Google interest validates S.C. tech environment

Google may be remaining mum on its activities in South Carolina, but that's not stopping some of the state's leading tech personalities from interpreting the Internet search engine giant's confirmed interest in a site in Goose Creek as a validation of a burgeoning innovation economy.

"When you hear about a Google's interest in Goose Creek, or, as has been rumored, Microsoft and Intel's interest in involvement with (Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research) in Greenville, those are developments to be excited about," said Shawn Jenkins, president, CEO and founder of Daniel Island-based Benefitfocus.com. "To have our state talked about nationally as a place that's attractive to these companies increases our collective brand awareness in the eyes not only of other companies who might open a facility here, but also prospective employees," he said.

And, it turned out, prospective employees where very much on Jenkins' mind as he spoke. Shortly before turning his thoughts to Google and what it could mean for the Lowcountry, he was meeting with Ernest Andrade, executive director of the Charleston Digital Corridor, to discuss Benefitfocus.com's plans to hire 100 new employees this year and an additional 150 in 2008.

"Someone like Google coming to town can only help in our recruitment efforts, putting us on the map in a new and exciting way," he said. "It's the perfect complement to our region's efforts to promote tourism. On the one hand, people are getting the message that Charleston has a great quality of life and is a great place to visit, and on the other, they're hearing that Google wants to be a part of us, too."

That notion was in line with sentiments expressed by John E. Clarkin, director of the College of Charleston Tate Center for Entrepreneurship, and John Warner, principal of Swamp Fox LLC and one of the driving forces behind creating an innovation economy in South Carolina.

"What you get from a Google presence in the state - more than the jobs and the economic development catalyst it might provide - is an image," Clarkin said. "Most people still think of South Carolina as a tourism destination. Companies like Benefitfocus and Automated Trading Desk would have an easier time attracting talent if the area's image was one that also included a thriving community of technology firms."

Warner said one of the problems the state has had in terms of attracting high tech companies and the high tech talent they thrive on is that it doesn't have a critical mass of technology companies yet. "If you come to work for one company and it doesn't work out, you basically have to move again," Warner said. "You go out to Austin, Texas, and if it doesn't work out, you go to work next door. That's a major advantage for a place like Austin. For Google to be here says there is something good to be here for. That will help every company in the technology field."

A real question is whether having a Google come to town will result in a brain drain at the region's homegrown tech companies. Jenkins said he doesn't think that's a problem. "First of all, we're a very competitive business. We compete to sell our products and we compete to keep our people. Toward that end, I think we've created a great and fun work environment, and we pay very well," he said. "The other thing is, while we're the fastest-growing technology company in the state, we're still a 'small' company in certain ways. And we're a headquarters. Ask yourself, would you rather be the 301st employee hired by a company and work down the hall from the CEO, or do you want to be the 17,001st employee of a high-tech firm and work at a remote location far from the corporate headquarters? I think you'd have to say you'd rather be with the former, and that's why people will stay with us."

Jenkins said all the talk of Google potentially coming to the Lowcountry has already made one big difference: "It's turned the comments people make about being a high-tech company in the region on their head. It used to be that people would say, 'You know, you'll never be able to grow as much as you want in Charleston; you'll have to move to Atlanta, where there's more technology," he said.

"Now they wonder whether there will be enough of a potential employee pool to serve us all. It's a nice position to be in. We've been telling people forever that Charleston is the place to be when it comes to technology. Google just legitimizes that sentiment in other people's eyes."