Canadian Cloud Computing - a great tool for SMBs

For an update on an earlier post about Canadian Cloud Computing, this Hub startup  received some great press recently in IT in Canada. Great article about how the Small to mid size businesses can really benefit from a cloud solution.

I love this quote from Wally Kowal, President and Founder of Canadian Cloud Computing: “We consider ourselves a cloud provider with a face. A lot of small and mid-sized companies are not comfortable with global operations and corporations. It’s okay if you’re a consumer and you don’t care where your data is – Google is great. But if it’s your company infrastructure that you are looking to put on the cloud, you want to know who you are dealing with. We’re not going to compete with Google – we are going to have a face. We have a phone number and you can get help from us anytime. We can do that on a smaller scale because we’re a smaller operator and we can offer that level of service.”

Communitech Apps Factory - help to build your app

Are you a not for profit with a great idea to engage with your audience via a mobile device? Well the Apps Factory may be the ideal option for you.

A team of developers led by Rob Drimmie, will create an early version of your mobile application. You can then use this prototype to demonstrate the idea to generate interest and further funding for the project. They are also happy to recommend local companies you can work with to continue to develop the app or you can take the project in-house to finish the work. Depending on your situation they will continue to guide you through the process of building a full fledged app.

They are currently taking applications for this term (they are open to new ideas until June 15th); you can get started here - submit a proposal. You must be able to describe the application you have in mind for your business and the problem that it addresses. Applications must be market-driven, and you should be able to define how you envision this application impacting your company, wealth creation or job growth.

Another great initiative located in the Hub.

Who is in the Hubbub? - A list of all who are in the Communitech Digital Media Hub

17 Muscles - Cognitive, Customized, web based training software

Will Pwn for Food - a whole blue ocean of competitive fun to the world
 

Allerta - your smart phone on your wrist

Willet - Web app monitization

Beyond One Eighty - Advanced security and intelligence platforms

Suncurve - ad delivery in digital media environments

Canadian Cloud Computing- they are building the Canadian Cloud

Notewagon- NoteWagon is a peer-to-peer learning platform that connects university students together in a marketplace for lecture notes and various student-generated revision materials.

Redwoods- content production company

Cyborg Trading Systems - Custom trading solutions for institutions

Kailog- Health collaboration - wearable information devices to alert medical teams of changing patient conditions

MappedIn - indoor mapping framework used by malls, museums, conference centers and various other public spaces

 

Infinidy Corp - amazing games for your iphone

iExperienceIT - a location-based life logging application that helps users log and share their experiences with friends and family

Footloose Games - adult gaming for the child at heart and the developers of Munchies Lunch

GooseChase - team building through scavenger hunts

Formulating Change- raising charitable donations through credit card transactions

Bookneto - making education a more social and open experience

Balute - making music digitally

Homick Labs - service for selling digital content, subscriptions and virtual goods within mobile applications

MediaExpertSearch - online directory for journalist looking for experts

UME Golf - a free social community for golfers

Loyalty Match - customizable loyalty program platforms

Taeros-  TekTire - tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) for fleets

Skoonowi - Leading Provider of Social Networks for the Classroom

Modevation Media - this is the sweetest team of video producers on the face of the planet - specialize in dynamic video production and event videography for organizations and companies across Ontario

Now Media - true local directories and online community news media

Well.ca - Canada's online health, beauty and skin care store that offers free shipping 

Philanthrokidz - building the coolest place for tweens on the internet 

Communitech 

Canadian Digital Media Network

Miller Thomson 

BMO 

Wildeboer Dellelce

WLU - Wilfrid Laurier University

AON- Insurance products and services for companies and consumers throughout Canada

Conestoga College

Deloitte

Gowlings

Ernst and Young

Christie Digital

Apps Factory

Accelerator Centre

Velocity

University of Waterloo

IRAP

RIM

OCE 

Open Text 

Grey

New tenant at the Communitech Hub - Homick Labs

This exciting company began as a mobile app developer, building and monetizing their own products. They have a line of Kid Apps as well as a successful Sports Fantasy App. The also create apps for a range of clients.

