Rural Sourcing

I remember everything so well. The dot-dot-com had just bombed the stock market was hit by a sucker punch to the throat, and we were beginning to hear about a guy named Ken Lay. A little 'later, news came to know Arthur Andersen, WorldCom, Adelphia and, among others. It seemed that companies were going under and the CEOs were indicted get faster than you can say 'stock options'. And then came the layoffs. Thousands and thousands began to lose their jobs on a regular basis. We began to hear about places abroad that were all kinds of jobs by U.S. companies.

I'm pretty sure that most everyone has heard that many jobs have been 'outsourced' through something called 'offshore'. What does a job that used to be based in the United States is now done by someone in another country. You see, many companies began to think how nice it would pay someone 50% less in India to do the same work they were currently paying an employee of the United States. Evidently it did not stop to think that the new employee does not speak English as their first language, was across the world and lived in a completely different culture 'I think sometimes it's easy to lose those little details really minor, like the ability to communicate with an employee and not have to deal with a time difference so great that it could take days to accomplish what otherwise would take hours.

Surprise, surprise, 'It seems that some American companies are beginning to reconsider this whole' thing off-shore '. Yes, they save money directly in the form of paying lower wages, but there are other, more hidden costs in terms of customer satisfaction, telephone charges, etc. What is a company to do?

The answer is something called 'home-shoring' or 'near-shoring' or 'Rural Sourcing', or any other slogan that came to mind. What does it mean, and why it should matter, is that some very smart entrepreneurs started to think that there are some really smart people who live in some rural areas of the United States. And these rural areas of the country are usually the places that need jobs. Hmmm '. Is there a business model somewhere?

In reality, there is. IT consulting firm, and call centers are beginning to appear in the most unlikely of places. Take Lebanon, Tennessee for example. No, Knoxville and Nashville, this is Lebanon, TN. And then there Beckley, West Virginia, which is doing quite well, thank you, when it comes to operating a successful high-tech consulting companies.

What does this have to do with those of us here in Eastern Kentucky, you ask? Good question and here's the answer: West Liberty. You see, there is a small company in the small but beautiful town of West Liberty, KY, whose goal is to provide high-tech jobs paying people within the region. They are called Natural Bridge Technologies, visit them on the Web at [http://www.NaturalBridgeTech.com].

When I graduated from Morehead State University in the 90s, the thought of having a software job in Jackson, Kentucky was ridiculous. I moved to Lexington, then to Atlanta. Finally, after too many years, I managed to get home. With the concept of 'home-shoring' and companies like Natural Bridge Technologies, future geek can have the best of both worlds: to make good money writing software during the day and spending evenings watching the beautiful walk we live in Appalachia .

As always, if you have questions or suggestions for future articles, please email me .... mike@MikeBryant.com...