Face of Technology: Rich Hodgkinson

Rich Hodgkinson and Glenn Marquez are in the business of giving other business owners peace of mind.

The two founded Ammolite Technology in 2019 after sitting down for lunch one day and deciding to join forces to deliver exceptional IT services.

At the time, Rich and Glenn both worked for a large energy company in Calgary whose name came from a precious stone; this led them to the inspiration behind their own company name. Hodgkinson says they started to think of other precious stones and landed on Ammolite, a rare stone found in Southern Alberta and the place where it all began for them.

Their IT business has been growing ever since with offices now in Victoria, Calgaryand Houston, Texas. Hodgkinson says their accomplishments thus far have resulted from their service-first mindset that breaks the stereotype of IT.

Ammolite has proven their ability to act like an internal IT department for their clients, even though they’re an external partner.

“We typically find the stereotype of IT where technicians are down in the basement and not seen unless there is a critical disruption,” Hodgkinson explains. “We really wanted to remove this stereotype and have a more proactive relationship with our clients; this, in turn, will push technology forward and make it a strategic driver for our clients business success.”

While most companies will say that “service comes first”, Ammolite has been “walking the walk.” This is evidenced by their ability to continually earn new business and ensure each client’s IT road map is aligned with their individual business goals.

An important element to keeping their customers happy is being able to ensure they can deal with the same technician whenever possible, Hodgkinson says. Ammolite prides themselves on ensuring their technicians are local to their client base.

“When a user is struggling and has an issue, it is likely that they will talk to the same one or two technicians assigned to their account. This promotes the ability to build positive working relationships with them, which our clients love.”

“At the end of the day, business owners really want that peace of mind when they go to bed. They want to know their systems are secure and that there are no technical roadblocks keeping them from being able to get their work done,” he adds. “We try to take a lot of the heavy lifting off their plates, allowing them focus on delivering on their business objectives.”

Every client has different business goals and technical requirements to go along with them. Ammolite will present innovative solutions unique to each situation, which Hodgkinson says is what he loves most. Watching his team deliver on those solutions, and then seeing how the client ultimately benefits is the most rewarding part of the job.

Hodgkinson, a veteran of the IT industry for over 20 years says he has “enjoyed every step of the journey.” While a career in Alberta’s vibrant energy sector was the starting place for Hodgkinson; his family was drawn to the West Coast and relocated to Victoria in 2018 where he now continues to promote Ammolite’s vision for educating and empowering clients to embrace technology.

“The best thing that I get to do as a business owner is provide solutions that work for our clients; no two clients are the same,” he says.

“It is rewarding to see our clients’ reactions when we show them how their organization can accomplish more, collaborate effectively and often save money in the process. At the end of the day, Ammolite’s job is to ensure our clients have total peace of mind that their technology is optimized from a security standpoint or simply empowering people through technology.”