The Innovate Awards

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INNOVATE AWARDS

About the Awards

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Learn more about the Innovate Awards and how your business can push boundaries through connectivity.

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An intense focus on customer service, powered by data and connectivity, has transformed how Tractor Supply serves rural America.

How transformative thinkers are using connectivity to reshape industries and drive a more innovative future.

Innovation in Employee Enablement

Axis Energy Services

Innovation in Industry

Cisco

Innovation in Community

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The Malcolm Gladwell Tipping Point Award

South Walton Mosquito Control District

Innovation in Customer Experience

Tractor Supply

The Winners

THE

2025

Tractor Supply: Redefining Rural Retail

Making it work required strong, reliable connectivity in and around stores. “T-Mobile for Business not only brought the right infrastructure but also the focus on rural connectivity that helps us add value for every customer,” says Rob Mills, executive vice president and chief technology, digital, and corporate strategy officer at Tractor Supply. That foundation now supports even more innovation. “Computer Vision” AI alerts team members when browsing customers need assistance or additional help is needed at checkout lines, while mobile tools enable field reps to transact off-site and power community events like farmers markets. The results are clear: faster transactions, higher customer satisfaction and empowered employees. “We’ve built our brand on customer service,” Mills says. “These solutions, through our partnership with T-Mobile, ensure our teams can deliver on that promise every day.”

Axis Energy Services: Making Employees Safer on the Job

Smarter networks and real-time data are helping Axis Energy Services improve safety in one of America’s most demanding industries.

For decades, oil well service rigs have looked and operated much the same. “If you could run one in 1975, you can run one today,” says Ryan Phillips, chief executive officer at Axis Energy, the nation’s largest well service company. “We wanted to take a proven, well-designed machine and make it better.” That challenge led Axis to partner with T-Mobile for Business, combining the reach of T-Mobile’s 5G network with its T-Satellite technology—part of the company’s SuperMobile business plan—to connect remote crews working all over the country, from Texas to North Dakota and from Wyoming to Pennsylvania. The result is a safer, data-driven approach to predictive maintenance, hazard prevention and cybersecurity that’s setting a new standard across the energy sector.

Building on that foundation, Axis developed the CORE platform, a system of sensors that continuously monitors equipment performance, anticipates irregularities and identifies maintenance needs before downtime occurs. Alongside it, the company introduced the nation’s first fully electric well service rig—the EPIC RIG—replacing dozens of mechanical parts with a single, digitally controlled AC motor. Operators using both systems have reported significant efficiency gains and, more importantly, major improvements in worker safety. Connectivity powers every piece of this progress. Wearables and environmental sensors track gas exposure and worker biometrics, generating real-time alerts that can prevent injury or save lives. Axis relies on a hybrid network of cellular service and T-Satellite coverage to keep that data flowing, even from remote well sites. “The system doesn’t just react to problems,” Phillips says. “It anticipates and optimizes around them and scales across hundreds of field assets.”

Cisco: Reshaping Digital Procurement

Transforming purchasing to deliver greater predictability and cost savings.

Recently, there has been a spotlight on the role of procurement in effective business operations. To bring predictability to this critical function, Cisco has built a transformative platform that integrates AI and automation into key processes. As a result, procurement teams can better forecast, optimize spend to invest in innovation and company growth, and mitigate risk to help predict potential disruptions in the supply chain.

Cisco has enabled mechanisms for companies to improve collaboration with suppliers through the analysis of performance and market data, leading to greater accountability and lowering the likelihood of significant disruption. Additionally, this insight into suppliers allows companies to further drive initiatives around other business priorities. Users can securely access the platform from anywhere. Cisco combines 5G connectivity and AI in ways that help speed decisions, increase precision, reduce thousands of touchpoints, and allow for optimized spending and risk mitigation.

UNLV: Where Innovation Meets Hospitality

A living lab in Las Vegas is using 5G, AI and robotics to reimagine the guest experience.

In an industry built on connection, hospitality leaders have long sought new ways to deliver more personalized service while improving efficiency behind the scenes. At Black Fire Innovation, a partnership between the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Hard Rock, that pursuit has become a hands-on experiment. Inside the Advanced Technology Kitchen Lab, researchers, operators and technology partners are testing how data, robotics and artificial intelligence can transform every detail of the dining and service experience, from kitchen prep to customer interaction.

Every test in the lab depends on T-Mobile’s 5G network, which keeps people, devices and data linked in real time. That level of responsiveness allows robotic bartenders to react instantly, digital twins to optimize inventory and energy use, and AI models to anticipate guest preferences before an order is placed. The early results are promising: energy consumption down 19% and guest satisfaction scores up 25%. Perhaps most notably, students working in the lab are earning credentials in “5G food tech,” preparing for a new generation of hospitality careers. “In Las Vegas, you can use an entire resort as a test bed,” says Zachary Miles, executive director of the UNLV Research Foundation. “T-Mobile for Business frees up more time for human interactions informed by data. It transforms them.”

