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Category Archives: DMZ Innisfil

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Are there enough women working in tech? Canada’s workplace is changing. And it’s changing rapidly. The last 12 months have illustrated that point vividly. Almost overnight most of us went from office workers to remote workers. And the kinds of jobs we’re doing are changing too. Technology is already a huge part of the economy and it continues to grow. Nearly two million Canadians work in the tech economy. And that is growing by around 4% every year. But men are still hugely overrepresented in those jobs. And that’s something our guest this week is trying to change. Sara Bentham is the Director of the Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre at Georgian College. The Centre is a cornerstone of the local start-up community. And is a key collaborator with the Innisfil DMZ. So, Sara is doubling down on efforts to empower local entrepreneurs with projects like the Xccelerate and XccelerateHER Conferences. Prpojects intended to increase the number of local women working in the tech economy.

Successful tech business ideas for women

DMZ Innisfil, Smart CitiesBy Innisfil AcceleratesJune 21, 2021

Are there enough women working in tech? Canada’s workplace is changing. And it’s changing rapidly. The last 12 months have illustrated that point vividly. Almost overnight most of us went from office workers to remote workers. And the kinds of jobs we’re doing are changing too. Technology is already a huge part of the economy…

This healthcare app aided in the fight against COVID

DMZ Innisfil, Innisfil Accelerates Podcast, News & PressBy Innisfil AcceleratesJune 7, 2021

The GoEasyCare app makes life easier for frontline healthcare workers. Over the last year the healthcare system has been challenged like never before. And the people shouldering most of the load were front line healthcare workers. There were many displays of support and encouragement for our frontline health workers during the worst of the outbreak.…

There’s something incredibly exciting about the startups working in and around Innisfil. These new businesses work across a range of industries, from technology and automation to agriculture and personal care. And while some are bigger than others, all of them signal an important change in the local economy. But supporting this relatively new ecosystem requires real thought and planning. To ensure that there is the investment, guidance and mentorship that are so critical for new businesses. So, a constellation of local organizations have come together to offer a really unique support system. There’s the Ryerson DMZ, Georgian College’s Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre and the Georgian Angel Network, among many others. One of the people that has been a keystone to all of those groups is Chris Adams. Chris has been successfully creating and managing companies for over two decades now. And recently he has started to reach back to help the next generation of entrepreneurs. And at a time when small businesses are struggling as never before that help is in high demand

The post-COVID business mindset your business needs

DMZ Innisfil, Innisfil Accelerates Podcast, News & PressBy Innisfil AcceleratesMay 24, 2021

Success in business is all about mindset. And that is especially true in a post-COVID world. There’s something incredibly exciting about the companies in and around the Innisfil DMZ. These new businesses work across a range of industries, from technology and automation to agriculture and personal care. And while some are bigger than others, all…

This is why your small business needs a mentor

DMZ Innisfil, Innisfil Accelerates Podcast, News & PressBy Innisfil AcceleratesMay 10, 2021

Innisfil has developed a lot in the last few years. The town has given birth to some incredible startups and is now offering unique opportunities to entrepreneurs and residents by being one of the most technically advanced towns in Canada. One such entrepreneur is Joy Adams, the founder and CEO of Covenant Wealth, with whom…

