Introduction to the Gartner Eye On Innovation Awards for Financial Services 2021.
These Awards will be hosted by Peter Redshaw, Practice Vice President, Juergen Weiss, Practice Vice President and Peter Delano, Managing Vice President
Award ceremonies will take place between October and November 2021 at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo® 2021.
This global award series recognizes financial services companies for their innovative use of technology to drive best-in-class initiatives. All submissions are assessed by Gartner, and finalists and winners are selected by benchmarking against world-class performance standards at our annual Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo® 2021

Entries now are welcome and should be submitted by Friday, July 30, 2021.

Please use this form to officially submit your entries. Do not send additional (separate) attachments as we're unable to consider those for our assessment.

Entrants will receive a confirmation email after submission. If you do not receive a confirmation, or if you are unsure that your entry was successfully received, please contact our team at @link:mailto:FSEyeonInnovation@gartner.com@FSEyeonInnovation@gartner.com.
Award Categories and Number of Submissions
Entrants from financial services end-user organizations can enter up to three submissions for the Eye on Innovation Awards for Financial Services. There are no predefined participation and award categories. The nominations may include:

• Business models that deliver new strategic value or profit
• Technology-related services or products that improve customer experience
• Use of automation and intelligence to increase operational efficiency or reduce costs
• Creation of business ecosystems and platforms that extend an existing value proposition


Legal Disclaimers
Gartner reserves the right to talk publicly about the finalists and winners of the Eye on Innovation Awards for Financial Services, as well as their projects and initiatives. This may include the issuance of press releases or other marketing and communication collateral. Gartner reserves the right to publish any additional research in written form without prior approval from the nominees. Courtesy draft copies of research material will be submitted for fact-checking
to the winners in each category. Published copies of any research material will be distributed to all finalists. Research material can be accessed here: 2019 Gartner Eye on Innovation Award Winners in Financial Services Raise the Bar for User Experience.

For further information regarding the data collected during the submission process, please refer to Gartner’s privacy policy. Companies that would like to leverage their successful nominations for own press and PR activities need to comply with Gartner Copyright and Quote policy.

Awards Assessment Criteria
Entries are evaluated by a team of Gartner experts using The Gartner Awards Framework (GAF) - a structured model that benchmarks participating organizations against world-class performance standards. The GAF consists of specialized assessment modules pertaining to the evaluation criteria.

• Applications will be reviewed over an 8-week period by a team of Gartner experts
• Up to nine (9) finalists in each major region are selected and invited to participate in one of our upcoming Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo conferences in United States (Orlando), Europe (Barcelona), Australia (Gold Coast): https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/symposium-us
• Each finalist has between 3 and 5 minutes (depending on the number of finalists) to present their initiative. Gartner will strictly monitor and enforce the timing of presentations to ensure fairness and to meet session constraints
• All session attendees (the assembled end-user audience) vote at the end of the presentations using online/wireless polling to choose the winners as well as the overall regional winner

Awards FAQ
Q.: How does our organization enter the Eye on Innovation Awards program?
A.: To participate in program you are required to submit an entry conforming to the guidelines listed in the online form above. All entries must be submitted online using the following website: http://surveys.gartner.com/s/EyeOnInnovation2021. Please do not send separate emails or submit additional attachments as we can’t consider those.

Q.: What do you do with my registration details?
A.: Your privacy/confidentiality is very important to us. Your registration data is kept confidential and only used for the purposes of processing your entry and keeping you up-to-date about our award program and any logistical details should you be selected as a finalist. We will not use this information for any other purpose and will not disclose this information to any third parties without your expression permission. For further information we refer you to Gartner’s privacy policy.

Q.: How do I update or cancel my registration details?
A.: You can update your registration and submission details at any time by using the following link: http://surveys.gartner.com/s/EyeOnInnovation2021. Should you decide to cancel your submission at you may notify FSEyeonInnovation@gartner.com. If you also don’t want to receive any more information or updates from us on the Gartner Eye On Innovation Awards for Financial Services, you may also request removal from our distribution list by using the link above.

Q.: What do I do once I've prepared my entry?
A.: Proceed to the online entry form http://surveys.gartner.com/s/EyeOnInnovation2021 and enter your information, or simply copy and paste your submission from this document. Please do not provide separate attachments, as we can’t consider them. Please pay attention to the maximum word count, be as succinct as possible to enable us to evaluate the efficacy of each submission. Each question should be answered as fully as possible, and your answers should illuminate how and why the submission could be considered innovative as per our submission criteria. Please explain how your initiative has created an improvement in the business. Written submissions should include hard data/numbers/facts where possible (Gartner recognizes that this information is confidential and will not be publicly revealed without your express consent).

