Software tester hopes to find home for 57 new Sault jobs by week's end

A New Brunswick-based software testing firm hopes to start training before Christmas for a Sault workforce that could eventually total almost 60 employees.

"The latest we would want to start would be just after Christmas or early January," Dennis Carignan, president and chief operating officer of Professional Aboriginal Testing Organization Inc. (PLATO Testing), told City Council last night.

Carignan says he's narrowed his commercial real estate search down to three locations in the Sault Ste. Marie area.

He's in the Sault for the next couple of days and hopes to reach a decision by the end of this week.

"We've looked at a number of locations in the Sault Ste. Marie area. We have to find one that makes sense for us as a company, both in terms of accessibility and proximity to local clients," Carignan said.

Last night, councillors voted to give the company a total of $250,000 from the city's economic development fund: $125,000 this year and $125,000 in 2019.

PLATO Testing is a subsidiary of Fredericton, NB-based Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA Testing), an 11-year-old business.

Operating for three years, PLATO has been offering outsource software testing services for the past three years.

Its customers are major banks, insurance companies, lottery and gaming firms, large retailers and government institutions.

PLATO/PQA has offices in Fredericton and Mirimichi NB, Halifax NS, Calgary AB and Vancouver BC.

The Sault office will be the company's fifth field operation, its initial beachhead in Ontario. 

Carignan anticipates up to 57 jobs will ultimately be created here, possibly more if demand for the firm's software testing continues to grow.

"This would be the largest outside the Fredericton office," he says. "This would be one of the first to grow."

The local centre will start with 15 PLATO testers, plus additional PQA staffers.

PLATO operates in four Canadian time zones.

That effectively gives it a 12-hour workday, allowing employees to communicate in real time with overseas partners.

The firm is building a network of aboriginal software testers across Canada.

"PLATO has chosen our community as it has a sizeable potential indigenous workforce and because it has a growing IT demand in the area of the lottery and gaming development," says Tom Vair, the city's deputy chief administrative officer for community development and enterprise services.

"The expansion to Sault Ste. Marie will provide employment opportunity growth for both indigenous and non-indigenous IT professionals," Vair said in a memorandum to Mayor Provenzano and city councillors.

Indigenous employees and persons with disabilities will be critical in mitigating a serious shortage of information and communications technology employees, Vair said.

PLATO's training program will involve four months in the classroom followed by a two-month internship.

Everyone completing PLATO training is offered full-time, permanent employment.

PLATO has been working with Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre and UP Lottery and Gaming team in planning the local start-up and is also exploring training collaborations with Sault College and Algoma University.

In the Sault, the company expects to spend $1.8 million in training costs during its initial three years, with a $7.4 million operating budget for the same period.

It's also applying to FedNor and Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. for additional funding.

Decisions from both entities are expected this fall.

Speaking at his last-ever City Council meeting, Ward 1 councillor Steve Butland said the PLATO launch touches on three of his favourite I's: the Innovation Centre, information technology and indigenous peoples.

"I think this is a real winner for us," Butland said.

The Ward 1 councillor announced in May that he wouldn't seek re-election in next month's municipal election.