THIS WEEK IN TECTORIA

A community blog celebrating Victoria's booming tech sector

CONTACT THE TECTORIA BLOG

Got a cool story about technology and creativity in Victoria? Email stories, tips, pictures, links and anything of interest to Tessa Bousfield at: tectoria@viatec.ca

The Mustard Seed

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: The Mustard Seed! Plus, all our VIATEC Food Bank Challenge participants!

The Mustard Seed Street Church has been essential in fighting hunger and restoring faith to a large portion of people living in poverty, as well as the working poor, in greater Victoria since 1975. The Church ministries are nearly 100 percent community funded and include Vancouver Island’s largest Food Bank, a Family Center, Hospitality programs, and addictions recovery at Hope Farm Healing Centre as well as more traditional Church services.

The Mustard Seed positively impacts, on average 5,000 individuals per month, with more than 50 volunteers keeping things running everyday. However, their shelves have been very bare lately due to more assistance given in 2016 and donations being lower.

Well, in the past 4 weeks, 34 companies have come together for the VIATEC Food Bank Challenge to raise cash and non perishables for the Mustard Seed! Today from 12pm to 3pm, all the participants will drop off their remaining donations to the Mustard Seed for the final tally. If you have anything to donate, please swing by and say hi to the VIATEC team while you’re there OR donate from the comfort of your chair.

A HUGE thank you to all our participants. Winners will be announced soon and many families will have a wonderful holiday season as a result. Well done everyone!

2016 Participants:

  1. Avocette Technologies
  2. AXYS Technologies
  3. BDC
  4. Beanstream
  5. Carmanah Technologies Corp.
  6. Collect! Credit & Debt Collection software
  7. Codan Radio Communications
  8. Complia Health
  9. Crowd Content
  10. CUBE Global Storage
  11. Econics
  12. Flytographer
  13. Frankie’s Modern Diner
  14. FTS Forest Technology Systems
  15. GenoLogics
  16. GlobalWide Media
  17. HP Advanced Solutions
  18. IndyKey Rewards
  19. Latitude Geographics Group
  20. Monk Office
  21. MUSIC Group Innovation CA Inc.
  22. RevenueWire
  23. RingPartner
  24. Schneider Electric
  25. SendtoNews
  26. Smart Dolphins IT Solutions
  27. StarFish Medical
  28. Technology Guys IT Solutions
  29. Tourism Victoria
  30. Vecima Networks
  31. VIATEC & Ground Control Cafe
  32. Victoria Airport Authority
  33. Victoria Flying Club
  34. Vigil Health Solutions Inc.

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2016 VIATEC Food Bank Challenge participants!

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Our Tectorians of the Week are our challenge participants! (so far):
GlobalWide Media, RevenueWire, GenoLogics, Beanstream, RingPartner, Victoria Flying Club, Tourism Victoria, Carmanah Technologies Corp., Smart Dolphins IT Solutions, Victoria Airport Authority, HP Advanced Solutions, SendtoNews, CUBE Global Storage, FTS (Forest Technology Systems), StarFish Medical, AXYS Technologies and Flytographer!

These confident companies are the first to step up to the VIATEC Food Bank Challenge which runs from Nov 7th to Dec 2nd. There was no hesitation in signing up, and they’re all ready to come out on top with their cash and food donations for the Mustard Seed Food Bank!

There’s still time to sign up and be included in this list of amazing Victoria-based companies, boost your team morale and help us achieve our $100,000 goal!

Click here for all the details and contact engage@viatec.ca to accept the challenge.

#VIATECFoodBankChallenge

Carmanah Technologies

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Our Tectorian of the Week is: Carmanah Technologies! 

Carmanah Technologies won first place in both categories of the 2015 VIATEC Food Bank Challenge: Greatest Overall Contributor and Greatest Per-Employee Contributor (supporting the Mustard Seed). Having received second place by just $300 during the last challenge, they were determined to come in on top!