South Walton Mosquito Control District: Protecting Public Health From the Sky

How drones and 5G connectivity are transforming mosquito control and environmental safety in Florida.

To modernize those efforts, the South Walton Mosquito Control District (SWMCD) launched a drone program, becoming the first in its region to use unmanned aerial systems for targeted treatment and environmental mapping. “It’s a lot more efficient and safer as well,” says Darrin Dunwald, director of SWMCD. The drones can cover areas in minutes that once took crews half a day to reach, significantly reducing fuel use, labor and exposure to hazardous conditions. Each flight relies on T-Mobile’s 5G network, which keeps operators connected and enables real-time communication across the district’s 123 square miles. The network’s reliability allows the team to coordinate operations, upload mapping data, and make fast, data-driven decisions even in remote field environments. The results have been remarkable: Treatment efficiency has increased by up to 75% in previously hard-to-reach zones, while mapping drones now help planners understand how development and weather patterns affect mosquito breeding areas. Together, technology and connectivity are helping South Walton set a new standard for smart, sustainable mosquito control.

Innovation rarely starts in a lab. It begins when someone sees a better way to work, connect or care for others and decides to make it real. Across the country, visionary leaders are pairing ingenuity with advanced connectivity to make that possible. The Innovate Awards from T-Mobile for Business recognize those change-makers who are proving what happens when technology serves people, driving progress across industries, workplaces and communities. “It is inspiring to watch how our customers use technology to make meaningful change,” says Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile for Business. “Their creativity and determination show how 5G connectivity can turn bold ideas into lasting impact across every industry we touch.” Read on to learn more about this year’s winners.

Honoring the Innovators

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Learn more about The Unconventional Awards and how your innovative thinking might be recognized.

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Easterseals Southern California: A More Inclusive Vision

Easterseals Southern California is using connectivity to help people with autism access transportation safely.

For those with profound autism, even a trip in the family car can expose a host of challenges and triggers, making it unsafe for everyone involved. “Some people with autism have trouble keeping their seatbelts on. Traffic, stopping at a stoplight or even a parent having to take a different route can be a trigger,” says Dr. Paula Pompa-Craven, chief clinical officer at Easterseals Southern California (ESSC). “We have participants who will not leave the home or ride in a car.” These barriers, Pompa-Craven says, put people with autism at risk for a wide range of negative health and quality-of-life outcomes. To fulfill its mission of full equity, inclusion and access for the people it supports, ESSC has long prioritized the application of technological solutions. To address this need, it turned to a novel application of VR—staging those triggers in a virtual setting so participants, working with a clinician, can safely practice skills to reduce dangerous behaviors while riding in a car.

The Award Winners

The transformative potential of technology is about more than devices, networks and clouds—it’s driven by the innovative spirit of the people who apply it to solve problems. Those creative, collaborative thinkers who have utilized the power of connectivity in service of people are being celebrated by T-Mobile for Business through the 2024 Unconventional Awards. The winners, notes Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile Business Group, have all demonstrated a dedication to superior experience. “The Unconventional Awards help bring to life just incredible examples of how 5G and these bleeding-edge technologies can be used by businesses of all types in driving new outcomes while serving critical audiences,” Katibeh says. “Witnessing how these winners have creatively leveraged T-Mobile’s tools, infrastructure and 5G solutions to address real problems is inspiring and reinforces our commitment to innovation.” Read on to learn more about this year’s first place winners.

About the Awards

THE

See the Winners

Tractor Supply: Redefining Rural Retail

An intense focus on customer service, driven by connectivity, has profoundly improved CX.

To serve the diverse needs of farmers, ranchers, homeowners and animal owners across its more than 2,200 stores, each potentially occupying over 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor retail space, Tractor Supply turned to data. One key step included the “Hey GURA” app, accessed through a single mobile device, that was developed to provide team members centralized access to critical product and customer information to personalize in-store shopping experiences, accessed through a single mobile device. Making it work required strong, reliable connectivity in and around its stores. “T-Mobile for Business had not only the core infrastructure offering, but also the focus on rural connectivity that made them an ideal partner to help us add value,” says Rob Mills, EVP, chief technology, digital and corporate strategy officer at Tractor Supply. The connectivity architecture allows Tractor Supply to deploy other technologies that elevate its customer experience, slashing transaction times for things like propane refills and equipment rentals. Computer vision technology instantly alerts team members if customers are queuing at checkout or have entered an area where help is required. They’ve even used the tools to initiate community events, like farmers markets in store parking lots, and help field reps transact with customers offsite. Improvements like these have led to measurable rise in customer satisfaction scores. “We’ve built our brand on customer service,” Mills says. “These tools, through our partnership with T-Mobile, ensure that team members are always able to deliver on that promise.”

