Strategis was launched on March 27, 1996 to harness the power of the Internet to provide business and consumer information to all Canadians, without the constraints of time and geography. The Strategis website has allowed Industry Canada to shift from a paper-based information culture to a more efficient, electronic one. Before Strategis, Industry Canada produced over 5,000 information products on paper. The information available on Strategis results in significant savings and improved service to Canadians. Strategis makes use of new technologies to offer interactive applications such as customizable benchmarking tools, cost calculators, and online business planning.

What’s available online for clients?

Information services:

Strategic business information (such as trade and technology trends, analyses and opportunities, policy and economic issues, industry-sector performance reviews, business statistics, and company directories);

Consumer information (such as product reviews, buying guides); and

Interactive products (such as online public policy consultations, and interactive diagnostic tools).

Transaction services:

Strategis offers a platform supporting secure transactions for a number of Industry Canada online service areas.

Clients and benefits of online service

Clients:

Canadian businesses;
Foreign businesses; and
Individuals.

Benefits:

Faster access to business intelligence products produced by Industry Canada; and

Improved distribution of business intelligence by Industry Canada to clients across Canada and abroad.

Our journey to success

In 2004, the Chief Information Office made a series of changes to Strategis that were designed to improve the user's experience and increase the overall efficiency of the site's operations and procedures. A number of these changes involved infrastructure renewal.

Two servers were added to improve search function performance, which allowed for better distribution of the information collections and improved operational stability. In addition, improvements were made to enhance resource discovery potential, simplify search interface pages and promote the use of metadata.

Strategis access software was updated to reduce the amount of downtime. As a result, downtime was reduced to 10 minutes in 2005, except for regular maintenance.

Implementing software for web-usage statistics will provide product managers with valuable data and insight on client use of their sites and will provide other information on trends and issues related to their products.

An online client survey was undertaken to confirm Strategis's value proposition (i.e. the value of the information available through Strategis) and to assess the extent to which Strategis's information collections met the needs and expectations of its clients.

New products such as the Directory of Social Economy and Volunteer Associations were developed to reflect the evolving needs of the business community. In addition, existing information collections were assessed periodically, and enhancements were made to ensure their relevance to users and their potential in supporting the country's economic development and prosperity.