Focusing on corporate culture has helped Cogsdale Corporation become an award-winning Microsoft business partner and a leader in TOP 101 revenue growth

Company: Cogsdale Corporation
Revenue: $10,156,607
Location: Charlottetown, P.E.I.
2009 Rank: 86

Managing people is never easy. Then there’s the complexity of a growing workforce. Duncan Shaw and David Perry found a solution: take your entire team on a Caribbean cruise.

“We wanted to show how much we value our employees,” says Shaw, the co-president of Cogsdale Corporation. “How are you going to successfully connect with an employee based in Vancouver when you’re in P.E.I.? The trip was expensive, but building connections away from the office is beneficial.”

The key to Cogsdale’s success is its people. Shaw and Perry’s commitment to finding and keeping top talent is the main reason the Charlottetown-based software company is number one of the Top 10 ranked organizations for internal practices.

Cogsdale began in Shaw’s basement 12 years ago, where four employees worked on software programs for municipal governments and utility organizations. The company has swelled to about 135 employees, half of whom came on board in the last year. “The way to draw people in is to get them involved,” says Shaw. “If you can’t compete on money, you need to focus on the corporate culture. We give people a chance to have a direct impact on the product.”

While the company grows, the quality of work from employees stays high. Such focus hasn’t gone unnoticed. The company recently won the 2009 Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner of the Year award, recognizing achievements in using Microsoft business software.

The best way to attract and retain people, Shaw believes, is to have an informal work environment. Employees are encouraged to make critical decisions on their own. They are asked to take risks. “We say act first, then ask for forgiveness,” says Shaw. “We promoted two managers with instructions to make the department grow. Instead, they developed software-implementation standards for their department that were so successful we decided to make the standards general practice for the company.”

Employee independence and support was one reason Ben Pirsons was drawn to Cogsdale. Pirsons was hired as a financial consultant last year and will begin the certified managerial accountant (CMA) program this fall, with educational funding from Cogsdale. “There are few opportunities in P.E.I. for the kind of experiences Cogsdale offers for young people,” says Pirsons. “I’m on the road helping companies get software off the ground. This is the experience I wanted.”

Career development at Cogsdale involves learning through job rotation. Employees are encouraged to branch out of their traditional roles into other departments. “One of our programmers gave a successful presentation, a task he usually wouldn’t do,” says Shaw’s partner, David Perry. “Our software engineers don’t do sales, but he said, ‘I want to do this,’ so we said go ahead. Now he’s working as a solutions specialist on the sales team.”

Shrewd investments helped Cogsdale from being hit hard by the recession. Even though more than 90% of Cogsdale’s revenues are from the U.S., the company is well positioned to continue its success. In December of 2008, Cogsdale bought the financial management systems division of Tier Technologies, a Virginia-based firm specializing in processing electronic payments. The added roster of clients from the acquisition means more growth in human resources. Shaw and Perry plan to hire up to 10 additional employees by the end of the year.

“We never had to lay off staff,” says Perry. “Over half of our work is recurring maintenance of programs. We have contracts that will keep us busy for at least the next 18 months. We’re swamped.”

With so many new hires, Cogsdale staff will continue to stay focused and make new connections. In May the employees returned to the Caribbean, this time to a resort in Jamaica. “We wanted to hear what our employees had to say but also talk about our vision and values,” says Shaw. “Our employees give ideas and know we will listen.”

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