Axis Energy: Making Employees Safer on the Job

Leveraging the tools of connectivity has helped improve safety in the world of oil and gas production.

Oil rigs haven’t changed much in 50 years, says Ryan Philips, chief executive officer at Axis Energy, the nation’s largest well service company. “If you could run one in 1975, you can run one today. We wanted to take a proven, well-designed machine and make it better.” The solution came with technology. Axis’s CORE platform deploys an extensive array of sensors delivering data for critical systems, helping lower downtime by anticipating irregularities and identifying maintenance needs. With the fully-electric EPIC RIG, “we’ve taken a mechanical nightmare—all those gears, sprockets, pulleys and levers—and made it a single, digitally controlled AC motor,” Philips says. Operators using both systems, he notes, have seen 20% gains in efficiency. More importantly, because potentially dangerous actions on a rig can be calibrated and controlled by the technologies, the possibility of human error is lessened and worker safety has improved. “Sensors, controls and computer programming have created an environment designed to prevent a catastrophic incident," Phillips says. Because rigs are often in the country’s most remote areas, these systems are dependent on robust connectivity. Axis leverages T-Mobile for Business’s relationship with Starlink to ensure services are never interrupted. “We’re working in places where you have to drive 30 minutes to find cell reception,” Phillips says. “We’re able to have the best connectivity, which gives us the ability to transmit real-time data and ensure the health of these machines.”

Cisco: Reshaping Digital Procurement

Transforming purchasing to deliver greater predictability and cost-savings in an era of uncertainty

Global events over the last few years have shined a spotlight on the role of procurement in effective business operations. To bring predictability to this critical function, Cisco has built a transformative platform that integrates AI and automation into key processes like sourcing, contract management and supplier risk assessments. Predictive analytics enable procurement teams to more accurately forecast demand, identify opportunities to save money and more accurately predict potential disruptions in the supply chain. In a step vital for managing risk in supply chains, Cisco has enabled mechanisms for companies to improve collaboration with suppliers through the analysis of high volumes of performance and market data, helping them build stronger relationships that lead to greater accountability and lower the likelihood of significant disruption. Additionally, that insight into suppliers allows companies to further initiatives around priorities like sustainability and diversity. Together, it means faster, more precise decision-making, with the ability to anticipate the type of disruptions that can hamstring strategic growth. The platform leverages 5G network technology from T-Mobile for Business, with gateways providing scalable wide area networking (WAN) services, which improves speed and experience. Working jointly, Cisco and T-Mobile developed solutions like cloud-native converged core gateways, which further enhance network strength, increase speed and lower latency.

Cisco: Reshaping Digital Procurement

Merging people and technology to create truly personalized experiences.

Innovation in Customer Experience

Tractor Supply

Innovation in Employee Enablement

Axis Energy Services

Innovation in Industry

Cisco

Innovation in Community

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The Malcolm Gladwell Tipping Point Award

South Walton Mosquito Control District

Innovation in Customer Experience

Easterseals Southern California

Innovation in Employee Enablement

Infosys

Innovation in Industry

Sony Electronics and CBS Sports

Innovation in Community

3AM Innovations

The Tipping Point

UMiami Dept. of Informatics and Health Data Science

To meet the needs of farmers, ranchers, homeowners and pet owners across more than 2,300 stores—each with up to 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space—Tractor Supply faced a challenge: how to deliver connected, personalized service across vast rural markets where coverage is often limited. The solution was the “Hey GURA” app, giving team members instant access to product details and customer insights through a single mobile device. It helps associates personalize every experience while improving efficiency at checkout and in the field. Making it work required strong, reliable connectivity in and around stores. “T-Mobile for Business not only brought the right infrastructure but also the focus on rural connectivity that helps us add value for every customer,” says Rob Mills, executive vice president and chief technology, digital, and corporate strategy officer at Tractor Supply.

In the Florida Panhandle, where mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis pose ongoing risks, controlling mosquito populations is critical to public health. Reaching every area that requires treatment has traditionally been time-consuming and costly, often involving manned aircraft and ground crews navigating wetlands and remote terrain. To modernize those efforts, the South Walton Mosquito Control District (SWMCD) launched a drone program, becoming the first in its region to use unmanned aerial systems for targeted treatment and environmental mapping. “It’s a lot more efficient and safer as well,” says Darrin Dunwald, director of SWMCD. The drones can cover areas in minutes that once took crews half a day to reach, significantly reducing fuel use, labor and exposure to hazardous conditions.

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