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Supplied by the Sault Economic Developmemnt Corporation…
Serving North American SMB clients, Bell Canada’s Createch Group’s Services 365 to provide new jobs and drive local economic growth

Sault Ste. Marie (December 12, 2016): A new service centre that has potential to create tremendous benefits and economic growth is coming to Sault Ste. Marie. Named Services 365, the initiative marks a partnership between Bell Canada’s Createch Group, Microsoft, the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre and many other community stakeholders including the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Sault College and Algoma University.

The new service centre will be set up in partnership with the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre and Bell’s Createch Group will be creating jobs and hiring people in client facing roles, solution development teams and support groups to back up consulting and sales for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 advanced technology solution for Small to Medium Sized Business (SMB). With the potential to create some 80 – 200 jobs within five years, Services 365 would represent the largest project undertaken in Sault Ste. Marie by the Innovation Centre and for the City recent years.

“We chose Sault Ste. Marie for its stable and qualified workforce as well as the strong and supportive presence of Sault College and Algoma University,” said Mario Chabot, General Manager, Microsoft Business Unit, Bell’s Createch Group. “We feel privileged to be able to contribute to the city’s economic future.”

“This is great news for Sault Ste. Marie.  Bell’s Createch Group could have located this new division anywhere and they chose Sault Ste. Marie. That speaks volumes to what we have to offer and our potential to grow and exceed expectations,” said Christian Provenzano, Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie. “This new operation will help retain youth, attract a skilled workforce and young professionals, encourage further economic development in the technology sector and drive academic enrollment in our science and technology programs.”

Benefits to locating the service centre in the Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma region include: building a foundation of technology services that will grow and evolve over time to deliver niche market applications and support future Microsoft technologies; training new staff and encouraging next generation technology, business and sales talent to support Dynamics 365; create a development path and pipeline of trained professionals for enterprise solution sales and services; helping SMB clients adopt Dynamics 365 licenses; and enabling other partners, worldwide, to take advantage of Dynamics 365 solutions in their sales offerings.

Bell’s Createch Group is a Canadian leader in business transformation whose mission is to significantly improve profitability for clients through the deployment of their world-class process optimization software solutions. And while this will be Createch’s first venture here, Mario Chabot is very familiar with Sault Ste. Marie, having previously worked on the creation of an advanced multi-enterprise Geographic Information Systems (GIS) solution for the City of Sault Ste. Marie and the Sault Ste. Marie PUC. This collaboration produced the Community Geomatics Centre (CGC) in 2000, an internationally recognized business unit of the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre that has created a community information utility which conducts business in Sault Ste. Marie and across Canada, and won awards as the most comprehensive GIS in Canada.

“This new unprecedented partnership will continue to bring new jobs to Sault Ste. Marie that align with local, provincial and Federal growth strategies around the digital economy and in support of a significant demand and unparalleled growth in Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector development,” said Gerry Bugyra, Business Development Manager, Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre.

Training the Next Generation
In addition to increasing opportunities to develop talent for Microsoft Cloud services, a major draw of the project the opportunity to repatriate young professionals and attract new professionals to Sault Ste. Marie.

Sault College and Algoma University intend to collaborate with Microsoft Canada to integrate curriculum and training and support academic excellence programs that aim to attract more local, national and international students as well as help encourage younger students in high school to seriously consider a future in Sault Ste. Marie using the Academic Alliance program.

“Our mission at Microsoft is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more,” said Charlotte Burke, Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners Lead at Microsoft Canada. “Through these initiatives in partnership with Bell’s Createch Group, our goal is to equip students in Sault Ste. Marie with the necessary education and technical skills to not only find jobs but to enable them to serve their local communities and help business to grow, evolve and transform in the digital era.”

“The partnership with Bell’s Createch Group and Microsoft represents an exciting opportunity for our students and grads who wish to pursue a career in IT. The project is consistent with the College’s tradition of providing educational programming that is closely aligned with employer needs and also supports our strategy to broaden and integrate experiential learning opportunities for our students,” stated Colin Kirkwood, Sault College, V.P. Academic and Research.

The Service 365 Centre is expected to fully launch in May, 2017.

About Bell’s Createch Group
Bell’s Createch Group is a Canadian leader in business transformation. The organization’s mission is to significantly improve the profitability of their clients through the optimization of their processes and the implementation of world-class software solutions. Since its inception in 1993, the firm has assisted more than 1,200 companies in improving their competitiveness and performance through the delivery of some 2000 projects.

About the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre
The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) is a non-profit organization established in 1999 to function as a catalyst for economic development and diversification in the information technology and science knowledge-based sectors. SSMIC’s mission is to drive business growth, facilitate research and commercialize innovation in globally significant areas of science and technology through partnerships, expert advice, community development, business incubation, youth outreach and sector development activities. Key SSMIC business divisions include the Community Geomatics Centre, Rural Agri-Innovation Network, Business Support Services, YouLaunch and Smart Energy. www.ssmic.com