Connect with us
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=12]

Business

Business Spotlight: Increased Online Activity, Increased Concerns

Published

10 minute read

These are unprecedented times for most industries in Alberta, including the IT industry. We do not hear a lot about the challenges faced by businesses that offer IT services in the wake of self-isolation and the transition to working from home. In this piece, we will discover what a local Calgary company, SysGen Solutions Group, is doing to tackle the ‘new norm’ in their daily work routine, the physical and mental support provided for their employees and their support in our community. This article will also discuss the concerns with security risks.

 

Since the beginning of March 2020, Statistics Canada, as part of their Canadian Perspective Survey Series reported a 29% increase in people working from home. Following that increase, we have seen a major increase in online activity, with the majority of that traffic being directed to software applications that support our work from home communication and productivity. As seen below, TrustRadius reports data on the rising software categories from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak to April 6th.

(Data sourced from TrustRadius on top rising software categories, April 2020)

 

With this rise, how does a local Alberta IT company tackle this new challenge and play its part in supporting its customers, employees and their community during the COVID-19 pandemic?

 

SysGen Solutions Group was founded in 1995 and is a major player in IT consulting firms across Western Canada. Over their 25 years, SysGen has been the recipient of several national and international awards, including Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employer (2017 to 2019), Alberta’s Top Employer (2017 to 2018), Profit 500 (2013 to 2017), CRN’s Top Managed Service Providers 500 (2017 to 2019), Top 100 Solution Provider in Canada from CDN (2016 to 2017), Ingram Micro Microsoft 365 Partner of the Year (2019) amongst several other accolades. Awards such as these show a true passion for their employees and their ability to drive their industry into the future.

 

The president of SysGen, Ryan Richardet found himself at a crossroads before his growth at the company. Working on a MSC in cardiovascular science at the University of Calgary and being accepted into USC Medical School, he chose to rethink his passion. Ryan decided that building a great company through people was what he wanted to do; thus he continued working in business development for SysGen just under 10 years ago. Through multiple roles in the company, he was promoted by SysGen CEO Lyle Richardet from vice president to president in December of 2018.

 

“…the more you get better at it, the more you understand. You get excited to see other people achieve success. It’s pretty amazing” – Ryan Richardet, SysGen President

 

SysGen’s business model involves an array of IT services, including cybersecurity, a service that has skyrocketed in necessity during COVID-19. Like other organizations, SysGen has introduced a Work from Home (WFH) policy due to COVID-19. Traditionally, the local management team leads employees based on their office culture. Customer solutions are collaborated on as a team at SysGen and client offices. But these norms have been uprooted since COVID-19. 

 

How has communication between you and your team been since WFH?

 

Ryan mentions that SysGen has implemented strong communication between all members of his team since directing the entire staff to WFH. He is happy to say that his team has greatly accepted communicating through video conferencing and messaging apps.

 

“…there are two sides. It’s the employee and employer relationship. I can’t even really see it that way. I’m here with everybody in the trenches and we’re all working as a team”

Virtual town halls have been useful to facilitate weekly communication to ensure employees are aware of updates at SysGen. They have been using the chat conferencing tool Microsoft Teams to ensure collaboration continues between staff and that SysGen stays true to its mission to deliver an amazing customer experience. Ryan sees it as a transformational business platform that provides many tools for people to communicate and collaborate effectively.

 

“I see the whole team digging in and trying to go the extra mile to make a difference right now. I’m super proud of that. I can’t be more excited about the relationship between all of us during this time.”

Community Support

 

SysGen has proactively supported the community for several years through SysGen Cares. This support has included offering free IT support to non-profits such as cSPACE and Downtown Vernon. Nominations were received from the community and the selected non-profit was chosen based on its application. SysGen has also worked with local sports teams to sponsor jerseys and has donated funds for trout restocking efforts with the Alberta Conservation Association. Alpine Canada is another organization SysGen works with through SyGen Cares to support their IT services and initiatives.

 

Recently, SysGen introduced a new initiative to help non-profits that have been hit hardest by COVID-19. This program offers a donation of up to $1,000 to a non-profit chosen by an organization that signs with SysGen for managed services. You can learn more about this initiative here.

 

What recommendations would you offer for those concerned about their cybersecurity during this time?

 

There have been recent reports of cybersecurity issues that align with the rise in online activity. Some may be aware that the popular web conferencing tool “Zoom” has been banned from educational institutions and large companies across the world due to security issues. There are also numerous other considerations about how to keep our privacy and security intact while almost a third of the population works from home.

 

“…we have a managed security platform to help clients establish secure technology

environments. But there are little things you can personally do right now…”

 

Some of the recommendations from Ryan and his team consist of conducting good internet hygiene. This can be learned through infographics and webinars offered by industry experts. SysGen will be offering a cybersecurity webinar in the coming weeks on this topic. Following that, make sure that you close programs when you’re finished using them and implement strong passwords across user accounts.