More about the Problem The problem was simple but complicated: too much traffic. The town knew that a system that could bring all residents on a single page could help solve the problem. Hence, it asked for a program that could schedule a time for boat launches. Seeing an opportunity, John Gilliam and Andrew Raines stepped up to the plate and together they designed a simple app that did the job quickly and efficiently. More About the Team While this event brought the duo local fame, this wasn’t the first time they stepped up to the occasion. They have built an entire company around solving little problems created by outdated systems or processes. Called Fractal, their business revolves around using technology to solve common, everyday problems that few people try to fix. “A lot of companies continue with what works,” explains the team. According to them, we never try to solve minor issues even if they result in a waste of scarce resources as we’re too busy concentrating on bigger issues without realizing the benefits of solving small problems. Working from home during the pandemic has allowed the pair to concentrate on what’s wrong with businesses around. They agree that companies are now beginning to see the other side of the picture. However, it isn’t easy to convince them. After all, organizations still find it difficult to adapt to change. Understanding The Mindset According to the team, the problem lies in sticking to year-old traditions and procedures that were developed in a different era and hence are not suitable for today’s technologically advanced world. While they agree that some of these practices are important and can’t be eradicated right away, they maintain that there’s a need to get rid of practices or problems that slow down growth. Andrew talked about his work experience and how he came to understand the issues companies face while working for an oil and gas company. He realizes why people are against the idea of change as such changes can have “significant consequences in terms of safety.” The same formula applies to governments. “Local government, despite most people not paying much attention to it, is the government that affects their lives most intimately,” says the team. This is why changing even a small system can have a huge impact on people. But, change has to happen, especially if it is for the betterment of the people. The Town Problem The team attracted the interest of the local government last year when the officials struggled with running a municipal government from a centralized location. John and Andrew identified the problem, proposed a solution, and were “ fortunate enough to win.” The town was struggling with the handling of “paper between multiple stakeholders, everyone from the operations team on the ground to the accounting departments that issued the paychecks.” The team pitched the idea to go digital and while the idea got approved, it wasn’t easy to accomplish. “User adoption and user onboarding are always going to be our biggest challenges, especially where there's a kind of a legacy process,” they admit. It is never easy to convince people to do something else, especially when they’re used to doing things a certain way. But, they managed to pull it off, especially due to the positive experiences of launching the boat system that proved to be quite effective and efficient. Doing It Together The team only has good things to say about the government and the people they collaborated with. “We had multiple touchpoints every day with them as the solution was being built,” they explained while calling this successful collaboration the main reason why they were able to “launch it in 10 days.” They thanked the internal department for the support, especially “Nicole in the operations department in particular who was available to answer every question.” A Partnership That Continues The duo has worked on several projects together with a single aim – to make things better with the help of technology. In addition to the systems discussed above, they have also digitized other systems and were recently in the news for digitizing the system of issuing burn permits and introducing the concept of a Town Pass that promises to make towns more secure while saving time and money. Want to know more about John and Andrew’s story including how they got attracted to working with governments? Listen to the podcast! How It All Started Andrew got into helping governments when he saw the potential and realized the opportunities. He wanted to “solve boring problems that other people overlooked.” Facing Opposition It can be difficult for the team to work on projects as they revolve around introducing new systems that people don’t always take very kindly to. Not only are people scared of change, but they’re also worried about being replaced. However, the team promises that their aim is not to replace people but to bring the best out of them. “Let the robots do the robotic stuff and let the people do the things that people are better at doing,” they said. A New Experience For John, it was quite a new experience to work in a rural region. He talks about the pros and cons of working in Innisfil and how things are different. “If we're looking to raise money here, like in the startup world, I think that can introduce some challenges,” he explains while highlighting the benefits of working from a small town. A Town That Impresses The team appears to be very happy with the town. “The openness and the solutions focus that we've seen from the town of Huntsville is really impressive and unique,” they said. Listen to the full audio to know more about their experiences, future plans, and what they expect to change in the town of Innisfil.

Cut government red tape and improve business efficiency

DMZ Innisfil, Innisfil Accelerates PodcastBy Innisfil AcceleratesMarch 8, 2021

Can technology improve business efficiency? The founders of local company Fractal SAAS think so. To prove the point the company recently solved a simple problem for the residents of Innisfil: lake access. The town occupies the SouthEast shore of Lake Simcoe. It’s a beautiful place, especially in the summertime. The lake is always popular at…

