Borderless Solutions Inc

Atlantic just met Pacific for Borderless Solutions, an IT development and consulting firm in Halifax. Mario DeMello, the company’s owner and founder, signed a licence agreement this year with a seed production company in Hawaii to provide his web-based software called EasySafety Manager.
 
“The thing I find exciting about it,” says DeMello, “is that this large company, with 10,000 employees worldwide, was interested in my software for their Hawaii location. They looked at other companies and saw value in my product.”
 
Although EasySafety has a strong customer base in DeMello’s core marketing area of Atlantic Canada, this type of endorsement tells DeMello that his product can stand on its own. “I built the product intending to market it locally first,” he says, “although I was confident that it could be sold elsewhere. This request from Hawaii validates that.”
 
EasySafety Manager’s niche is to provide a convenient and affordable system for companies to keep track of mandatory safety information.
 
Designed for occupational health and safety (OH&S) or HR managers, it tracks all the training each employee has taken, or needs to take. “Most importantly,” says DeMello, “it flags courses before they expire, so scheduling can be done.”
 
Beyond training, the software also tracks workplace incidents and documents safety meetings and follow-up actions to help maintain a safer workplace. The latest release, issued in June 2009, allows clients to request customized reports, electronically store their own safety manuals and upload images like training certificates and workplace accident photos. Having quick access to this kind of documentation from any company location is particularly useful during an OH&S audit, says DeMello.
 
Upgrades like these often result from client queries, says DeMello. “Sometimes a client will ask for a customized report, and if it’s a report we think all our clients can use, we’ll build it for free and share it with everyone.”
 
Because it’s web-based, companies don’t need to install the software on their computers or networks. All they need is a computer with Internet access and a browser. Companies pay an annual fee for using the software, based on the number of employees they want to include. This annual fee includes product upgrades.
 
When DeMello built the software, he had a particular market in mind—small- to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs). His market research showed there were thousands of SMEs in Atlantic Canada alone.
 
There is potential in this market, he says, because some small companies may not realize their obligations with regard to OH&S training and record keeping. Or they may use a paper-based or spreadsheet system, which has disadvantages in terms of accuracy, ease of use and the ability to share access to the data across the company.
 
“My objective was to target small- and medium-sized companies,” says DeMello. “I expected that the larger companies would have their own IT departments that could meet their needs. The smaller companies do not have this luxury, so in a sense, I fill that need.”
 
“What happened,” says DeMello, “was that the larger companies bought into it.” For companies with several branches, the web-based system has the advantage of allowing them to read or update their records from any location, says DeMello.
 
“The concept of safety should not fall on the shoulders of just one person in the company,” says DeMello. “Everyone is responsible for a safe workplace.”
 
“By having access to these records,” he says, “responsibility can be shared right down the line.” For example, a location manager can delegate upkeep of data to department managers or allow individual employees to view their own records. Companies can choose how they want to manage their systems by assigning various user privileges for updating or viewing the data.
 
Now in its fifth year of operation, Borderless Solutions serves companies with 25–50 employees, and as high as 900. Clients range from the offshore industry to seafood production, to transportation and construction.
 
“My goal is to build a virtual business,” says DeMello, “to have clients from all over North America.” However in terms of marketing efforts, his immediate focus is on Atlantic Canada.
 
“You have to balance what you want a business to be,” says DeMello, “meeting goals but also having fun. There is enough market locally to make a very good living—why not exhaust that before moving farther.”
 
DeMello is able to operate his business with two employees from a home-based office in the Wedgewood subdivision in Halifax.
 
“I could be anywhere,” says DeMello. “I could certainly run this business from any of the Atlantic provinces. But I enjoy living in Halifax because it offers me most amenities of a large city such as Toronto but with a more relaxed lifestyle.”
 
“I’ve lived here for 36 years, since I came to Canada,” he says. “This is home for me. I have no reason to move elsewhere.”

Feature story written by Susan Corning