Written by Mike Pearlstein, CISSP, CEO of Fusion Computing Limited. Helping Canadian businesses build and manage secure IT infrastructure since 2012 across Toronto, Hamilton, and Metro Vancouver.
Fusion Computing earned a place on Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies for 2024. The programme recognises how well a managed service provider runs its own business, judged against a standardised assessment rather than revenue or headcount. The full list was published by E-ChannelNews on February 10, 2025.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Fusion Computing was named to Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies for 2024, published by E-ChannelNews on February 10, 2025.
- The assessment runs to approximately 230 questions, developed with more than 40 channel business coaches and updated annually.
- Thousands of providers take the assessment each year. Awards go to the top 50 scores only.
- A management award measures how a provider runs itself. Pair it with third-party control frameworks when comparing providers.
What is Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies award, explained
According to E-ChannelNews (2025), the programme has run for over a decade and was built with more than 40 channel business coaches who developed approximately 230 questions. The assessment is updated every year to reflect current business conditions, and only the top 50 scores from thousands of entrants receive an award.
The distinction worth understanding is what the award measures. It scores business management practice: leadership, operations, client service, financial discipline, and culture. It is a management benchmark rather than a technical certification, and reading it as the latter is the most common mistake a Canadian buyer makes.
“The 50 Best Managed IT Companies is all about how well you run your business. Best practices never remain best forever so, how do you know if you are actually running your business on the BEST practices?”
E-ChannelNews, Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies for 2024, February 10, 2025.
What Does this Award Represent?
According to Statistics Canada (2024), 47% of Canadian businesses without cyber security employees rely on consultants or contractors instead. When that much of the country’s security work is outsourced, how well a provider runs itself stops being a private matter.
Fusion Computing answered approximately 230 questions across leadership, operations, client service, financial management, and culture as part of the assessment. The value of that exercise sat in the benchmarking rather than the certificate. It named the areas where our practice was ahead of peers and the areas where it was behind.
Recognition like this rests on how decisions get made day to day. Fusion’s peer-network model is a large part of why the same operational standards hold across Toronto, Hamilton, and Metro Vancouver engagements.
The criteria the assessment actually measures
Five areas carry the approximately 230 questions, and knowing them tells a Canadian buyer what the award does and does not evidence. None of the 5 covers technical control implementation, which is why the award belongs beside a security framework rather than in place of one.
- Leadership and governance. How decisions are made, documented, and reviewed.
- Operations. Process maturity, documentation, and consistency across engagements.
- Client service. How service commitments are set, measured, and reported.
- Financial management. Whether the business is durable enough to keep investing.
- Culture and people. Retention, training, and the depth behind any single person.
In our experience the financial and people questions are the ones providers least expect. They are also the ones that predict whether the engineer who knows your environment will still be there in year 3, which matters more to a Canadian SMB than any logo on a website.
How to compare managed IT providers beyond the award
According to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, ITSM.50.030 (October 2020) sets out 10 areas a buyer should assess a managed provider against, from data security and encryption through to incident response, supply chain integrity, and data destruction. None of the 10 appears in a management award.
Those 10 areas are technical and contractual, so they cover exactly what a management award does not. Run both. A provider that scores well on business management and can also answer all 10 CCCS areas in writing is a genuinely different proposition from one that can only do the first.
Our list of the 10 questions to ask before hiring a managed IT provider maps all 10 CCCS areas into plain language for Canadian buyers, including the offboarding and sample-report questions most providers are least prepared for.
What third-party standards a Canadian buyer requires
Three published frameworks give a Canadian SMB an independent yardstick, and none of them originate with a provider. Asking a shortlisted MSP to map its service to all 3 is a faster filter than any award list, because the mapping either exists in writing or it does not.
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security publishes 13 baseline controls, scoped by its own organisational control to firms under 499 employees. They cover patching, strong user authentication, encrypted backups, and an incident response plan.
CIS Controls v8.1 defines 18 controls and 153 safeguards across 3 implementation groups, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 gives the governance layer above them. Between the 3, a buyer can audit claims rather than accept them.
Priorities should follow published evidence. The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (2026) puts vulnerability exploitation at 31% of breaches, ahead of stolen credentials at 13%. Ask any provider how it reports patch compliance before asking about awards. The National Cyber Threat Assessment names ransomware as the top cybercrime threat to Canada’s critical infrastructure.
Want the mapping for your own Canadian shortlist? Talk to our team and we will send the 3-framework crosswalk we use internally.