2015 Winners

​Greatest Overall Contributor

Greatest Per Employee Contributor:

VIATEC Food Bank Challenge Participants!

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Our Tectorians of the Week are: Arpix Media, Avocette, AXYS Technologies, Carmanah Technologies, FTS, Isolation Network, Planet Clean, Red Brick Media, Revenue Wire, Smart Dolphins IT Solutions, Simply Rooted Media, Schneider Electric, StarFish Medical, UNIT4, Vigil Health Solutions and xMatters!

Why? Because they’re all stepping up and raising cash and food donations for the Mustard Seed Food Bank through the VIATEC Food Bank Challenge!

Week 1 of 4 is just wrapping up today and although VIATEC won’t be posting results until Monday, we can tell it’s been a very active week. The announcement that Dan Gunn, CEO of VIATEC, will get a tattoo of the VIATEC logo if $100,000 is raised, may have upped the ante a bit! It even caused Dallas Gislason of the GVDA to raise the stakes by offering to do the same if $110,000 is raised! Arpix Media also submitted $500 on the very first day!

Week 1 was also the launch of the newly introduced weekly photo contest. Participants receive the chance at winning an addition 250 points if their pic is the best of the bunch. It also gives participants a chance to see what their competition is up to…

Red Brick Media went with a video instead of a picture in order to capture the action of their team doing push ups!

  • Want to join the challenge? (It’s not too late)… email kwalker@viatec.ca
  • Want to give a personal donation? Click here and make sure you select “VIATEC Food Bank Challenge” as your reason for giving on the second page
  • Want to donate to one of the participants to help them win? See the company list above or below!
  • Want to just witness all the fun? Search for #VIATECFoodBankChallenge on social media!

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Smart Dolphins IT Solutions

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Smart Dolphins IT Solutions’ vital signs are in tip-top shape and they definitely won’t have a problem surpassing the average lifespan of a Bottlenose Dolphin.

Smart Dolphins just turned 15 years old. They are a provider of award-winning computer support and networking for businesses in the Greater Victoria area and elsewhere on Vancouver Island. In addition to their excellent services, they have earned two VIATEC Technology Awards: VIATEC Member of the Year (2008) and Employer of the Year (2012).

“15 years ago I was sitting in the backroom of our townhouse preparing to take my new found skills to market,” reflected Dave Monahan, founder. “I was brainstorming business names. I was considering my hourly rate. I was carving Smart Dolphins into a shingle. I wondered who I could approach first. Smart Dolphins was preparing for launch. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was young and figured now would be a great time to give my own business a go.”

Some of their clients include Access Records, Kidsport Victoria and Megson FitzPatrick. Smart Dolphins can sell and install a new computer network from the ground up, tweak an existing network or they can simply serve to keep computers behaving nicely. They install, configure and troubleshoot both hardware and software. They take on big IT projects or answer the smallest of help desk type questions.

A few of our favourite features of their website are the “Dolphin Ditties” and “Pod Pointers”. The Ditties are helpful video tutorials that help make your days a little easier. The videos cover anything from a cool, new software, using software to its fullest potential or precautions you should take online. The Pointers are a similar concept, but in a blog format instead of video.

The team at Smart Dolphins works hard, plays hard and treats their clients like they’re a part of the pod.

The "Dol-Fan wall"

The “Dol-Fan wall”

They have a “Dol-Fan” wall where guests sign in by writing their name on a dolphin and adding it to the wall. A staff member is blindfolded monthly and picks a name off the wall so they can give them a $100 cash prize.

Paul Holmes just joined their team and they gave him a Nerf Gun initiation (See the torture happen here), and he was actually seen at Smart Dolphins’ Charity Poker Tournament shortly before he was hired. Maybe he impressed everyone with his card skills…

Charity Poker Tournament

Charity Poker Tournament

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I am confident and passionate about our future,” commented Monahan. “Smart Dolphins is improving lives through business excellence and the leveraged use of technology. We’re denting the universe. I can’t wait to see what we can do with another 3900 weekdays.”