Q.: Can entrants submit entries into multiple award categories?
A: You can submit up to three entries for your company on a global basis. If you operate globally and have subsidiaries in different regions, pick the most relevant region for your submissions.
If you have more than three potential innovation ideas, please select which three you consider to be the best. If you submit more than three proposals, Gartner will only consider the first three submissions and will reject any others.

Q.: Are there predefined award categories as in previous years?
A.: No. You can submit any initiative that you consider to be innovative. Gartner will review all submissions comparing and assessing them for the selection of finalists and actual awards at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo conferences in the United States, Europe and Australia.

Q.: Can vendors, systems integrators, or service providers facilitate or help in the submission of our client’s nomination?
A: No. Vendors are not allowed to participate, or to complete any submission documents on behalf of any financial services companies.

Q.: Can a vendor also jointly present with a financial institution finalist at Symposium?
A: No. Vendors will not be permitted to participate in any context.

Q.: Who can submit nominations?
A: Nominations can be submitted by any qualified and authorized executive. It is important that submitters remain contactable throughout the process. Technology vendors, consultants, services companies, etc., are not allowed to submit innovation initiatives directly.

Q.: Who determines the finalists?
A: Gartner analysts determine the finalists based on the GAF (see above and the submission criteria).

Q.: Will Gartner announce the winners publicly?
A: Yes, winners and regional winners will be announced at one of the respective conferences in Orlando (United States), Barcelona (Spain) and Gold Coast (Australia). Gartner may use videotaping and audio recording, as well as still photography at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo and finalists can request copies as appropriate for PR purposes. Trophies and certificates will also be awarded to the winners.

Q.: Do finalists have to attend Symposium?
A: Yes, one executive from organizations selected as finalists must attend the respective conference to present their entry in front of the audience. Failure to attend results in the immediate cancellation of finalist status and the opportunity to win.* Details of attendance and the necessary logistical information are available here https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/role/cio-it-executives/cio-conferences
Additional correspondence will be forthcoming as part of the Awards process. We strongly advise executives submitting entries to contact their Executive Partners and Gartner Sales for more information on Symposium.
Additional correspondence will be forthcoming as part of the process. We strongly advise executives (who are clients) submitting entries to contact their Executive Partners and Gartner Sales for more information on Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo.

*Please note that due to the changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there may be governmental or other types of restrictions in place, rendering some groups of people unable to travel and be physically present at the Symposium/Xpo. We understand the situation and are working to find alternative ways for selected finalists to present their innovations. We encourage prospective participants to submit their entries even if they don’t think they would be able to attend in person.

Q.: Will finalists need to pay to attend Symposium?
A: Gartner will provide one complimentary ticket per finalist as we expect to have one speaker per finalist on stage. That ticket is valid for the entire conference. Finalists will have to cover their own T&A expenses.

Q.: What kind of format should finalists follow for their Symposium presentations?
A: You can either create a brief presentation deck and include a brief video about your initiative.
However, the video should not take more than one minute of your presentation time; i.e., it won’t be possible to only show a video as part of your presentation. Gartner will provide more details about the specific requirements for the presentation or video format to selected finalists. Gartner will also offer a complimentary professional speaker coach to finalist speakers.

Q.: Who determines the winners?
A: All winners will be selected by the assembled audience at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo using online polling technology. In the event of a tie, Gartner will determine the winner(s). All votes on the day are considered final.

Q.: What happens if Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo are run again as virtual events?
A: If Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo can’t be run as physical events due to the pandemic, the chosen finalists will present virtually. Additional correspondence will be forthcoming as part of the process.

Q.: Which projects would qualify for the awards?
A: Projects to be considered must have been launched during the period of August 2020 through July 2021. They could be in any stage of development, from a prototype to commercially launched as a product/service.
Awards Process
Entry is open to executives from any financial institution (not technology vendors or technology services companies) who have implemented an innovation using digital technology capabilities, products or services within the financial services industry during the past year (July 1st 2020 - July 30th 2021).
Entries should be submitted through the online form that follows this page.

The closing date for all entries is Friday, July 30, 2021.

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