Double win for financial firm at Tech Awards 2021
AFINANCIAL technology firm celebrating its 25th anniversary this year was crowned a double winner at our West Midlands Tech Awards 2021.
Delta Financial Systems, which employs more than 100 staff at its base in Birmingham city centre, operates exclusively in the pensions sector where its technology is used by the UK’s leading financial services companies to power the administration of their products.
At the ceremony held at the ICC in Birmingham, it took home the Digital Development Team of the Year award while product manager Alison Stocker was named West Midlands Woman in Tech.
The West Midlands Tech Awards are run by our sister websites BirminghamLive and CoventryLive in association with BusinessLive and celebrate excellence in the tech and digital sector across nine categories.
They made a welcome return for 2021 after being cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Delta Financial Systems was founded in 1996 by chief executive Michael Power and has grown to amass an impressive range of blue chip clients which have more than 215,000 members under administration and a combined asset value of £46.75 billion.
The Digital Development Team of the Year category recognised those employees working behind the scenes on the big projects which wow both colleagues and clients and our judging panel was impressed with the work Delta had done during
such a challenging economic period.
Its team has delivered a range of new features during 2020 and this year for its flagship ‘Platinum-Pro’ service, creating new jobs and being part of the first cohort in a new European fintech accelerator run by the Investment Association and supported by Birmingham-based Wesleyan.
In addition to the team award, long-serving staff member Alison Stocker won an individual accolade to celebrate the region’s top women working in the tech and digital sector.
Alison began her career in financial
services in 1982 and built a career in pension administration before joining Delta in 2007.
She has expanded her knowledge to become a key figure in both Delta’s evolving technology and the emerging needs of the pension industry, leading on the analysis of new regulation and consultation papers to determine the impact on the company’s systems and clients.
Away from the office, she volunteers with mental health and emotional support charity the Samaritans, with our judges praising her longevity in the industry and the clear impact she continues to have on the business.
Speaking after the ceremony, Alison, who described winning the award as “unexpected but amazing”, said the gender balance in tech was shifting but she felt issues related to education needed to be addressed.
“It is still a male dominated industry but it is changing,” she said.
“For example, we have been in the process for a while now of re-platforming our technology.
“When we first started that project, I was the only woman in the room for the best part of two years whereas now we have a much bigger team which is more diverse.
“I wonder if our education system is geared around traditional ideas about what boys and girls should do and that needs to change.
“There needs to be a lot more encouragement, and to girls especially, to simply have a go.
“There is so much tied in with the potential risk of failure that if you don’t have a go you will never learn nor know what you are capable of.”
CoventryLive editor Adam Moss said: “I know it’s a cliché but the judging this year was once again a tough task for our panel.
“The West Midlands may be known for its manufacturing heritage but it’s clear we have a stellar tech and digital sector which can rival any other UK region when it comes to attracting talent and developing the next generation of worldbeating products.
“I congratulate Alison and Delta Financial Systems for the double win and all our other finalists and winners for representing the region of today and tomorrow in the best possible way.”