Sarnia-based Leadwave has been named one of Canada's 50 best-managed IT companies.The award comes from the marketing and events company, Technoplanet, and was announced during an online line event earlier this month. �When you look at the number of IT providers out there, and the quality of IT providers that keep popping up all over the country, we feel it�s a real achievement,� said CEO Mat Berube who formed Leadwave in 2006 with Aaron Weir, the company�s chief business development officer. �It�s a validation of our efforts in the last few years to really focus on process and developing a system that is scalable and we can work on to grow beyond our current size and market,� Berube said.Based in Sarnia, with offices in Chatham-Kent and now London, Leadwave has 15 employees serving clients in 27 cities stretching from Newmarket to Windsor, Berube said. �We�ve primarily focused on Sarnia and Lambton when we started,� and then expanded to the Chatham and Windsor areas, he said. "And then, in the last couple of years, going a little bit more east and north towards London, and then north of that to Mississauga, Newmarket and so on. "The company�s London office opened in November. �We will be starting marketing efforts there in the next couple of months,� Berube said.Leadwave was �just pretty well Mat and myself for the first year,� Weir said. He said they found a gap in market for business computer support. �There were a lot of people doing home user support but not a lot of people doing business support,� he said.They landed their first client in the company�s first week, �and we still service that client,� Weir said. �Sarnia was really primed for this type of service,� focusing on small and medium-sized businesses, Berube said. �We�re really, in a nutshell, an out-sourced IT department,� Weir said. Whatever needs a large corporation would turn to its internal IT department for, �that�s what we are for small and medium-size businesses,� he said.Acquiring two other Sarnia IT companies has helped the company grow, over the years. �Our next three to five-year goal is to really expand east of Sarnia,� and �really make an impact in all of southwestern Ontario,� Berube said.Leadwave was deemed an essential service and has been able to continue operating through the pandemic, Berube said. �All our clients rely on IT on a daily basis, so we were definitely well-positioned to help,� he said.The company was focused during the first few weeks of the pandemic lockdowns on helping companies move to operate remotely, Berube said. �We were extremely busy � probably one of the busiest times we had in our 15 years � getting people set up to work from home.� Berube added, �It has definitely been challenging to navigate those waters,� following pandemic protocols and maintaining both the safety of the company�s workers and the quality of its service. �The clients still have a business to run and we have to be there to help them,� he said.Source: The Observer (Sarnia IT company earns top 50 national industry ranking | The Sarnia Observer (theobserver.ca))
