Clifford didn’t want to say on record how many customers ServiceBox has, but said most of them are in Canada, and a growing number are in the United States.
Initially, Clifford didn’t have any immediate plans to aggressively grow the company. He thought it would grow organically over the long term. However, he soon realized that in the technology space, gaining market share is crucial to stay competitive.
“If you’re not getting out there and your customer base isn’t growing, you’re just going to get eaten up by somebody else who’s just better at marketing, better at selling, better at all these other things,” said Clifford.
The plan for next year is to improve ServiceBox’s product, but Clifford also has his sights set on ambitiously growing the customer base. He wants to double it within the next 12 to 18 months.
Clifford admitted there was some fear at the onset of the pandemic, but he eventually realized many of his customers were classified as essential services. He decided to seize the moment and get more aggressive, rather than go on the defensive.
“Our customers started realizing for themselves, ‘We’re essential services. We need this technology. We need to really be social distancing ourselves. We’re going to pull the trigger,” said Clifford.
Clifford was born and raised in Regina. He attended high school at Martin Collegiate, and then got a degree in computer science from the University of Regina.
Clifford couldn’t say for certain whether ServiceBox will continue to be based in Regina. He described the city as very collaborative, where almost any local CEO is willing to sit down for a coffee with an aspiring entrepreneur.
One issue Clifford did raise was the need for talent, a challenge other tech companies in the city have cited before. He said a good way to solve that is for local educational institutions to be properly preparing their students for the job market.
“We need to have them in a place where they’re ready to get running, because I think the more skilled people that we can have come out of our educational systems, the more the tech ecosystem’s going to grow,” said Clifford.
Source: – Regina Leader-Post