 

One concern is that a webcam can be accessed through viruses or malware downloaded from an unknown source. It may be a scary thought to have after spending weeks on your laptop, however, Ryan offers a simple tip: Cover your webcam when you’re not using it for video calling. You can even do this with a piece of tape. To learn more, visit SysGen’s blog for additional information on technology and IT services.

 

Hopes for the future?

 

Typically, Ryan and other team members would travel for client meetings. Now that he’s working from home, he does not miss traffic lights and congested roads. He’s looking forward to the social aspects of his position, including meetings and events with colleagues and customers. In the meantime, Ryan virtually connects with his team and clients, sometimes in a more informal way to catch up or share a funny meme. Keeping the social part of the work environment alive has a positive effect on team morale, which is important with the uncertainty in the world today.

 

In celebration of SysGen’s 25-year milestone, they are planning a virtual party with various events through a virtual town hall. This is where the real creative thinking begins. Ryan mentions:

 

“…the celebration is going to be virtual so we will have to experiment with whether it could ever replace an in-person party. We’re going to make it fun and engaging, so we’ll find out!”

 

If you would like to learn more about this local Alberta company, SysGen Solutions Group, visit their website or social media. Here you will find information on how to increase your internet hygiene and improve your work from home experience because it’s likely here to stay.

 

Website – SysGen Solutions Group –  Twitter – FacebookLinkedInYouTube

 

 

For more stories, visit Todayville Calgary

Alberta

COWBOY UP! Pierre Poilievre Promises to Fight for Oil and Gas, a Stronger Military and the Interests of Western Canada

Published on

Fr0m Energy Now

By Maureen McCall

As Calgarians take a break from the incessant news of tariff threat deadlines and global economic challenges to celebrate the annual Stampede, Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre gave them even more to celebrate.

Poilievre returned to Calgary, his hometown, to outline his plan to amplify the legitimate demands of Western Canada and not only fight for oil and gas, but also fight for the interests of farmers, for low taxes, for decentralization, a stronger military and a smaller federal government.

Speaking at the annual Conservative party BBQ at Heritage Park in Calgary (a place Poilievre often visited on school trips growing up), he was reminded of the challenges his family experienced during the years when Trudeau senior was Prime Minister and the disastrous effect of his economic policies.

“I was born in ’79,” Poilievre said. “and only a few years later, Pierre Elliott Trudeau would attack our province with the National Energy Program. There are still a few that remember it. At the same time, he hammered the entire country with money printing deficits that gave us the worst inflation and interest rates in our history. Our family actually lost our home, and we had to scrimp and save and get help from extended family in order to get our little place in Shaughnessy, which my mother still lives in.”

This very personal story resonated with many in the crowd who are now experiencing an affordability crisis that leaves families struggling and young adults unable to afford their first house or condo. Poilievre said that the experience was a powerful motivator for his entry into politics. He wasted no time in proposing a solution – build alliances with other provinces with mutual interests, and he emphasized the importance of advocating for provincial needs.

“Let’s build an alliance with British Columbians who want to ship liquefied natural gas out of the Pacific Coast to Asia, and with Saskatchewanians, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who want to develop their oil and gas and aren’t interested in having anyone in Ottawa cap how much they can produce. Let’s build alliances with Manitobans who want to ship oil in the port of Churchill… with Quebec and other provinces that want to decentralize our country and get Ottawa out of our business so that provinces and people can make their own decisions.”

Poilievre heavily criticized the federal government’s spending and policies of the last decade, including the increase in government costs, and he highlighted the negative impact of those policies on economic stability and warned of the dangers of high inflation and debt. He advocated strongly for a free-market economy, advocating for less government intervention, where businesses compete to impress customers rather than impress politicians. He also addressed the decade-long practice of blocking and then subsidizing certain industries. Poilievre referred to a famous quote from Ronald Reagan as the modus operandi of the current federal regime.

“The Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases. If anything moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”

The practice of blocking and then subsidizing is merely a ploy to grab power, according to Poilievre, making industry far too reliant on government control.

“By blocking you from doing something and then making you ask the government to help you do it, it makes you reliant. It puts them at the center of all power, and that is their mission…a full government takeover of our economy. There’s a core difference between an economy controlled by the government and one controlled by the free market. Businesses have to clamour to please politicians and bureaucrats. In a free market (which we favour), businesses clamour to impress customers. The idea is to put people in charge of their economic lives by letting them have free exchange of work for wages, product for payment and investment for interest.”

