Area Development
Long-term demographic and economic patterns have resulted in a global shortage of IT workers. Consequently, companies that rely on this talent face the dual challenge of acquiring such workers while remaining cost competitive.

However, there are still many locations - including many in the United States - where strong pools of high-quality IT workers at competitive wage rates do exist. Establishing facilities in these kinds of markets can provide many advantages, including:

  • The capability to acquire the talent necessary to satisfy customer needs and drive innovation

  • Higher work force retention resulting in greater stability and reduced training costs

  • An enhanced bottom line

Of course, such dramatic results can only be achieved through a holistic approach to selecting the right location, i.e., talent is critical, but it is not the only factor to be considered in a comprehensive location selection process. Nonetheless, KLG Advisors has completed a study highlighting the top domestic IT locations for 2011.

According to Tim Nitti, Principal with KLG Advisors, "Companies with high demand for skilled technologists are increasingly looking to new locations with greater talent availability and lower costs as a means of building a lasting competitive advantage. What's critical, though, is that these companies base their decisions on strong, objective assessments of possible locations, and not rely on commonly held perceptions about where these types of places are," says Nitti. "I think it's important to note that a fair number of the strong options highlighted in this report are not necessarily the places people commonly think of as being strong technology centers."