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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - NOVEMBER 2015Northern Micromost exclusively focused our efforts on serving our customers as best as pos- sible in the Federal Government and K-12 school boards.CIO: Richard and Gilles, how did you get involved in the business?Richard Perkins: I started right af- ter graduating from Carleton Universi- ty with my Honours Degree in Econom- ics. I am Senior Director of Production and Corporate Quality and look after our Production department and our Management systems at Northern Mi- cro.Gilles Comtois: I’ve been with Northern Micro for over twenty five years now. A long time ago, I applied for a position as a receiving clerk/tech- nician. I had told the owner that I could fix anything. That’s the one thing that he remembered from the interview and he has reminded me of that on occasion. I am now Sr. Director of Product Man- agement and Service. Product Manage- ment, Service and Support, Vendor re- lations as well as Purchasing fall under my umbrella.CIO: How do you see Northern Micro as a step above the competition? What did you want to achieve when es- tablishing Northern Micro as different from the rest in the marketplace?HY: One thing Northern Micro re- ally goes above and beyond the com-petition with is our deep understand- ing our customers’ requirements and procurement methods in the Federal Government. In an institution like the Federal Government, everything is complicated, and it can be very diffi- cult to navigate through the different gatekeepers, contracts, service levels, and legal requirements that will satisfy their needs. We listen very carefully to our customers to understand their con- cerns and complaints, and we try our best to find solutions that address these issues.There are so many competitors out there that do a great job in providing a solution. NM aspires to not only do a great job on a technical level, but we want to take additional steps to ensure the customer receives the best experi- ence possible when they work with us. Our staff fully understands if we serve the customer right and take care of their problem, that customer will come back to do business with NM.GC: Northern Micro is the only Ottawa IT reseller with a sizeable ware- house and manufacturing facility. This allows us to customize and control the service level we offer our customers. Others often rely on distribution part- ners to offer higher levels of services we offer by default. Using distributers adds cost and removes control. North- ern Micro is also an ideal size for the52| Canadian Industry Online | November, 2015