Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/196923
I Industry A SME's guide to the defence sector Breaking in: Scott Dewis spent a decade in the world of Hollywood, creating visual effects for TV shows such as Alias, Lost, Fringe, FlashForward, CSI and Pushing Daisies, and developing interactive video games for clients like Disney and Warner Brothers. As he discovered when his Victoria, British Columbia company, RaceRocks Digital, was approached in 2010 to provide higher fidelity animations for a virtual maintenance trainer, swimming with Hollywood sharks only partially prepared him for the peculiarities of the Canadian defence industry. Today, the rebranded RaceRocks 3D focuses on providing simulation and virtual training support as well as interactive marketing and visualization to defence companies. As the company transitioned to defence, Dewis, the CEO and cofounder, learned a few key survival skills that he recently shared with other small businesses at WESTDEF 2013 in Calgary. 40 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com It's been a long three years for RaceRocks: we've made plenty of mistakes, and learned almost as many lessons. We now boast five primes as clients, have our Facility Clearance, and doubled last year's revenues in one quarter this year. While we're not quite ready to declare ourselves a success story, we admit we've become a blip on the radar. With the federal government's Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) Investment Framework and an emphasis on Key Industrial Capabilities, the same opportunities will present themselves to other small enterprises. Primes are looking for partnerships to fulfill their IRB obligations and will partner with SMEs to help win contracts. Accordingly, I thought I would share four practical lessons learned for breaking into the defence industry. First, get help! Defence is a small, tightly knit, risk adverse community, and a lot of the deals are done in Ottawa. For a Western company, no matter how great your offering, you will need at least one champion in Ottawa; someone you trust who can advise you, introduce you to the defence family, and teach you the acronym-laden language. People outside government don't realize it, but in Canada we have three official languages: English, French, and defence. If your industry calls it a motor but defence calls it a small rotating actuator, you now call it a SRA. Second, wear a suit and tie! In Victoria, only lawyers and used-car salesmen wear suits; in Ottawa, it's part of the culture. A suit may not win a contract, but it will ensure you and your team look like you belong. Third, defence is risk-adverse. If you give anyone reason to believe your company may not be around in 10 years, no prime will be interested. The defence industry commonly works on programs that span 15 or more years and thus require stability.