”…I am going to Texas”
Sending Everyone Else to “Hell”
Davy Crocket was not the only one who cursed all of his rivals and left for the Lone Star State. There is an avalanche of companies that are saying goodbye to their old abodes and settling in Texas. More than 26,000 new jobs from these relocations have been landed in the area in the past 18 months, and more are coming. Most recently, Toyota, State Farm, JP Morgan Chase, Kubota Tractors, Boeing, Liberty Mutual, Jamba Juice and several other Fortune 1000 companies have decided to make the DFW Metroplex their new home. These smart companies have been able to take advantage of the benefits from our state that offers business-friendly environment, the accessibility to one of the largest airports in the world, and combined them with incentives offered by local municipalities, including Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Grapevine, Southlake and Fort Worth. With a lower cost of living than most major metropolitan areas, good property values and the absence of state income tax, setting up shop here is good for business and their employees.
Building More to Attract More
To add to the avalanche of relocations, more than half a dozen major office and community projects are in the works to attract even more corporations to the area. The Frisco Station, a $1 billion development north of Dallas is currently in its final building phase. This mixed-use real estate project is one of several that has taken shape around the Dallas Cowboy’s new training complex, The Star, adding more office space, a luxury hotel, residential and retail space. The Midtown Project that will replace the aging Valley View Mall kicked into full gear this June. This $4 billion enterprise will try to lure the next Toyota or State Farm to the city with half a million square feet of office and 400,000 square feet of retail space, plus more than 1,000 apartment units for lease. Additional developments are in the planning stages or about to break ground in Grapevine, Richardson and Southlake.
Our Own Technology Alley
Local Companies Stay Competitive with New Tech Initiatives
Before moving to North Texas was on point, the demand for great technology talent was very high. With 21 Fortune 500 companies and 90 additional major corporations headquartered in North Texas, along with a significant number of SMBs and start-ups with a tech focus, IT professionals have had ample opportunities for employment.
In today’s economy, if you are not leveraging technology to help your business grow, you are at a competitive disadvantage, adding another layer of security for IT employment. Key areas of growth in the past 3 years have been in cyber security, data management, data sciences, product development and project management. Companies and organizations like the American Heart Association, Mary Kay, Dr. Pepper, Exxon, D.R. Horton, Frito Lay and other locals have been leveraging technology in all aspects of their business to maintain growth and create competitive advantages.
Technology is Flying, and Spending the Night
The Metroplex is home to Southwest and American Airlines: the nation’s largest carrier and the world’s largest airline, respectively. These airlines rely on advanced systems to manage all the millions of reservations booked daily, maintain accurate data for all of their frequent flyers, and coordinate all flights. In the next three years, it is estimated that they will spend twice as much money on IT programs than on marketing and advertising. In the next five years, investment in IT will continue to increase for these airlines. Not only will they add staff, but they will also depend on service providers like Sabre, Amadeus, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NTT Data and dozen other local companies that provide B-to-B technology services.
Adding another layer of demand to the mix are two other travel-related sectors that play a major role in the area: hotel and travel booking service providers. La Quinta is based in Dallas and Hilton has several thousand Texans in the area working on ecommerce, loyalty and digital marketing. Hotels.com is headquartered in North Dallas, and there are another ten companies in the Metroplex that offer online travel booking or comparison engines. More than 60% of employees working for a company that offers web or mobile travel services are in IT jobs.
The serious shortage of qualified IT professionals in Fort Worth and Dallas will continue as more companies move into the area and there is a continued growth from already established players. As the current government policies seem to be pro-business and growth in the US, the crisis will escalate.
The real question is: how do you combat this issue and retain the best talent possible? At the InSource Group we help our clients succeed by crafting staffing solutions aimed at solving their business problems. We have the most robust database of niche IT professionals and the top local recruiting team that will help you find the best talent for your contract and permanent placement opportunities. By leveraging our expertise, you will be able to rapidly deploy staff when needed – and for the time needed – while reducing overall payroll, benefits and recruiting expenses.