It’s easy to get annoyed with your local government. It’s the level of government that most affects regular people on a daily basis. Things like potholes and property taxes, business licenses and zoning laws are all handled by our local government. Part of the problem is that municipalities haven’t done a great job of keeping up with how people communicate these days. A monthly newsletter sent in the mail just isn’t going to cut it, anymore. And that problem has come into even sharper relief since the pandemic. So the town of Innisfil issued a challenge at a recent event. The town asked the people and companies working in and around DMZ Innisfil to help solve a series of problems. One of those challenges was to create a portal to enable the town to communicate with residents digitally instead of relying on snail mail. That got Trisitin Tsetanov and Roy Katznelson thinking. Still in University, the pair were intrigued at the idea of creating a communications platform for local government. One that was easy and useful. So they set to work on a software solution. One that was so compelling that we’re awarded a town contract to bring the plan to life. The result was Communicaty - a company with big plans for the future. More About the Pair Despite being in the same class, the two didn’t connect immediately. It took them a few meetings to realize they shared the same goal of building a company and not waiting to graduate. According to the pair, they enjoy working the traditional way – identifying problems and coming up with solutions that’d attract people. They got to be a part of the DMZ hackathon by pure luck. “I was a part of the DMZ. Last summer, I spent some time in their base camp program, hence I still was on their email chain, and got an email about this DMZ hackathon,” explained Tristen. Since they were free due to the pandemic, they looked at the opportunity, studied the issue, and started thinking of a solution. The Innisfil Problem Communication was the real issue. The town didn’t have a tool to get in touch with community members at once, which often delayed solutions and worsened things. The officials decided to make things right when a sewage backup issue started to get out of hand. “The problem was affecting an area, but the officials didn't know exactly which houses were affected,” explained the team. They couldn’t wait to send letters to every house as it would have been too late. This made the town realize they needed something that offered ‘instant’ communication in a targeted region. The team was surprised to know that despite technological advancements in the field, there was no such service for municipalities. The Real Challenge The real challenge wasn’t to come up with a tool but to create a solution that was easy to adapt. Since it was going to be used by both the government and the people, the software had to be simple and efficient. They decided to introduce some personalization to the design to help people connect and engage while adding customization options to avoid potential issues such as multiple alerts a day. It, however, wasn’t going to be that easy. The team had to study the town, its residents, and their problems to be able to create a customized solution. On the positive side, they were fully aware of the problem. “In most cases, you build a product, you come up with an idea, and then you go try to find a customer. But in this case, the customer found us,” explained the duo. The idea was to build a simple solution with the ability to target people by location and replacing mail with a more reliable option like email, text message, or voice call. And It Was On – 10:00 The team used a minimalistic approach and created a system with two sides – the resident portal and the public communication portal. They had to work on the overall experience to ensure residents enjoyed the idea of interacting with the government. This was one of the most important aspects of the designing phase since it is all about getting users to use it. The adoption rate for such technology is already very low in cities where governments are using polls and other such techniques to improve communication. Safe Paths: A Compliance Tool – 15:00 Continuing to work in this field, the team was recently in the news for launching Safe Paths, a compliance tool for business that’s marketed as a "small business contact tracing software". The system might have a short life but the team hopes that such tools will allow businesses to operate in a safe environment. They hope to expand the software and offer more features without compromising on simplicity. The Big Test – 20:00 The Innisfil program is ready and the team is excited to see the response when it reaches the public in a few weeks. The team agrees that real feedback comes when people get to use a tool and a presentation might not be enough to sell an idea or convince governments they need something. While the system is adding value to the community, one can’t be sure how beneficial it is once it has been used by the people it is designed for. Good Things To Say 25:00 Both Roy and Tristen only have good things to say about the municipality. They believe that things wouldn’t have been this easy without the support of the locals. The project allowed them to see how governments work to make things right and what goes behind the scenes. Based on the response, the team may hire more people and approach other towns about introducing a similar system. It is going to be a slow movement since approaching more governments requires a good amount of research and planning but they hope they’ll be able to find more success in the future.

This Govtech app revolutionized one town’s pandemic news alerts

DMZ Innisfil, Innisfil Accelerates PodcastBy Innisfil AcceleratesMarch 1, 2021

It’s easy to get annoyed with your local government. It’s the level of government that most affects regular people on a daily basis. Things like potholes and property taxes, business licenses and zoning laws are all handled by local governments. Part of the problem is that municipalities haven’t done a great job of keeping up…

This company is about to make local fresh food cheap and easy to find

DMZ Innisfil, Innisfil Accelerates PodcastBy Innisfil AcceleratesFebruary 24, 2021

With the pandemic shutting down restaurants and bars, cooking at home has become more frequent. And for the grocery industry, business has been booming. Not only did grocery stores see a massive increase in sales but the way that people shopped also changed. A lot of shoppers migrated to online retailers leaving brick and mortar…

How a gig work app revolutionized hospitality staffing

DMZ Innisfil, Innisfil Accelerates Podcast, News & Press, Smart CitiesBy AmitaFebruary 16, 2021

Businesses are created to solve problems. For Michael Agema the problem was hospitality staffing. Every summer in the pristine lakes and parks north of Toronto, there are literally thousands of weddings, reunion and other events. There are millions of people living in the Greater Toronto Area. But the further north you go, the more sparsely…

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    • Local Support
      • Innisfil Business Mentors
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    • Startup Support
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  • Development
    • Business, Planning and Development Resources
    • Downtown Alcona
    • The Orbit
  • Blog & News
    • Blog & News
    • Innisfil Accelerates Podcast
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