Poilievre also said he plans to oppose any ban on gas-powered vehicles, saying, “You should be in the driver’s seat and have the freedom to decide.” This is in reference to the Trudeau-era plan to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, which the Carney government has said they have no intention to change, even though automakers are indicating that the targets cannot be met. He also intends to oppose the Industrial Carbon tax, Bill C-69 the Impact Assessment Act, Bill C-48 the Oil tanker ban, the proposed emissions cap which will cap energy production, as well as the single-use plastics ban and Bill C-11, also known as the Online Streaming Act and the proposed “Online Harms Act,” also known as Bill C-63. Poilievre closed with rallying thoughts that had a distinctive Western flavour.

“Fighting for these values is never easy. Change, as we’ve seen, is not easy. Nothing worth doing is easy… Making Alberta was hard. Making Canada, the country we love, was even harder. But we don’t back down, and we don’t run away. When things get hard, we dust ourselves off, we get back in the saddle, and we gallop forward to the fight.”

Cowboy up, Mr. Poilievre.

Maureen McCall is an energy professional who writes on issues affecting the energy industry.

Continue Reading

Business

Carney’s new agenda faces old Canadian problems

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By John Ibbitson

In his June speech announcing a major buildup of Canada’s military, Prime Minister Mark Carney repeated his belief that this country faces a “hinge moment” of the sort the allied countries confronted after the Second World War.

A better comparison might be with the beginning of the war itself.

Then, the Allies found themselves at war with an autocratic state bent on their defeat and possible destruction. Now, Carney faces an antagonistic American president bent on annexing Canada through economic warfare.

Then, Canada rose to the challenge, creating the world’s third-largest navy and landing an army at Normandy on D-Day. Now, Carney has announced the most aggressive reorienting of Canada’s economic, foreign and defence policies in generations.

Polls show strong support among Canadians for this new agenda. But the old Canada is still there. It will fight back. It may yet win.

The situation certainly would have been more encouraging had Carney not inherited Justin Trudeau’s legacy of severe economic and environmental restrictions—picking economic winners and losers rather than letting the market decide—and chronic deficits. The new prime minister would do well to dismantle as much of that legacy as he can.

Some advocate a return to the more laissez-faire approach of Stephen Harper’s government. But Harper didn’t confront a belligerent president hoping to annex Canada through the “economic force” of tariff walls.

The prime minister succeeded in getting Bill C-5, which is intended to weaken at least some of the restrictions on resource development and infrastructure, passed into law. He and the premiers pledge to finally dismantle generations of internal trade and labour mobility barriers. If we must trade less with the Americans, we can at least learn to trade with ourselves.

And the prime minister deserves high praise for reversing decades of military decline through increased spending and efforts to improve procurement. If Carney accomplishes nothing more than restoring Canada’s defences, especially in the Arctic, he will be well remembered.

That said, major challenges confront the Carney agenda.

There’s much talk about a new national energy corridor. But what does that mean? One KPMG executive defined it as a “dedicated, streamlined pathway for the energy, electricity, decarbonization, transportation and digital infrastructure.”

Yes, but what does that mean?

Whatever it means, some First Nations will oppose it tooth-and-nail. Not all of them, mind you. The First Nations Major Project Coalition is dedicated to assisting First Nations in working with government and the private sector for the benefit of all. But many First Nations people consider resource development further exploitation of their ancestral lands by a colonizing power. At the first major proposal to which they do not buy in, they will take the government to court.

What investor will be willing to commit to a project that could be blocked for years as First Nations and Ottawa fight it out all the way to the Supreme Court?

The prime minister, formerly a fervent advocate of combatting climate change, now talks about developing “conventional energy,” which means oil and gas pipelines. But environmental activists will fiercely oppose those pipelines.

There is so much that could go wrong. Sweep away those internal trade barriers? Some premiers will resist. Accelerate housing development? Some mayors will resist. Expand exports to Europe and Asia? Some businesses and entrepreneurs will say it’s not worth the risk.

As for the massive increase in defence spending, where will the money come from? What will be next year’s deficit? What will be the deficit’s impact on inflation, interest rates and sovereign creditworthiness? The obstacles are high enough to make anyone wonder how much, if any, of the government’s platform will be realized. But other factors are at work as well, factors that were also present in 1939.

To execute his mandate, Carney is surrounding himself with what, back in the Second World War, were called “dollar a year men”—executives who came to Ottawa from the private sector to mobilize the economy for wartime.

In Carney’s case he has brought in Marc-André Blanchard as chief of staff and Michael Sabia as clerk of the privy council. Both are highly experienced in government and the private sector. Both are taking very large pay cuts because, presumably, they understand the gravity of the times and believe in the prime minister’s plans.

Most important, Carney’s agenda has broad support from a public that fears for the country’s future and will have little patience toward any group seeking to block the prime minister’s agenda.

Millions of Canadians want this government’s reform efforts to succeed. Those who would put it at risk of failing will have to contend with public anger. That gives Carney a shot at making real change.

John Ibbitson

Continue Reading

Trending

X