10 Aug 2021 Meet the Spirit of BC Tech: Resilience 2021 TIA Finalists
The Spirit of BC Tech: Resilience award is presented in partnership with Absolute Software.
Copperleaf provides enterprise decision analytics software solutions to companies managing critical infrastructure. Headquartered in Vancouver, Copperleaf’s clients are primarily made up of essential service providers, including energy, water, transportation, and other critical infrastructure companies. These industries have faced tremendous challenges as a result of COVID-19, yet they have continued to provide for their communities and the people within them – much like Copperleaf continued to show resilience and provide for its clients while expanding operation in British Columbia.
As COVID-19 began, to ensure the safety of their employees and their families, Copperleaf quickly created a COVID business continuity plan. The company’s IT infrastructure enabled changes to be implemented immediately with no interruption to the business. By acting quickly, the company was able to avoid any staff furloughs or layoffs and even increased full-time staff by 17% in 2020.
PressReader is an all-you-can-read, online newspaper and magazine service that allows its users unlimited access to their favourite publications from around the world. Founded in Vancouver over 20 years ago, the company now provides over 7000 titles from over 120 countries in over 60 languages, making PressReader the world’s largest digital content distribution and monetization platform.
In the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, PressReader realized their unique opportunity to distribute vital news and information about the evolving COVID-19 situation. PressReader quickly launched COVID-19 News, a free daily collection of global news stories from major publishing houses to keep readers around the world informed while staying safe, exemplified by their hashtag, #StayInformed. Beyond this, the company also supported communities by offering complementary access to frontline healthcare workers who were separated from their families and cruise ship passengers stranded at sea.
Seaspan Shipyards is one of North America’s premier ship building and maintenance facilities, located right here in North Vancouver. At their 40-acre custom-designed facility, the company produces some of the most advanced and capable vessels in the world, for clients like the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Seaspan Shipyards rose to the challenges put forward by the global pandemic. The company not only kept thousands of individuals safely employed, but also maintained progress on several major projects, including launching the third Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel, initiating work on the Royal Canadian Navy’s first Joint Support Ship, completing the design process for the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel, and completing the refit of the Canadian Frigates, a New Zealand military vessel and submarine HMCS Corner Brook.
Thrive Health was founded with a mission to develop software that fundamentally improves the healthcare system for Canadians and allows patients to play a more active role in their care journeys. The company’s core software platform enables patients to manage their health by inputting their health history and receiving personalized guidance at each step of their journey.
In 2020, at the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Thrive Health acted swiftly, pivoting to deploy the BC and Canada COVID-19 apps and Self-Assessment Tools offered to Canadians in support of the Federal and Provincial Governments’ early response to the pandemic. The COVID-19 apps and Self-Assessment Tools have supported Canadians to build resilience and make informed choices throughout the pandemic by accessing tailored & trusted public health information, through symptom tracking, and through receiving the latest public health guidance according to one’s situational risk.
Traction on Demand is North America’s largest dedicated Salesforce consulting and app development firm. The company helps commercial and non-profit organizations design, develop, and implement Salesforce technology into their business. The company’s business extends beyond cloud services, building long-term capacity through partnerships and enabling their clients. Their mission is to develop and grow the Salesforce ecosystem by empowering people and organizations.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Traction on Demand saw an opportunity to offer their expertise to the healthcare sector, helping individuals and organizations who had been working hard to provide care to those in need. The company developed a platform called BC Supply Hub, with the goal of connecting BC Government Assessors with businesses around the world that raised their hands to offer supplies, or re-purpose equipment and people power to help fight COVID-19. In just days, BC Supply Hub had successfully sourced tens of millions of vital critical PPE units.
