Tech Tips from Canada’s Fastest-Growing IT Firms
IBF Entrepreneur Online –
Meet—and learn from—the 74 booming tech companies driving Canada’s economy today
The tech sector has become an essential part of Canada’s economy. If you have any lingering doubts about the importance of the companies who deliver IT products and services, consider the fact that there were 74 such companies on the 2014 PROFIT 500 ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies. That’s nearly one-fifth of the entire list.
Together, these companies contributed more than $1.1 billion to the Canadian economy. Nearly a quarter of that—almost $250 million—were from export sales, proving that the country’s most successful tech wizards are developing a considerable international reputation. On average, an IT company on the PROFIT 500 sold $14.8 million last year.
In total, these companies employed 5,387 people full-time last year. Together, they’ve created 3,310net new full-time jobs since 2008.
What’s more—and the reason these elite enterprises made this ranking—is that each demonstrates tremendous revenue growth. The fastest-growing IT company on this year’s list, Toronto’s Bnotions, grew sales by 2,760% from 2008 through 2013. The average IT firm on the ranking grew sales by478% over the same period.
There’s a lot you can learn about these dynamic companies (and we encourage you to click on the link for each to learn out more about it), but we thought it would be especially useful to ask the leaders of some of the most successful companies on this list to share the tech tools and strategies they wouldn’t be able to run their businesses without. What follows is the list of Canada’s Fastest-Growing IT Firms for 2014, complete with some of their top recommendations.
The Top 10:
1. BNOTIONS
Toronto
Five-year revenue growth: 2,760% (PROFIT 500 rank: 16)
Chief executive(s): Alkarim Nasser & Paul Crowe
FTE employees: 50
Mobile strategy, data and analytics services
Tech tip from a pro: “Facebook helps us build awareness and distribute thought leadership. We’ve got about 5,000 fans because we’ve really tried to leverage the platform,” explains Nasser. “But we also use it for internal stuff. We have secret groups we use to share ideas and organize teams.”
2. SUPERNA BUSINESS CONSULTING INC.
Kanata, Ont.
Five-year revenue growth: 2,456% (PROFIT 500 rank: 22)
Chief executive(s): Michael Arno & Mara Taracieivcz
FTE employees: 35
Data-centre software testing and development
Tech tip from a pro: “Right now, from a business process operations perspective, we’re big on the cloud. Anything around Google apps, or that integrates with Google apps, has been a major bonus for us in terms of how we run our business,” says Arno. “There’s nothing that we have that’s on premise anymore in terms of how we run our business—whether it’s time reports, accounting, email—it’s all basically somewhere else. It transcends everything we do. For instance, we can use collaboration tools that are hosted with clients, and we can get at them all, because they’re web-based. It’s really allowed us to more effectively collaborate on projects and for internal processes as well.”
Vaughan, Ont.
Five-year revenue growth: 2,022% (PROFIT 500 rank: 31)
Chief executive(s): Peter Giannoulis
FTE employees: 6
Network and data security services
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Calgary
Five-year revenue growth: 1,787% (PROFIT 500 rank: 34)
Chief executive(s): Geoff Lyon
FTE employees: 33
Provides liquid-cooling equipment and systems
Tech tip from a pro: “We’ve created almost all of the stuff that we use,” says Lyon. “But our ERP system, NetSuite, has been spectacular.”
Edmonton
Five-year revenue growth: 1,644% (PROFIT 500 rank: 36)
Chief executive(s): Chris Izquierdo & David Cronin
FTE employees: 105
IT software consulting
Tech tip from a pro: “I really recommend Yammer as an enterprise social networking tool,” says Izquierdo.
Mississauga, Ont.
Five-year revenue growth: 1,546% (PROFIT 500 rank: 38)
Chief executive(s): Paul Herron, David Stanford & Robert Snoyer
FTE employees: 50
Business intelligence, data analysis and talent management services
Tech tip from a pro: “LinkedIn has been big for us. We use it to recruit people; it’s a great way to keep up to date with what everybody is doing and where people are in the market,” says Herron. “From a sales perspective, we can see when clients are looking for help, like: ‘hey, we need some expertise here.’ So, it gives us a read on the market as well as on candidates.”
Calgary
Five-year revenue growth: 1,279% (PROFIT 500 rank: 53)
Chief executive(s): Tara Kelly & Andrew Hamill
FTE employees: 19
Provides customized audio messaging services
Tech tip from a pro: “I can’t say enough about Atlassian products out of Australia,” says Kelly.
“They have tools that handle dev tickets, processing, dashboarding, time sheets, calendaring, and wikis. They have great integration, they have an online university. One of the worst thing about any tech tool is not the ability of the system to do great things, but the ability for users to figure out how to actually use it. It can be very expensive, especially when consultants are involved, and it can turn into a nightmare. These guys have more YouTube videos per product feature set than I think anybody out there. Their attitude is bang on. Microsoft should be afraid.”
Toronto
Five-year revenue growth: 1,269% (PROFIT 500 rank: 54)
Chief executive(s): Jason Martin
FTE employees: 20
Teleconferencing services
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Toronto
Five-year revenue growth: 1,262% (PROFIT 500 rank: 55)
Chief executive(s): Jeremy Greven
FTE employees: 42
Provides automated appointment reminders to health-care providers
Tech tip from a pro: “We do everything in the cloud; they all use SaaS delivery models,” explains Greven. “It’s a race to zero in pricing with those companies, and the services are amazing.”
10. GLOBAL VILLAGE CONSULTING INC.
Vancouver
Five-year revenue growth: 1,249% (PROFIT 500 rank: 56)
Chief executive(s): Leon Salvail
FTE employees: 106
Provides project management and software development for public health agencies
Tech tip from a pro: “I really like the Replicon online time tracking tool. It gives us accurate, timely information regarding how our people are using their hours, which is our main product,” says Salvail.
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The Next 10:
11. CENTRILOGIC INC.
12. TANGENTIA INC.
13. MIREGO INC.
16. STONESHARE INC.
19. GROUPEX INC.
20. AUDABILITY INC.
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Source: Profit Guide
