A London technology company has hit a “milestone,” employing more than 1,000 workers as sales have risen by about 45 per cent in one year.
A London technology company has hit a “milestone,” employing more than 1,000 workers as sales have risen by about 45 per cent in one year.
Info-Tech Research Group recently cracked the major hiring figure, with nearly half the new jobs coming in one year, as demand for research in the technology sector has boomed during the pandemic, said Lucy Norman, director of acquisition for Info-Tech.
“There is a market for what we do. Our research is practical, tactical and what information technology leaders are looking for,” she said.
Of the 1,004 workers now employed by the Ridout Street business, about 350 are working in London, 374 are in Toronto and the balance are working remotely across the US, Canada and Australia, with offices also in Sydney and Las Vegas, Norman said.
“It is amazing. We have always had a growth focus. We want to become the world’s largest tech research firm,” she said. “We want to be the largest and we want to do it through organic growth and not just acquisition.”
Info-Tech forecasts hiring nearly 200 workers this year, Norman said.
“It is a milestone. It is remarkable,” said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp.
“It is this kind of growth that is helping drive the London economy. It’s not just that they have a lot of workers here, but they have revitalized a downtown space into something significant.”
In 2018, Info-Tech moved into a 70,000-square-foot property on Ridout Street that cost $17.5 million to renovate and saw several heritage properties joined. It includes a rooftop garden and gathering space.
At that time, Info-Tech employed 250 in the London office.
Jobs growth at the firm has been across the board from sales to software developers, designers and others, Norman said.
The hiring has been driven by sales that have spiked 40 to 45 per cent year over year for the last three years, as demand in the tech sector has been “on steroids,” she said.
Info-Tech offers a subscription service to technology firms where they pay a fee for “a library of research” they can access and Info-Tech offers research in several areas. That can range from how to build an effective annual strategy for an IT team, to issues around leadership and best-practice for privacy and data, to name a few, Norman said.
“There are a host of different topics. Information is key and what we do is inform clients, empower them with data. We are partners with them.”
Info-Tech was founded in 1997.
London has more than 400 technology businesses that employ about 10,000 workers, Lakhotia said. The LEDC’s technology job portal – londontechjobs.ca – now has nearly 500 positions listed.