REDspace: Celebrating 20 years

REDspace: Celebrating 20 years

< Back to Articles | Topics: Member Profile | Contributors: Mina Atia, Communications Coordinator | Published: March 4, 2021

As a software company with 95 per cent of its clients located outside of Canada, REDspace was no stranger to remote work. The company has extensive experience collaborating with remote teams from other regions. Upon hiring its employees, REDspace ensures they’re provided with laptops and other necessary equipment to work from home effectively.

“As part of our culture, we have always allowed flexibility and work from home options—both full-time and on an “as-needed” basis,” says Mike Johnston, President and CEO of REDspace.

The transition to a fully distributed team was relatively seamless for the company, and that kind of operational ease is directly related to its legacy. REDspace achieved a major milestone by celebrating 20 years in business last year.

“We started out of the ashes of the dot-com crash in 2000, unsure if there was a business to be had, or whether it was even possible to survive in Nova Scotia, let alone thrive,” says Johnston.

By starting off with building corporate training applications for IBM’s internal teams, REDspace recognized the irrefutable appeal of combining well-built and scalable software platforms with engaging and unique user experiences.

“At our core, our mission is to help our partners be global leaders in their business and transform the future of their industries with innovative technology,” says Johnston.

Landing Nickelodeon as its first media client almost 15 years ago, REDspace has since grown exponentially in building innovative technology. It transformed the media and entertainment industry for leading broadcast networks like WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS.

“We have navigated our way through a lot of industry transformation,” says Johnston. “And we continue to see a need for the work we do across a variety of industries.”

REDspace boasts a tailored and flexible approach to software development that allows it to work closely and build decades-long relationships with clients and partners.

“As someone born and raised in the province, I’m personally proud that REDspace offers meaningful careers for 220 people, and growing, from all over the world.”

Johnston acknowledges being in Nova Scotia, the home base of his company, is one of the biggest assets when competing internationally. “We come from a region where working hard and being helpful is instilled in us,” he says.

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The company strives on fostering a diverse, collaborative, passionate and hard-working team. It continues to grow and is expanding the team presence across Canada by attracting talent from all over the world to Nova Scotia.

“At our heart, we’re a service business,” says Johnston. “We invest in our people and their skills and work hard to foster the collaborative spirit needed to accomplish great things together.”

The company’s culture is heavily built around its people, and that is reflected in its diverse, cross-functional team from over 20 countries and various backgrounds.

“Our tight-knit learning culture is woven into everything we do,” he says. “We use weekly Tech Shares, internal Slack channels, Lunch-and-Learns, code reviews and paired programming to share knowledge within the company.”

This type of environment enables the entire REDspace team to provide the best service for clients by staying at the forefront of technologies and trends. Every single team member is passionate about solving problems for the clients and helping their businesses transform and thrive.

“As a company, we do our best to support our partners as we’re invested in seeing them succeed,” says Johnston. “It’s exciting to see their growth, to build on that momentum and it still feels like the best is yet to come.”

During COVID, REDspace has been renovating and expanding its space. The company is currently undergoing another expansion of the Bedford office as part of its long-term plans. At the same time, REDspace is also hiring remote team members across Canada and around the world to sustain its short-term growth during the pandemic.

“Our future is looking bright!” says Johnston. “We’re growing our team and diversifying into new areas with our partners.”

“After 20 years, we have so much to celebrate and I’m incredibly proud of what we've accomplished together. I'm excited to see what the future has in store for REDspace.” ■

< Back to Articles | Topics: Member Profile

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