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Information Technology
Strategies
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RCGA commissioned
study to define the region’s hidden IT cluster talents and capacities.
By C.B. Adams
Despite recent economic setbacks, technology remains the backbone
of our nation’s economic competitiveness and growth. Rising productivity,
high quality jobs, and new products and services depend upon developing
and deploying technology. For metropolitan regions like the St.
Louis region, the difference between vibrant, robust economies and
staggering ones often comes down to having the presence of technology
drivers.”
So begins the executive summary of a study commissioned by the RCGA
Industry Cluster Initiative to analyze the information technology
(IT) cluster in the St. Louis region. The Battelle Memorial Institute
was hired to perform the study and charged with developing a concrete,
action-oriented strategy for positioning St. Louis in information
technology. This study is the second in a series of cluster strategies
in the initiative to grow distinctive industry clusters in the region,
the first focussing on plant and life sciences.
“This study examines and gives recognition to the fact that computer
services, computer software applications and communications services
have been major drivers of growth in the St. Louis region. The report
is not about what will be, it is about what is, and how the RCGA
and regional businesses and educational centers can make what is,
even better,” says Mitchell Horowitz, director of strategy for Battelle.
The Process
Battelle began the process by interviewing approximately 60 local
IT professionals who ranged from the leaders of companies that produce
IT products to chief information officers at companies that use
IT products. After the interviews, Battelle researched economic
impact information for the region and completed a strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/
threats (SWOT) analysis. Then focus groups and advisory committees
reviewed and amended the information technology strategic plan.
This plan was completed in November. By the end of the year, a senior
advisory group and Battelle will complete an implementation strategy
document.
The Findings
“First and foremost, the objective of this study was never to try
and turn the St. Louis region into the next Silicon Valley,” says
Joe Blomker, president and CEO of Maryville Technologies, and a
member of the RCGA Technology Gateway Executive Committee and its
CIO Forum. “Rather, the study was more of a reflection of the fact
that technology already is playing such a significant role in the
growth of the region’s economy. It looks at ways the region can
further its position from a competitive perspective and grow the
economy through IT.”
The Battelle IT study’s findings include:
- Computer
services was one of the fastest growing major industry
sectors in the St. Louis region during the 1990s. This
sector grew by more than 130 percent and added nearly
10,000 jobs.
- The
St. Louis region is home to many leading IT using anchors.
These firms, including Monsanto, Solutia, MasterCard,
Maritz, Sigma-Aldrich, Enterprise, Anheuser-Busch and
Graybar, bring together the understanding of business
operations and applying information technologies to solve
key business problems.
- During
the past 20 to 30 years, a key specialization for the
region has been the presence of a major communications
services industry. The communications services sector
is comprised of 426 establishments that employ 20,677
persons. This sector is 27 percent more concentrated in
the St. Louis region than in the nation. Within this industry
stands the telecommunications sector, which is 68 percent
more concentrated than the nation.
- More
than 45,000 St. Louis residents are currently employed
in information technology-related occupations. And, each
year, more than 2,600 students from the region’s higher
education institutions graduate with IT degrees.
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The Strategic
Plan
Battelle created an IT “innovation chain” to demonstrate and emphasize
how the plan’s strategies relate to each other. “The IT innovation
chain is not just for creating new IT business ventures, but is
key for supporting existing businesses as they adopt and integrate
new information technologies,” states the report.
The report also quotes Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at MIT’s Sloan
School of Management and co-director of the Center for eBusiness@MIT:
“Simply overlaying technology on old systems is not likely to succeed.
But if you really leverage technology well, you can reinvent your
business and create a set of information flows that would paralyze
an old-line organization.”
To strengthen the linkages and connections across the components
of the IT innovation chain and to build key strengths and niches,
Battelle proposed four strategies:
Strategy One—Strengthen the region’s capacities for the development
and application of information technologies in the region.
Strategy Two—Create a supportive entrepreneurial environment for
new IT venture development and emerging information technology areas.
Strategy Three—Ensure a high-quality IT workforce in the future.
Strategy Four—Improve the infrastructure and business climate for
IT development.
The report concluded with a summary of proposed actions to implement
these four strategies.
“The Battelle report brought the state of information technology
and its many uses into focus for us. One of the objectives of this
process was to bring focus and clarity to the state of information
technology in the region and where we need to take it. Recognizing
we don’t necessarily want to become the next Silicon Valley freed
us up to discover that the St. Louis region is something different.
We have certain capacities and strengths that no other region has,”
says Dick Fleming, president and CEO of the RCGA.
The implementation strategy is anticipated this month.
C. B. Adams is a St. Louis-based writer, communications consultant
and adjunct faculty member at University of Missouri–St. Louis.
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