Quorum Information Technologies Finds Skilled, Loyal Workforce In Newfoundland
How much do you know about innovative Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs? This article is part of a special feature showcasing exciting initiatives occurring in Atlantic Canada’s innovation ecosystem. Here, we will introduce you to the success of innovative men and women across the region that are making an impact on the economy. This special feature is sponsored by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
ST. JOHN’S, NL. – Quorum Information Technologies got its start in Calgary in 1996, but over the past 12 years, the centre of operations has shifted to its office in St. John’s. This shift all started with four employees who wanted to return home to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2006.
Quorum, which has developed an innovative proprietary enterprise management software platform for car dealerships (DMS), valued their skills and experience and did not want to lose them.
“They were all very important to the company,” says Marilyn Bown, Quorum’s CFO. “The deal was they would move back to Newfoundland and Labrador and work remotely from there.”
It was also a good time for the Alberta oil industry and the company was facing a labour shortage there. Company officials realized that there was potential to create a larger office with the four employees already returning home to work remotely.
“They were having trouble filling roles in Calgary because the oil and gas boom was at its height then,” says Bown, who joined the company in 2008, and is based in St. John’s.
“So the Development Manager at the time proposed that we could get great employees in the province that would help grow the company long-term and provide great customer service.”
The staff complement has grown dramatically since then. At 81 employees today, it is by far the largest of the company’s five offices (Calgary; London, ON; Lethbridge, AB, and Detroit are the others).
They have people working in St. John’s in almost all areas of the company. Bown says their corporate office is there, as are most of the developers, the support centre, and some sales and marketing functions.
Field salespeople and systems implementation and training specialists are essentially the only ones not based there because of the difficulty of travelling to see potential clients and new ones.
Quorum’s foundational product is XSellerator, an integrated dealer management system that connects all aspects of the car dealership – sales, service, parts and accounting.
“When XSellerator was developed, it was state of the art,” says Bown. “Our software integrated the dealership’s accounting, service, sales and parts departments, in addition to the vehicle manufacturer, in a way that hadn’t been done before. The departments didn’t speak to each other, and XSellerator allowed them to do that.”
Quorum’s relationship with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency began in 2009 when the company needed to finance a major upgrade to a new version of XSellerator and expand its rapidly growing St. John’s office. It received a $500,000 interest-free loan, the first of three loans over the course of seven years.
With a team of 34 developers, Quorum has continued to make improvements to XSellerator and has added other product offerings. One is called Communicator, an e-mail and texting service that facilitates communication between the dealership and its customers, such as keeping them up-to-date on the status of repairs. It’s hassle-free and saves customers from playing phone tag with office staff and technicians. Communicator is also used for dealership personnel to message with each other, which speeds processes such as technicians requesting parts for a repair.
“For example, when your car is ready, the technician marks the repair as complete and the system will automatically send a text to your phone or send an e-mail, whichever option you prefer,” says Bown. “It’s a trend now. No one wants to call and leave a message, and wait until someone gets back to you.”
The company continues to grow with new product offerings like Communicator and the growing popularity of the XSellerator system. Quorum’s system was in use by 201 dealers in 2007 and the number had reached 338 by the end of the third quarter of 2017.
The St. John’s office has grown along with the company’s book of business. The employees just moved into a new St. John’s office with 14,000 square feet of space. It had been in a 7,000 square-foot space that was expanded to 10,000 square-feet to accommodate a growing staff. But, even that ultimately wasn’t enough.
“We were maxed out. We couldn’t actually hire anyone else. We had nowhere to put people,” says Bown.
“We are now able hire more people and we have the space available for more growth. We’re pumped about that. It’s very exciting.”