While the federal government continues to work with the defence industry on the recommendations of the recent Jenkins and Emerson reports, one Ottawa company is using CANSEC to launch custom software targeted at one specific recommendation – the management of Canadian content in military procurements.
“OMX is the first platform designed to boost the ‘buy Canada’ defence procurement strategy by streamlining the specific procedures and processes in the industry,” said OMX founder and president Nicole Verkindt in a press release.
The company was created in February 2012 and has been working aerospace and defence executives to tailor the features of the software to industry requirements. According to OMX, the “platform provides access to tens of thousands of Canadian companies by region, size, local content, certifications and capability, with effective … tools to manage supplier and customer relationships collaboratively across an organization. It consolidates all of the related information required to complete a project, which will make defence contractors more competitive in a sector where there tends to be a lot at stake and entry costs can be heavy.”
That includes tools supply chain management through Canadian content calculations, advanced search, bookmarking and annotation; secure internal messaging between companies; collaborative project and transaction management and tracking; downloadable data for efficient reporting; and secure document repository and external email integration for causality tracking.
“OMX is tailored to provide access and tools to enter the marketplace to SMEs, Aboriginal-owned companies and companies with no experience in the industry,” said John Wright, a defence/technology consultant and chairman of CADSI’s SME Committee.