.”