Page 7 - NOVIPRO

evolve, and can prove to them that we
have done it ourselves, builds a trust.”

There have been three major phases

in NOVIPRO’s own evolution. When
NOVIPRO started in 1993, it did so as a
project management team. Then Micro-
soft came along, becoming the dominant

PC-based project management software,
and “we had to reinvent,” says Paquette.
This move precipitated NOVIPRO’s

enduring relationship with IBM, which
started in 1998.

“After that, we almost reinvented the
wheel in terms of IBM partnerships by
placing ourselves between the customer

and the manufacturer,” says Paquette. “In
fact, we are one of the only IBM partners
in Canada who didn’t work at IBM.”

NOVIPRO started to sell mainframes, with
its first sale going to Sherbrooke Univer-
sity. That first major sale snowballed into

one account after another. “The customer
enjoyed the fact that there was a team
in place between them and the manu-

facturer, and benefitted from an agnos-
tic attitude around different platforms,”
says Paquette. In 2006, anticipating that

price dropping of equipment would pose
challenges, NOVIPRO then pivoted to
its Business Solutions division, offering

custom business solutions for companies
of all types.

“This was a great opportunity to reinvent
ourselves and learn how to sell business

APRIL 2019 | BUSINESS ELITE CANADA 7