"We are honored to receive this award," noted Bob Din, CEO of En Pointe. "The credit goes to our customers who appreciate our operational excellence, both from a systems prospective and through our superior customer service. I commend our associates for doing such an exceptional job.

"Our philosophy is based on both cost efficiency and the simplification of procurement and business processes. We work closely with our customers to understand their business climate, current needs, and future goals. We've made significant investments over the past year in developing our Microsoft Practice -- including our operational efficiencies, customer on-boarding process, the expansion of our sales force, increased dedicated program resources, and our solutions training and certification program. We attribute all of these factors to our overall growth and success this year.

"Additionally, we believe that by aligning our efforts with Microsoft and our other strategic partners, we can provide our customers with the latest technology solutions and services they need to run their business in an efficient and cost effective manner."

Winners were chosen from a pool of more than 29 entrants in the US and Canada. En Pointe was recognized for superior operational excellence, meeting or exceeding specific requirements for the number of valid agreements in a variety of categories, as well as the number of on-time and valid order submissions and revenue reconciliation. By meeting these operational criteria, these winners have illustrated their commitment to providing value and customer satisfaction.

"We are pleased to recognize our top performing partners for their collaboration and achievement in facilitating customers' software solutions with innovative and reliable operations." stated Matt Rossmeissl, General Manager for Microsoft Worldwide Commercial Operations. "The Operational Excellence award is an opportunity to reward our highest potential partners for their investments in growing our joint capabilities to serve customers."

"Each year our partners are measured based on their level of operational excellence and end to end process performance. This award recognizes those partners who continuously raise the bar and strive to perform at a level enabling end customers to transact business with Microsoft in the most efficient, accurate and timely manner," said Mary Ellen Smith, Microsoft's General Manager for the America Operation Center. "We value their focus to deliver operational excellence to our end customers."

The Microsoft Licensing Operational Excellence Awards recognize Microsoft Partners that have developed and delivered operational excellence over the past year.