The Canadian market is one of the world’s most attractive in terms of technological investments. The Information and Communications Technology GDP growth rose 5.5% from 2015 to 2019 as 461 technology companies invested in the Canadian market. Even 10 of the largest technology companies (Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Alphabet, Intel, IBM, Facebook, Cisco, Tencent, and Oracle) in the world have invested. There is also plenty of technology talent to recruit from the Canadian market. CBRE’s list of top 20 technology markets to recruit from features 4 cities from Canada (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa) (Invest in Canada, n.d.). The technological sector in the Canadian market is very promising, as it is filled with immense talent in technology. Even the 10 largest technology companies in the world have invested, which indicates a strong market in technology.
An example of how advanced technology is in Canada is Shopify’s stance during COVID-19. Shopify (Canada’s highest valued corporation) is an e-commerce giant that is based in Ottawa, Canada. The company has roughly 5000 employees and their offices look like boutique hotels. The CEO recently announced that they will be shifting to remote working permanently while the offices will remain open if needed for usage. The past few months have also shown Shopify and other tech companies in that there isn’t much to lose when transitioning to remote work. A study showed that in-person work is similar to remote work since most employees are working individually anyways. If meetings are needed, video calling is available, and its effectiveness is similar to in-person meetings (Austin, 2020). The largest Canadian corporation’s stance on working from home during COVID-19 just shows how sophisticated technology is in Canada. Shopify’s willingness to ditch in-person work despite having boutique-like offices isn’t only because of safety measures, but also its confidence in innovative technology.
Figure 17.
Shopify announces all employees will be working remotely permanently (Task Us, 2020)
