Affno wins 2 golds and the overall silver

AWARDS: Affno, Sri Lanka's leading software engineering company for web-based software products won two Gold Awards and the Silver for the Best Overall Product, vindicating the Company's excellent growth over the year. The blue riband National Awards for Best Quality Software in Sri Lanka was held on October 20, against a glittering backdrop of entertainment and a stellar turnout of Sri Lanka's elite ICT fraternity.

Affno won Gold Awards in the Financial Application Category, for their Retail Stock Market Booster product and in the E-Government and Services Category, for their City Planning Services Management product. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka also gave a special award to Affno at this occasion for the Best Financial Application. When the night drew to its exciting conclusion with the presentation of awards for the overall winners, Affno stood tall, garnering the prestigious Silver.

The National Best Quality Software Awards recognises and honours significant technological developments and innovation within Sri Lanka's software industry. The event was organised by the British Computer Society (BCS), with the support of the Sri Lanka Association for Software Industry (SLASI), the Software Exporters Association (SEA) and the Infotel Society, Universities of Colombo and Moratuwa.

This year 36 products developed by 28 companies competed in 11 categories. The panel of judges representing the user community and academia has been very stringent in their judging this year. Golds were awarded only in six categories and the number of Silvers and Bronzes were also limited.

Commenting on Affno's performance, Dr. Dileepa de Silva - Chairman, BCS said, "As usual Affno has performed well. Affno is a very innovative company and does what it does well. Affno has the quality and has maintained it".

Affno's phenomenal growth can be attributed to a marriage of visionary thinking with a passion for utilizing the full resources of technology, whilst tempering the whole with a very comprehensive grasp of where the future lies in the field of ICT.

Professor V. K. Samaranayake, the Chairman of ICTA, commenting on Affno's achievements said, "I have seen them progressing right from the beginning. They started small, but hard work with a quest for perfection and striving for the best performance has helped them to become what they are today".

For a six-year-old company, Affno's growth has not only held pride and a sense of achievement for the company itself, but has embellished the ICT sector and brought pride to the country too.

Dr. Gihan Dias, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Moratuwa said, "I have know Affno for more than five years now, and I can see that they have progressed steadily and consistently and in a planned manner". He further opined, "Sri Lanka is actually quite a tough market because we are open to competition from all other countries.

So for a product to do well in the Sri Lankan market, it has to be of international standard. This means that such products can be marketed internationally without too much difficulty. I therefore feel that Affno and its products have very good potential in other countries as well". Udaya De Silva - President, SLASI reinforcing the same sentiment added, "Affno has also been performing very well right throughout and Affno's products seem to also have a good overseas potential".