Alberta companies going head-to-head with U.S. firms in exporting leading-edge technologies and services need to sharpen their marketing message to remain competitive, says the head of an Edmonton-based industrial IT company.

Nizar Somji, president and CEO of international engineering and consulting company Matrikon Inc., says the real challenge for companies such as his is to develop an effective sales message.

“From a technology standpoint, we have better, if not competitive technology (with the U.S.). What we are not able to do is to sell it as well as Americans do,” he said.

Exporting companies also need to be more aggressive in driving home the Canadian advantage to clients, he added, which includes differences in currency, salaries, facilities and cost of living compared with the United States.

Matrikon Inc. CEO Nizar Somji stressed Canadian advantage.

“But because we are not able to take full advantage (of these things), we find a lot of successful Canadian companies are actually bought by American companies who can take them to the next level – not from a technology standpoint, but from a sales and marketing-the-business standpoint.”

Somji was one of the guest speakers last week at a Calgary seminar on innovation and global competitiveness sponsored by the FGL Open Global Business Society and the Exporters and Importers Association of Calgary.

He described a number of risks and challenges his publicly traded company – recognized on Profit Magazine’s list of Canada’s fastest-growing companies for three straight years – has faced in being a successful global exporter, with an estimated 70 per cent of business conducted outside Canada.

Most businesses are built on relationships, Somji noted, but it takes longer to cultivate such relationships if you are unable to maintain a regular physical presence in the target country. But instead of building an expensive mushrooming network of offices around the world to serve international clients, Matrikon has taken a more strategic approach – it selects a partner, builds the relationship, develops a customer base, and only then considers opening a sales office and perhaps a technical office.

Said Somji: “We’ve been able to keep our costs down substantially” at the Edmonton-headquartered company, which now has corporate offices in Calgary, Fort McMurray, across North America, the Middle East and Australia.

Somji also addressed the issue of cross-border tensions and increased security between Canada and the U.S. since the terrorist attacks in September 2001 and the recent U.S. invasion of Iraq. Stronger border security has actually helped streamline some travel, he said, but challenges remain for exporters in getting their goods into U.S. territory in a timely fashion.

“I expected to see more reaction from our U.S. clients, (to Canada’s anti-war stance), but we haven’t,” he said, in response to a question from the audience. While there has been plenty of talk about added security, Somji added, as a Muslim businessman who travels to the U.S., “I have not seen it.”

Earlier this year, Matrikon received the Premier’s Award of Distinction for outstanding achievement and leadership in the business community, and was also recognized by Western Economic Diversification Canada for achievement in exporting products, services and technology outside Alberta.

Also at the Friday seminar, John LeBoutillier, chairman of Quebec-based Intellium Technologies, said while there is no lack of research and development in Canada, it’s an ongoing challenge to create clusters to link researchers more closely with industry.

“There is no shortage of technologies across Canada, but what is lacking is the money and means to take them to market,” said LeBoutillier, the former president and CEO of the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

Canadian startups can’t survive on venture capital alone, he added, and government funding is necessary to help develop new technologies. Two-year-old Intellium, which works with enterprises to link research technologies with industry, is backed by a labour-sponsored vencap fund.

Alberta exporters are also being encouraged to register themselves with a new online trade directory being launched this week in Calgary.

Carol Blakey, head of the Exporters and Importers Association, said it’s important for trade offices and governments around the world to be able to track Alberta’s export activity from a private industry, rather than just a government, perspective.

More than 3,000 Alberta businesses have already registered with the trade directory (www.exportclub.ab.ca), which is a free service.