Where they see their future is in the opportunity of supporting other app developers with a product called SwiftMint.

SwiftMint is a service for selling digital content, subscriptions and virtual goods within mobile applications using native payment APIs for Apple App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry AppWorld. Their platform will help other developers quickly get apps up and running, specifically  making money, without developers having to spend the time and resources to build a back end system. 

They have built unique features into their platform (based on their own development needs) that will help to keep users in a good application longer and encourage more in-app purchasing. These features will be key for future developers who are attempting to break into a saturated market. Building off the existing SwiftMint platform allows them to get to market quicker and make more money with the app. 

As this market matures, it makes sense that developers will have to get smarter about how they leverage their unique abilities and passion to create an app that will stand out from the clutter. With SwiftMint, Developers can focus on building the front end, so they stand out in the crowd, and buy the back end programming already intact, ready to go to market.


They are positioning the product as a tool that helps developers acquire and retain users and then quickly monetize the app:

Acquire- Add new users to your apps by running promotions, giving away free goods and services and offering bonuses for installing your app Retain - Keep users in your app longer by offering rewards for using your app, running virtual currencies and awarding additional benefits for signing up friends Monetize - Improve conversion of free users to paid users by offering targeted digital goods for sale along with higher quality previews of digital content  I look forward to learning more about their business.

Canada 3.0 - chock-full of Culture and Collaboration

Great event full of lots of great ideas and thinking. And best of all, my two favourite words, Culture and Collaboration, kept coming up throughout both days.

As a student of culture I enjoy discussing the impact of digital media tools on society. I believe they will make quite their mark on history, and as social media explodes we are smack dab in the centre of the information revolution. For Canada 3.0 this became quite clear in Dr. Michael Wesch, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University presentation as he shared powerful stories about how humans search for identity and recognition. His brief history of the word "Whatever" was particularly fun and enlightening. It also connected with the debate that raged in Day 2 in the Education Stream discussion - Harnessing Social Media for Collaborative Learning - where my two favourite words collided.

Collaboration may be our strongest advantage going forward as we work to expand the abilities of Digital Media and Canada's presence and role within the evolution. With the free and safe sharing of ideas we can all get smarter together. Creating safe venues where sharing can begin, like Canada 3.0 and fostering continued collaboration and support in incubators like Communitech Digital Media Hub are critical going forward. This region has collaboration built into our culture. We all have a role in building and protecting that spirit. Let "Hunt for new ideas and foster collaboration" be our rallying cry!

Hubbub is growing - Communitech Digital Media Hub to expand

The doors were just opened last fall but there is already a need to expand the space! The Hub currently occupies 30,000 square feet here at the Tannery and will expand to occupy another 12,000 square feet on the first floor of the Tannery by early 2012.

The expansion will accommodate more Peer2Peer program space, expanded strategic partner space, and more room for established companies.

Hubbub has an interesting mix of tenants:

- 28 start-up companies – and growing

- 5 leading tech multi-nationals

- 14 innovation partners, including legal, advertising and accounting firms

- 3 post-secondary institutions: Conestoga College, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo

- provincial and federal government partners

I love this space because to me it represents what is at the heart of the uniqueness of this community – collaboration. In a recent conversation with Communitech EOR Lillian Bass, she shared a story about how Toronto startups are coming to the region because of this unique spirit. As a community we are developing a reputation not only as a technology centre but a centre for collaboration and support of growth and development. We work together to help all be better and stronger and smarter. To me that is really exciting.

The agency of brick and mortar is disappearing

Do you agree with this statement?
Grey Canada was offered one page in a marketing magazine to do whatever we wanted. In response we created an editorial infographic about the "The Ad Agency 2011". 

Post your thoughts about the possibility.

As I sit here at the Communitech Digital Media Hub in Kitchener, Ontario, while working closely with my colleagues in Toronto, it is apparent that change is good.