I want to thank my whole team in Sun Learning Services (SLS) and tell the whole world how proud I am of them. In the course of just one week, we have received some incredible validation from our industry.

It started on September 25th, when two separate organizations honored us with five different awards on the same date. This is such a great endorsement of all our hard work. Even though there is always room for improvement and still a lot of opportunity for us to grow, it's nice every once in a while for someone else to notice your achievements.

First, Chief Learning Officer magazine gave us its gold Learning Team Award for creatively solving problems to gain greater efficiencies while increasing market traction. We were rewarded for internal innovations--like our internal Sales University and online games that teach new hires about our business, mission and vision--as well as external results, such as our revamped partner program and our “iTunes meets YouTube” learning site, Sun Learning eXchange.

Then, through a process that included blind review by at least four judges per entry, Brandon Hall Research bestowed four Excellence in Learning Awards on SLS—more than any other organization. (IBM won three.) Winners were announced at a ceremony at the Innovations in Learning Conference in San Jose, California. We were honored in the following categories:

• Best Innovation in Learning Technology – We won a “bronze” award for our collaborative learning environment, which is like an LMS on steroids--a resource-rich, Web 2.0, one-stop learning shop for employees.

• Best Learning Team – We received another bronze award for teamwork, innovation, efficiency and results in delivering millions of hours of training in 120 countries across employees, customers, partners and our developer and college student communities.

• Best Use of Mobile Learning – We took home the gold for Sun Learning eXchange because it's innovative, sophisticated and highly tailored to the needs of our users.

• Best Use of Blogs, Wikis, or Other Content-Sharing Tools for Learning – Here, we earned a gold for the breadth and depth of our use of collaborative tools for everything from running our program office to our new hire site.

Finally, on October 2^nd, we were recognized as one of the BEST learning organizations in the world by the largest professional learning society in the world, ASTD. This award also relies on a prestigious panel of judges who review lengthy applications while the companies' identities are kept masked. To win, a BEST learning organization needs to demonstrate an overall commitment to excellence, but we were also given special recognition for our innovation, the scope of learners we serve and for pushing the boundaries of informal learning. Sounds like Sun, doesn't it?

Once again, accomplishments this big don't happen without big contributions from a highly talented team. It's great to see that others agree we have a team that warrants pride. This is heady stuff, but we are still acutely aware of the areas where we can continue to improve.

One very valuable part of the award process is that the organizations that give the awards send back comments from the panel of judges to us, so we can see their ideas for how to keep getting better. Coupled with feedback from our internal and external customers, we are ready to take it to the next level.