Genius ERP: ready out-of-the-box for custom manufacturing.
The perception that a Quebec business will only succeed in Quebec—not in the ROC or US markets—is further off the mark today than it ever has been. Still, many entrepreneurs won’t look beyond the provincial boundary, dissuaded by conventional wisdom and warnings about the difficulties they will face.
Over the past 20 years, I have had the honour of being part of Genius Solutions, a company that has grown quickly in Quebec, and is now poised for further growth in the ROC and US markets. Recently, we decided to aggressively target growth in the US market. We relaunched parts of our operations into ‘startup mode,’ and drew up a strategy for how to succeed. There has been resistance and doubt, and the hard work is not over yet. But we have been encouraged by a couple of things, and I would like to share those with you here.
Distances don’t matter like they used to, even for companies who sell a person-to-person service. With the right team in place, more can be done from hundreds of kilometres away than might be done while in the same room.
What always matters is facetime and a truly helpful attitude, which Quebecers are naturally strong at.
At Genius Solutions, we work with manufacturers, providing them with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and services. Genius ERP was built with feedback from Quebec companies, and within this ecosystem we have developed a solution that applies for manufacturers from coast to coast.
With just a bit of language tweaking, success does translate. And the expertise and skill this province produces is not only recognized and appreciated a long way from home, it can provide a unique perspective that is truly beneficial.
As the French speakers of this continent, and northerners at that, with our own customs, cuisine and quirks, Quebecers have a certain ‘X factor.’ It is a great thing to realize that people from Texas to Alaska truly want to be closer to us. The interest in each other is mutual, and like with much in the world today, we are looking beyond our own spheres for a likeness in each other.
A connection always occurs under positivity.
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I write this after learning of our nomination for Les Fidéides 2018, which follows a nomination for PME en Lumière 2017 (congratulations to Abilis Solutions on that win). Both awards honour Quebec companies experiencing growth, most notably those expanding beyond the province’s borders.
I commend the hard-working entrepreneurs of this province, and would like to underline the biggest thing that I have learnt and what drives us forward: we can be proud wherever we go.
