Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) and PLATO Testing announced the official opening of the Centre of Excellence in Lottery and Gaming Software Testing in Sault Ste. Marie, the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg in Ontario, Canada.
The opening, along with the graduation and ensuing employment of 11 indigenous students who have successfully completed the PLATO Software Tester Training program in Sault Ste. Marie, is a meaningful step toward reaching PLATO’s goal of employing 1,000 indigenous software testers in 20 communities across Canada. PQA and PLATO are now delivering testing services to their list of global clients from their new Centre of Excellence, in the heart of Canada’s lottery and gaming industry.
The IT services training and employment model was developed by industry veteran Keith McIntosh, founder of PQA. In 2015, McIntosh established a second company, PLATO Testing, as a means to bring meaningful training and employment in the technology sector to indigenous people, while addressing the technology talent shortage in Canada. The PLATO approach develops skilled software testers through a unique six-month training and internship program, which is provided at no cost to trainees.
“The thriving lottery and gaming industry cluster is one of the reasons we expanded to Sault Ste. Marie,” said McIntosh. “We can learn from the experience of innovative companies like OLG and CBN, and we can also share best practices and provide thought leadership as it relates to testing of software in the lottery and gaming sector.”
Jennifer Rushton, vice president, lottery and gaming for PQA, has been working with executives throughout the North American lottery and gaming industry to identify needs and position the center for success.
“We have been carefully curating an advisory group of lottery and gaming professionals who will add industry knowledge and experience to the PQA/PLATO testing platform in order to create a highly specialized program that can satisfy the demands of the industry,” said Rushton.
PQA and PLATO Testing provide expert quality assurance services and meaningful social impact to companies in the lottery and gaming, energy, industrial, government, financial services and telecommunications industries, among others.
