How WIMTACH networking services drive innovation for FOCUS Inspired

In this ever-changing Canadian economy, businesses have to find ways to keep up-to-date with the latest industry trends and innovative developments. Being part of a sustainable network increases the number of opportunities to acquire more knowledge exponentially. Furthermore, it puts the pieces of a project into place much faster because the resources are all in one place, an invaluable feature of Technology Access Centres such as WIMTACH.

As a long-time collaborator of WIMTACH, FOCUS Inspired has collaborated on numerous projects, each positioning the company towards increased business opportunities and target audience engagement. For instance, WIMTACH provided technical support by building and improving the functionalities of Career Buddy, which improved the user experience of FOCUS Inspired’s target audience as well as increased audience engagement. Additionally, WIMTACH enhanced Career Buddy by refining its job searching capabilities, which allows Focus Inspired to expand their business opportunities. At the Centennial RISES event, WIMTACH invited Luki to present his project work with WIMTACH. Currently, his fourth project with WIMTACH is underway and it is currently funded by the the College and Voucher Technology Adoption (CVTA) program.

“A lot of [our decision to work with WIMTACH] was due to relationships and through proximity and connections. I teach at Centennial [College] and found out more about what WIMTACH provides,” said founder and Chief Career Catalyst of FOCUS Inspired Luki Danukarjanto.

“I had a conversation with Jeziel (Project Manager of WIMTACH). We talked about what it would take to get here and it sounded like it made sense for us [at Focus Inspired] to do. I’ve given opportunities to students to gain real work experience in something that would [also] benefit me and the company. It sounded like a lot of wins.”

Luki Danukarjanto

FOCUS Inspired is a Canadian-based company that provides professional career coaching and education services to improve the success of those on a career journey. Their proprietary product, Career Buddy, provides handy career guidance, including online resources and reminders that make career success fun to learn about, available in a timely manner and easier to attain.  In fact, Danukarjanto was inspired to create Career Buddy because as a professor of the Business School at the Centennial College Progress campus, he noticed that in several career-focused courses, students were continuously asked “did you apply?” over and over again without recourse on how to get to that point to begin with. Instead of having a person doing that, people “would want the road map or the seven [or] eight steps to get a job” that was automated, easy to use and responsive.

At the centre of these projects is a continuing investment in innovation and a strong working relationship that empowers both WIMTACH and FOCUS Inspired to take ideas as far as possible. Collaboration is a key component of WIMTACH success and as such, is a strength that is shared and recognized by the industry and industry partners. Despite the change in personnel from project to project, consistency is what kept the integrity of the project.

The Technology Access Centre (TAC) status of WIMTACH was the catalyst for it. This status not only allows WIMTACH to increase and expand its services, but it supports growth and networking. The value of a TAC lies in its capacity to promote and provide innovation at the same time. While that’s not uncommon with non-TAC companies that provide other services, TACs are unique in offering multiple ways to get to the finish line:

“It was a good relationship. [WIMTACH] was very helpful in an advisory capacity whenever we hit an issue,” Danukarjanto explained.

“[The WIMTACH team would tell us]: “These are a couple of things we can do and if we do this one, this is what’s going to happen and if we do this one, these are the consequences. Here’s what we lean more towards”.”…”there was more of a global view of the project. In [non-TAC companies], they have a certain stack and configuration and technology that they use and that’s what they use vs. here where it’s like, “here are all the options”. So there’s a broader lens. Through that, [The WIMTACH team] was able to make the decision [with FOCUS Inspired] and then find the students who could fit into the direction of the project vs. this is what we have and we’re going to do it because this is what we have.”

Luki Danukarjanto

WIMTACH is committed to strengthening its partnerships across the industry to encourage innovation at the highest level. With over 50 new technologies and products developed – and many more to go – WIMTACH’s ongoing efforts will continue to serve as the catalyst for real, collaborative, innovative change.

WIMTACH proudly recognizes funding to support this work from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) program of the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).