In January and again last month, Lionel blogged about the global expansion of the Dell Small Business Excellence Award. Reminiscent of how Dell got started 24 years ago (Dell celebrated its birthday yesterday), the global program is designed to recognize small businesses using technology in innovative ways to better serve their customers. We are now live in 10 of the 12 counties – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France (launching May 13), Germany, Italy, Japan (launching May 19), Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States – and announced today the 10 finalists for the U.S. award. All national winners will be announced by Sept., with the global winner being named later in the fall.

As highlighted in the news release, this year’s finalists represent a broad range of industries and technology expertise ranging from construction, education and healthcare to the non-technical salon and spa industry.

To provide a glimpse into what these companies are doing to exceed their customers’ expectations, grow their businesses and gain national recognition, we’ll be posting profiles on each of them during the month of May.

The first is Rugroden Drafting and Design, a Onalaska, Wis.-based residential drafting and design service that creates construction drawings and incorporates the latest 3-D technology allowing customers to digitally walk through their virtual home.

Feel free to connect with any of these businesses if you are in need of services they provide or have questions about their technology solutions.