Branham Group’s annual listing of Canada’s top IT companies has provided readers with a unique glimpse of the nation’s elite information technology (IT) firms for 14 years. The categories and number of companies have increased over the years, representing the continued maturity of the industry. 

Ten years ago, there was no single ranking of the all the top IT (or ICT) Canadian companies, regardless of specialty. Rather, the Branham200 was focused primarily on four separate listings: the Top 100 Independent Software Firms, Top 50 Professional IT Services Firms, Top 25 Multinationals and Top 25 Up and Comers. Fifty per cent of the Branham200 coverage was focused on software companies. Ten years ago, the IT industry was really organized in silos. Over time, buyer requirements started to change from point solutions to a converged solutions approach. The IT industry started to collaborate to meet these new customer requirements. 

An example of this is the traditional telecoms that expanded their professional services capabilities to deliver communications as well as IT services. 

Branham responded with the Top 250 Canadian IT Companies ranking and with additional categories (as you can see in this issue). While software companies continue to produce the largest number of participants in the Branham300, the xSP category reflects the importance of mobile and Internet service providers as the use of cellular phone and Internet has skyrocketed since 1996. The growth of the mobile and Internet segments of companies such as Rogers and BCE proves the significance of this sector for both businesses and consumers. 

ICT Hardware and Infrastructure companies have also proved to be some of the most important in Canada’s IT sector. Companies like Nortel Networks and Research In Motion have helped to create the largest revenue-generating category in the current edition of the Branham Top 250.

Since the mid-’90s, information technology has shifted from innovations in wire-line technologies to significant wireless developments. Similarly, the focus on IT security has become more proactive than reactive. A decade of change in technology has led to the evolution of Branham’s annual listing of companies. The Branham300 continues to include Canada’s top software companies (including Cognos, whose revenues have increased almost fivefold in the past decade) and the nation’s top professional services organizations (like CGI, which generated close to $3.5 billion dollars in revenue in 2006), while also providing a more wide-ranging insight into the nation’s array of IT offerings.

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