Element Blue takes home the award for Most Innovative Solution at the IBM Digital Experience Conference.

Last week, a small band of the Element Blue team packed our bags and headed west to Anaheim for IBM’s Digital Experience Conference. This conference brings together IBMers, business partners, and customers for an involved 3 days where we discuss the implementation, deployment, and successes of IBM’s powerful arsenal of hardware, software, and applications. While we can’t deny that escaping Houston’s thermostat shattering heat for a few days was reason enough to head to Cali, there’s much more that this conference offers than 70-degree July weather and backstage passes to IBM’s newest toys.

The Element Blue team at Digital Experience 2014.

Conferences like Digital Experience, or IMPACT, provide our technical team with an opportunity to hone their skills and become better solutions experts. In fact, while many of us were explaining our product offerings to clients and customers, our technical team was away studying and reviewing for additional IBM certifications.

However, despite the expos or the discussion sessions, the true highlight of our trip came in the form of a simple surprise. This year was the first year the Digital Experience Conference handed out the award for the Most Innovative Solution of the year. The shock of learning about this new award was swiftly eclipsed by the realization that we would be the first recipient.

Our work on the New Blue Edge has once again provided Element Blue with some unexpected acclaim. To make matters better, our partners on the project, Waterfront Toronto, joined us at the conference to speak about the solution.

The Digital Experience Conference has always been one of our favorites but this year it became truly special. We’ve always made intentional and strategic strides to offer products that better our clients’ services and it’s humbling to know that our clients aren’t the only one that are noticing our work.