Information Technology

Nearly one-third of the 25 fastest-growing private companies in St. Louis from 2002 to 2004 focused on technology. The region enjoys a concentration of high-end talent in IT — with particular strength in communications services, computer integration and application services, bioinformatics, and advanced systems integration and development.

St. Louis has an above-average concentration of jobs in fields like computer systems analysis, hardware engineering and software applications. Inc. Magazine, which in 2005 rated St. Louis among the best regions in the country to do business (out of 274), ranking 14th among large cities, beating out regions such as Cincinnati, Seattle and Minneapolis. St. Louis was cited as "a growing array of technology and business firms," resulting partly from the area’s "lower costs."

Several IT companies in the St. Louis area have benefited from the rising level of venture capital in the area. In 2004, eight area IT companies were among the 19 of all kinds that attracted $120 million in venture capital funding. That was an increase of $26 million from the year before. Meanwhile, the region is making plans to expand investing in startup technology and new firms through the recent launch of Arch Angels, which  provides seed and early-stage capital in the range of $250,000 to $2 million, as well as mentoring and assistance with team building, strategic planning and fundraising.

Here are some examples of IT entrepreneurship and innovation in the St. Louis area:

• World Wide Technology was founded in 1990 with seven employees and a shoestring budget.  Now the systems integrator has nearly 1,000 employees and revenues approaching $2 billion.
  
  
• The Newberry Group, an IT consulting firm founded in 1997. The Newberry Group ranked No. 269 on the recent Inc. 500, with $13.5 million in revenue and 135 percent average annual growth. It currently conducts operations in eight states and Bahrain.
  
  
• Reuters, the international provider of financial data, has established St. Louis as one of its four worldwide software “development centers.” The others are in London, Paris, and Bangkok. In addition, it has consolidated its American customer relationship management center here, migrating people and assets from both Long Island and Chicago.
  
  
• International Data Corporation (IDC) ranks St. Louis-based SAVVIS Inc. as the second-largest provider of hosting services and second-largest provider of virtual private network service. SAVVIS focuses on high-performance, high-quality IT solutions for businesses in the financial, media and entertainment, publishing, retail, corporate marketing, and creative services industries.
  
  
• Much of the IT expertise in St. Louis resides within companies that consume rather than produce the technology. For example, the MasterCard Global Operations and Technology Center in O’Fallon, Mo., employs more than 2,000 in the processing of up to 40 million credit card authorizations a day and in providing other IT services for card-issuing financial institutions and more than 23 million merchants. Other companies, such as EnterpriseRent-A-Car, Emerson, Anheuser-Busch, and Boeing employ leading edge technology to improve operations.
  
  
• MasterCard and St. Louis County-based Edward Jones were among the nation’s 100 best information technology employers for 2005, according to ComputerWorld magazine. Business Week recognized St. Louis-based Graybar, the leading North American distributor of high-quality components, equipment and materials for the electrical and telecommunications industries and a specialist in supply chain management services, as among the top private information technology organizations in the nation.