Ever-expanding Isaac Instruments opens new HQ

SAINT-BRUNO-de-MONTARVILLE, Que. – Isaac Instruments is clearly in the midst of a growth mode, and a new 37,000-sq.ft building is just a sign of things to come.

The business – one of Canada’s largest telemetry and telematics providers – has made room for 133 seats inside its newly established headquarters. All but one of those will be accounted for as early as January. That’s when planning will begin moving forward on the second of four construction phases.

The facility will house as many as 400 employees when the work is done.

President Jacques DeLarochelliere says the need for a new corporate home can be traced to a single theme: “Growth, multiply by growth, multiply by growth.”

As fleets increasingly invest in new technologies, the truck market itself continues to grow, he explains. And their technologies are not limited to electronic logging devices, either. “Most of the fleets we are working with have been using some form of electronic logbook for quite awhile,” DeLarochelliere says. “Some of our customers have been doing it for 30 years.”

Isaac has been growing in the midst of it all, and been recognized by Deloitte a one of the 500 fastest-growing technology providers in North America.

The business also secured its place on the list as a self-funded entity, without acquiring any other businesses, DeLarochelliere stresses. All the growth was organic. And there are no plans to slow down.

“If you don’t grow, you’re dying, you’re losing market share,” he adds.

This is Isaac’s fifth address, not accounting a small shed at his parent’s home, where the entrepreneur first began to experiment with telemetry. And the new space reflects the way Isaac Instruments conducts business as much as it provides physical offices.

“I asked every single group … to express what they want, what they need in their group, and their perception of what other groups need,” DeLarochelliere says. The floor plan that emerged is a careful mixture of sunlit open spaces and private areas. Teams can work out challenges and plan daily activities in a series of “war rooms” and a “scrum room”. Fifteen “cooperation rooms” offer spaces to come together to work on joint projects.

Customer experience and technical support teams have been sorted into two areas, each including a pair of “runners” who help to coordinate activities. And all 35 members of the research and development team sit in one area, which tends to be quiet as a library.

But the facility includes space for play as well as work.

Employees now have access to an exercise room, full-sized gym, beach volleyball court, and even a vegetable garden. A yoga studio doubles as a conference room when not in use. And as part of the Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville Ecopark, the site also requires charging stations for electrical vehicles and bicycle racks.

The first beach volleyball tournament is this Friday.

“We need to have all the tools to make sure we hire the best of the best,” DeLarochelliere says, referring to the importance of including lifestyle-related amenities. “We know we’re going to have to add more brains … You want to have a full stack of resumes to choose from.”

“We have brick and mortar. We’re healthy, and we’re solid with our finances. And we’re committed to keep being innovative. We are destined to grow.”