l , .. ‘tmii. f"“(l|‘f'â€â€™l'.." “In.†‘H WATERLOO ministers-MAIN 247015-21 E I Q U D Local IT company punches above its , , .- ht as lt collects industry awards 81(80an tomer service extras that the company likes w““"'†7 "Iv" f" _ Chmniclé5mfl topmvideandhasmadethemalavourlteto 'â€"-- g, V,“ ’ host corporate and diaritable events, indud- ~«â€"â€". 5‘ l I f! ' I: aterloo's FoxNet Solutions has inganannualgolfï¬indraiaerforKidsAbility. -~â€".._. L If“; . ' Wgrown into an awardng tech “It started out as a photography studio," , ..... ’ i 0. ~ , company. recently being named said Fox. “Now we have a training centre. we .__.. / the Top Small Business Solution Provider in do customer events here and we have sig- “’-»~â€"/ Canada at the annual Computer Dealer nagethateverybodymnseewhentheygoby. ..___ News Awards. “Again they don't know what we do. but m The information technology ï¬rm was the everybody remembers that rock (with the a...†top Canadian company with less than 10 FoxNet) Sign when they drive by. But movirg M“ employees in revenue at the competition. here was one way of elevating our business .M generating more than S†million in revenue and letting people know we were here â€a“. - in 2012. because we’re all B to B (business to busi- We...†in fact, the company just recently added ness) and the general public wouldn't be able -"-... its eighth employee, and despite its relatively to identify what we do." ‘ «a... small size it's the second consecutive year The awards are nice said Fox. but they are Ԡthat it took the top honour from the Comput- more of a means to an end to help them get er Dealer News Awards. the word out about what the company does ‘* The award came on the heels of being rec- and the impressive dient list they service. ognized with the HP Partner in Excellence. “The awards validate what we do,†said Growth Award and a global tech conference Fox “We go after fairly large companies, so inlasVegasinMarch. whentheyaskbowbigareyouwetellthem But despite the accolades the question the we’re in the top 100 in Canada for the last company president Bill Fox most commonly several years receives is what exactly do they do? "That gives them a little more of a comfort “My wife (Nancy) is tired of trying to level thatwecandobusinesswiththem.†explain what we do," said Fox. “She just tells It's surprising howeven in this ageoftech- people that we're secret agents.†nology it’s the personal touch that still regis- But that irreverence. and the hint that this ters with a lot of clients, and Fox said they is the type of tech company that does things deliver it with a loyal. knowledgeable stallr a little diï¬'erently, might be the secret to the that can deliver end-to-end service spanning company's success â€" it's customer service. solutions including providing the architec- And the company's headquarters in a con ture, design, planning and implementation verted century home on Erb Street in the ol’lTservioes uptown core gives a taste of why they have “Basically we're kind of like designers and contracts with major clients like Hewlett architects of inhastructure," said Fox about Packard. the University of Western Ontario the business. "Most of these companies have and Dofasco. certain business applications and they need . It starts in Fox’s ofï¬ce with its watery blue the infrastructure to drive it." theme and life~siaed imitation of the marlin That includes providing their expertise in y . he caught 03 Florida's coast hanging on his server and storage consolidation. providing Bill For. WMWW Sid people "1th WWW local "(may wall. The other corner is devoted to his back-up and recovery solutions and building 6095 but " has a "St °f satlsfied customers. "k9 HP, and has won industry awards '0' “5 Wk- favourite hockey team â€"â€" the Montreal Cana- networks. m W ""0 diens â€" and includes two red seats from the “A lot of our business is virtualizing deskâ€" piled. “Everybody thinks we're an Internet or demolished Montreal Forum and other Habs tops and servers.†said Fox. “Storage is a big "We're looking for those more complex networking company. but it's really dealing paraphernalia part 0' ll because the need {0' “0'38? keeps data-centre type customers who want some- with these data centres where we thrive." The company's downstairs boardroom growing and growing. and â€1059 are big proj- body to come in and say here's how you do it Fox laughs off all the trouble he had might look typical except it has a cherry- customs†and here's what you need to do.†said Fox. explaining what FoxNet Solutions does. so he wood bar at one end with cold beer on tap FoxNet celebrated its 10th anniversary last “We have consultants that do all the imple- mfers back to hiswife’s description. and a "NFC?" FOXNC‘ sign hanging in the year. and Fox said the 60mm“)! is P°l59d ‘0 mentation and then all the service is handled “She says I'm a secret agent,†said Fox. comer. 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