Abacus ALS won the top Telstra Business Award for Qld.

Abacus ALS, formed by a merger of Abacus Diagnostics and Australian Laboratory Services in 2007, provides internationally-manufactured products for clinical diagnostics in critical care, allergy and autoimmunity, bone and mineral testing, infectious serology and life science.

The East Brisbane-based business was acclaimed Telstra Queensland Business of the Year at the 18th Telstra Queensland Business Awards last night after earlier winning the Panasonic Australia Medium Business Award.

The businessowner Micro-Business Award went to Calamvale Veterinary Clinic, a practice that promotes preventative pet care and provides consultation, orthopaedic and soft tissue surgery and grooming with a standard of customer service that also won a 2010 industry award.

The MYOB Small Business Award was won by Aqualogical Pty Ltd, an Underwood consultancy established in 2006 that provides hydraulic and fire service design solutions for major commercial and residential construction projects in South East Queensland.

The  AMP Innovation Award went to Signmanager Pty Ltd, an industry-leading Brisbane business that delivers significant efficiencies through its management and maintenance of brand and signage assets for large corporations - customers include 50 of the top 200 ASX companies.

The Sensis Social Responsibility Award went to Northern Project Contracting, of Capalaba, an Indigenous-owned company with offices in northern, southern and western Queensland that specialises in contracting and training services for the mining and civil construction industries

Telstra Business group managing director and ambassador of the Telstra Business Awards, Deena Shiff, said that all Queensland winners of the five awards categories were chosen from hotly-contested fields and all had sound business strategies to continue their current growth.

"Abacus ALS should feel a great sense of pride because the calibre of the 19 finalists in this year's Awards was very impressive, reflecting the strength of Australia's small and medium business sector," Ms Shiff said.

Abacus Diagnostics was founded by Bruce Evans in 1998 after he identified a gap for an Australian-owned distributor of in vitro diagnostic pathology and research products in a market dominated by a few multinational companies.

A breakthrough for the business was winning a tender to provide blood gas instrumentation with PathWest Laboratories WA in 2006. Strong growth followed the 2007 acquisition of Australian Laboratory Services and the successful integration and rebranding to Abacus ALS.

From a one-person operation working out of a home study, the company now has offices in four Australian States and New Zealand and its customers include public and private laboratories, blood services and university research departments.

"Judges said Abacus ALS is a great business demonstrating excellence across all its core functions with clear strategies for achievement and a culture of strong and passionate employee engagement," Ms Shiff said.

"It is growing ahead of its rivals in an environment and industry of substantial competitiveness and focus on procurement-driven decisions. It has an independent corporate advisory board that ensures ongoing professional governance for the business."

Panasonic Australia managing director Steve Rust said, "Panasonic applauds the innovative spirit, customer focus and openness to new business opportunities that Abacus ALS has demonstrated. At Panasonic we believe that an intense focus on customers is vital for success in today's business environment."

In presenting the Telstra Queensland Business of the Year Award, Ms Shiff said Telstra was proud to be a key partner of small and medium businesses by providing voice and data communications services and solutions that contribute to their success.

"Through our long commitment to the Telstra Business Awards, we wish to encourage a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and business achievements of Australia's finest small and medium enterprises," Ms Shiff said.The winners of the Queensland Awards now will be judged against the category winners from other states and territories in the lead up to the national Telstra Business Awards to be announced in Sydney on August 20.

Winners of the 2010 Telstra Business Awards receive a share of $400,000 in cash and prizes and become part of an exclusive national business alumni.

http://www.telstra.com.au/

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