By Laurie Burstein
The St. Louis Region has some 50,000 information
technology professionals according to a recent report by Greater Saint Louis Works. While that’s a very healthy number, IT experts agree there is room for more.
They also agree that in order to compete in the global marketplace, making sure our region attracts, develops and retains IT talent is mission one.
Commerce Magazine asked six of St. Louis’ top infor-mation technology executives to share their thoughts
and outlook on the state of the IT industry in the region.
These experts were posed three often asked, but essential questions. Most responded in writing, creating a “virtual” roundtable on these key issues.
Participants:
Mark Showers,
Chief Information Officer,
Monsanto Co.
Gil Hoffman,
Senior Vice President/Chief Information Officer,
Maritz Inc.
Mary Freeman,
Senior Director,
Microsoft
Siva Sankar, IT Project Manager, The Boeing Co.and
Chair, PMI Government SIG
Pat Smith Thurman,
Vice President/Group Head,
MasterCard Worldwide
Randy Schilling,
CEO,
Quilogy
Why is IT such a strong segment for St. Louis?
Hoffman: Over the years the strong demand for technology has created a large and very talented technology community in diverse industries and technologies. These technology investments have made the area a rich environment for new companies to easily establish their technical workforce and for existing companies to expand through large projects. This demand for diverse talent and the influence of outstanding educational resources makes the St. Louis area a unique and growing technology hub.
Sankar: Prominent companies like Boeing, Monsanto, Express Scripts, AT&T, CitiGroup, MasterCard and others have a large presence in the region. Regardless of size, many organizations rely heavily on IT—it's the biggest enabler to maintain our competitive position. Organizations and universities understand the ever-growing importance of IT to St. Louis and they are committed to improve the strength of IT. The key is to build on the existing assets and the strong workforce.
Schilling: The St. Louis hiring outlook remains strong and the region offers an ideal IT entrepreneurial breeding ground. Examples include Quilogy, World Wide Technology Inc. and Savvis. The region also offers excellent educational institutions such as Washington University, Saint Louis University, Mizzou, Missouri-Rolla and others.
St. Louis has a rich history of engineering and technical talent from McDonnell Douglas, Emerson, Olin, Anheuser-Busch, and others. Technology centers for many financial service companies based here like MasterCard, Citigroup, Wachovia/A.G. Edwards, Edward Jones, Scottrade, Equifax (Talx), etc.
Freeman: The IT Coalition, along with partnerships with organizations like the RCGA are clearly focused on enhancing the knowledge of the type of innovation that occurs hereÑthrough the combination of our universities, our technical and trade schools, our entrepreneurial cultivation, small business innovation—along with the long standing anchors of our corporate communities.
Showers: There are many reasons for our strong IT segment. We have a large, skilled, dedicated workforce and a good cost of living relative to larger metropolitan areas. Our reasonable power costs lead to a large number of data centers located in the metro area. Our excellent universities graduate needed talent.
Smith Thurman: Our region is large enough to offer information technology opportunities that rival the biggest metro markets, but small enough to be a community where tech-savvy people stand out for their contributions. St. Louis is home to the global headquarters of a large number of blue chip firms, the divisional headquarters to a number of Fortune 500 companies (such as MasterCardÕs Global Technology and Operations facility in O'Fallon) and many area universities with high-quality IT and IT-related departments.
What challenges does St. Louis face to sustain/fulfill the potential
for St. Louis as an IT hub?
Sankar: St. Louis has the capability to provide the features and advantages of a bigger city like Chicago, while maintaining its small city charm. The cost of living and operation are cheaper here than in other major cities. However, there are areas for improvement. The region must have better infrastructure. The public transportation needs to get a lot better. Government must offer incentives to promote new businesses. The synergistic relationship between industry and education is vital to the region's growth.
Showers: The top three challenges are: attract more IT employers and IT employees; keep new graduates from leaving; and improve the environment for IT entrepreneurs.
Hoffman: Though obvious, St. Louis must retain and attract major corporate businesses and support emerging technology ventures that invest and employ technical talent. Without this large demand, the technical community will disappear and/or their skills will erode.
Smith Thurman: Our challenge is getting graduates to stay in St. Louis. We really need to acknowledge our college graduates, increase their awareness of local career opportunities, and have a roadmap to help them network and find jobs here. I think we are getting better at addressing this and making it happen.
Schilling: Our ability to attract and retain new IT talent.
Freeman: Even during these concerning economic times, there continues to be growth in IT—jobs are unfilled and all employers are looking to cultivate top talent. We continue to ask more from all employees partially based upon the fact that we are not cultivating enough new talent to be incorporated into our workplaces. We need a more robust pipeline for cultivation of a continuum of talent. We need to plan into the future, providing that view to our educational institutions as they prepare the workforce of the future.
How do we generate and keep IT talent?
Smith Thurman: We have to make IT fun for young people. It starts with elementary school and getting young students excited about math and science. MasterCard supports many programs to help accomplish this including FIRST Robotics (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology), which the Saint Louis Science Center oversees locally. This is a global program where corporations partner with high school students in a robotics competition. We must engage our students early and this is just one example.
Hoffman: Close alignment between business and educational resources to ensure that supply skills matches demand requirements for talent is critical. Developing interest for the science and math topics beginning at the elementary school level is critical to grow the enrollments in university technology programs. Retooling our baby boomers with new technology skills and creating a work environment that encourages them to stay in the workforce is a must as well.
Freeman: IT is all about thought leadership. ItÕs about driving business innovation, return on shareholder value that is driven by advancements in the technological underpinnings. Our entrepreneurial community needs to be more broadly supportedÑboth in terms of real dollar investments and consideration for shared risk/reward models within the region.
Sankar: There is tremendous potential for IT in the region. A capable workforce is a key contributing factor to sustain the potential. School districts must provide more emphasis on science, math, engineering and technology. Students must be made aware of the various opportunities in the technology domain.
Companies must ensure that people are trained on cross-cultural issues and other skills apart from the required technical skills. These organizations must strive to let employees know that it cares for their development. Several large organizations are already doing it.
Schilling: Follow the strategies of Missouri METS, a coalition of state, business, education and community leaders appointed by Gov. Blunt to boost student achievement in math, engineering, technology and science or METS. Some of these include improving METS curriculum and student performance, expanding the pool of METS educators, improving career education and counseling for students, and increasing public aware
Showers: We need to improve and expand on programs to introduce college students to our local IT jobs including co-op and internships. Also improve and expand on programs with high schools and pre-secondary education to help children go into the field. |
