Saskatchewan went from punching well below our weight in the technology sector to well above in the last year. A spokesperson for SaskTech, which is a non-profit organization that promotes the interests of technology companies, says in 2015, only $3-million was distributed by venture capitalists to tech startups. Aaron Genest cites that from 2014 through 2018, $80-million was invested and then in the first 11 months of 2019, the total was $98-million.
The biggest challenge in the technology sector used to be money and now it’s skilled labour. It’s not just more workers who write programs, Genest explains, more people are needed in the other areas like advertising, marketing, sales, support and administration, who know how to use the technology and understand how the technology company works.
Genest says when picturing the tech sector, there are 2 separate areas. There are the software companies like Skip the Dishes, 7Shifts restaurant scheduling and Vendasta’s digital expertise for other businesses and then there are the businesses that have been around for awhile, which are becoming more reliant on the ability to deploy and manage software like Nutrien, SGI, and financial institutions.