What’s Next for Fusion Computing?
According to Statistics Canada (2024), 16% of Canadian businesses were impacted by a cyber security incident in 2023, with large firms most likely to be hit at 30%. National recovery spending doubled to CA$1.2 billion over 2 years, and only 26% of businesses keep a written cyber security policy.
The recognition is a stepping stone rather than a destination. The assessment produced a list of areas to improve, and working through that list is what the next 12 months look like for us. We publish the results as named numbers in the quarterly client report rather than as adjectives.
“Top business coaches will tell you that knowing your strengths and weaknesses is one of the most important steps in figuring out how to improve your business. Many channel partners continue to benefit from this assessment to benchmark and improve their business practices throughout the years.” E-ChannelNews, 2025.
E-ChannelNews, Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies for 2024, February 10, 2025.
Celebrate with Us!
Thank you to the clients, partners, and employees across Toronto, Hamilton, and Metro Vancouver who make this possible. Get in touch if you want to see what the 230-question assessment changed in how we work, and we will bring the sample quarterly report to the first call.
To read the full list of Canada’s 50 best-managed IT companies for 2024, see the E-ChannelNews announcement. For the technical side of the relationship, our IT metrics guide covers the 5 numbers worth seeing every quarter.
Frequently asked questions
These are the questions Canadian buyers ask most often about the award and what it does or does not tell them. Each answer states a number, because an award is only useful to a buyer when it can be compared against something measurable.
What is the Canada’s 50 Best Managed IT Companies award?
It is an annual recognition programme published by E-ChannelNews that evaluates IT companies on business management practice rather than size or revenue. Companies complete an assessment of approximately 230 questions covering leadership, operations, client service, financial management, and culture. Thousands of providers take it each year and awards go to the top 50 scores.
Who runs the assessment and how was it built?
E-ChannelNews runs the programme, and it has operated for over a decade. The questionnaire was developed with more than 40 channel business coaches and is updated every year to reflect current business conditions. The 2024 list was published on February 10, 2025.
Why did Fusion Computing earn this recognition?
Fusion Computing completed the assessment across all 5 areas and scored inside the top 50. The recognition reflects sustained work on documented process, service reporting, and team depth. The benchmarking itself named where our practice sat ahead of peers and where it sat behind, which was the more useful output.
What does a management award tell a buyer, and what does it not?
It evidences how a provider runs itself across 5 management areas. It does not evidence technical control implementation. Pair it with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security guidance ITSM.50.030, which sets out 10 areas covering data security, encryption, incident response, and data destruction.
How are companies assessed for the 50 Best Managed IT Companies list?
Companies complete a self-assessment of approximately 230 questions spanning leadership, operations, client service, financial management, and innovation. Responses are benchmarked against other participants to identify strengths and gaps. The assessment surfaces blind spots regardless of whether a company places in the top 50.
What third-party frameworks should I ask a provider about?
Three carry most of the weight in Canada. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security publishes 13 baseline controls scoped to organisations under 499 employees. CIS Controls v8.1 defines 18 controls and 153 safeguards across 3 implementation groups. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 supplies the governance layer above both.
Why does IT company management quality matter to clients?
How well a provider manages itself affects the consistency of what it delivers. Firms with documented process and lower staff turnover keep the engineer who knows your environment past year 3. Statistics Canada recorded that 47% of businesses without cyber security employees rely on consultants or contractors, which raises the stakes on that choice.
What is Fusion Computing’s plan after receiving this award?
The assessment produced a list of improvement areas, and working through it is the plan for the next 12 months. Documentation was the first item. We report progress as named numbers in the quarterly client report rather than as adjectives.
How much do managed IT services cost in Canada?
Fusion Computing’s managed IT services start at CA$180 per user per month and typically run around CA$230, with cybersecurity services in the CA$130 to CA$180 per user per month range. That covers 24/7 monitoring, help desk, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 management, and backup. Confirm what a user includes before comparing any 2 quotes.
Related Resources
These 4 companion pages cover what to check after the award.
- 10 questions to ask before hiring a managed IT provider.
- IT metrics guide.
- Managed IT services.
- Cybersecurity services.
Fusion Computing delivers managed IT services to Canadian businesses with 10 to 150 employees at a 93% first-contact resolution rate. Pricing starts at CA$180 per user per month, typically around CA$230, and includes 24/7 monitoring, help desk, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 management, and backup.
