Hard Times Often Call on Creative IT Solutions - KIRA Nominees
Knowledge Industry Recognition Award: Doug Motty, CEO of Enterprise Fredericton, holds up a 2009 KIRA award in the main lobby of the Barker House on Queen Street in Fredericton on Tuesday. James West photo
Kyle Mullin
Daily Gleaner, The, Published Wednesday May 6th, 2009
Blair Kuhn says the KIRA awards don't just celebrate New Brunswick's achievements in IT, they reflect how crucial the industry is as the province and the world cope with tight times.
"When times are tough you have to hug your customer, be right there with them and they'll stick with you," said the vice-president of operations for Accreon, a local firm that offers business consulting and information technology services.
"You use technology to partner with them. IT is so interwoven with business, it lets you be lean and move at the speed of light."
The finalists for the 11th annual KIRA awards, which will be held Thursday at the Delta Fredericton Hotel, all share in that fast-paced race for recession innovation. Accreon has been shortlisted for the Employment Growth and Export Services categories.
Kuhn said the latter is especially important. Since the company's founding, in January 2008, it has built half its client base south of the border. Accreon has worked on projects including building a managing system for the North American salt corporation in Kansas and developing a clinical information system for Kentucky's Omni Care nursing home corporation - even as the U.S. economy plummeted.
Kuhn said that's a small indication of how much potential the IT industry has not only during a downturn, but as a means to overcome it.
"The recession has been a hurdle," he said. "It's caused us to be cautious in terms of our planning, and work harder to win business on the export side. But I think IT will continue to grow through these economic times. It's such a core component for businesses, it has to."
Doug Motty, CEO of KIRA's host company Enterprise Fredericton, said IT is the best way for any company to push past those recession hurdles.
"IT is an enabler to allow Fredericton companies to operate here, rather than move to their clients," he said. "It lets our health industry create a one patient one file policy, or lets our engineering firms manage waste-water treatment for cities halfway around the world. (It is used for) storing and sorting massive amounts of data. We'd be lost without it."
Motty said KIRA isn't so much a gala for industry execs to pat each other on the back - more than anything it's an opportunity for them to network and partner to reach the same ends.
"When you have 500 business people from around the province in the same room to bring visibility about what they do, the buzz and the connectivity helps them find synergy and opportunities to work together along with celebrating the work they've done."