This May 2026, Catalyst IT Canada celebrated its fifth year of providing Enterprise Moodle services in the Canadian market. Launched in 2021, Catalyst IT Canada is part of the Catalyst IT group, delivering open-source solutions to their global client base – from Moodle LMS consulting, development and cloud managed services – to bespoke software development and integration consulting. The launch of the Canada office further allow’s Catalyst IT’s commitment to Canadian and North American clients and opportunities. This growth also strengthens Catalyst’s 24/7 Follow The Sun support model for its global client base.
To commemorate this milestone, we sat down with CEO Andrew Boag to reflect on the past five years of this expansion journey and what the future holds for open source.
A big, new beginning
“We have been pleasantly surprised to see just how much Moodle is in Canada: there is a huge Moodle community within higher education, government, and the private sector, and Moodle thrives when this community exists,” says Andrew Boag, CEO of Catalyst IT Canada.
In 2019, Catalyst IT Australia was fielding interest from Canadian institutions interested in optimising and improving their Moodle deployments. Humble conversations turned in to work engagements and the viability of a Canada business entity became clear.
However, establishing said office did not come easy.
“Catalyst IT Canada kicked off together with the COVID-19 pandemic which made everything difficult,” Boag reflects. “Staffing challenges, commercial entity setup challenges – basically the pandemic made everything two times harder. But nothing good is achieved easily.”
Five years later, Catalyst Canada has grown into a team of 14, who collaborate with a growing list of Canadian clients as well as the rest of the Catalyst teams in Australia, Europe and New Zealand.
“Our people are our greatest asset: they make all the magic happen. Not only in our work with fantastic client organizations, but also in their ongoing contributions to the Moodle project.”
Market Penetration
Catalyst Canada has built a solid selection of Canadian clients over the last five years, including several top-tier higher education providers in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec. This has allowed these organizations to focus on the application of Moodle as an educational tool without being bogged down by the overhead of another in-house application to manage.
“We are always thankful that our clients put such great trust in us. They trust that our team will take care of things and that they can always expect an open, collaborative working relationship to help them achieve their goals for their learners. Their success is our success.”
Beyond working on direct client engagements, Catalyst is one of the largest contributors to the Moodle project. “We live and breathe open source, and our Moodle contributions are something that we are eternally proud of. Being able to help shape Moodle for the better.”
Looking Ahead
Looking to the next five years in Canada, the future is bright – not only for Catalyst – but for open source technologies in Canada. “I am excited to watch the Catalyst Canada team grow and capitalise on our current successes, as well as navigating the ethical application sof Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for the betterment of online learning and learner outcomes. It is an amazing time to work in IT and educational technologies.”
“It’s also great to see high adoption of open source technologies in the Canadian market. I believe it will allow institutions to deliver their organizational obligations while leveraging the flexibility that open source solutions provide.”
We thank everyone who has been a part of Catalyst IT Canada’s journey thus far, and we look forward to more collaborations, connections, and conversations over the next five years.
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