Columbia is one of the leading centers of insurance technology in the world with some 30 employers and 8,000 to 10,000 insurance technology professionals. Those numbers are growing and in order to keep pace, more than 50 employers and educators gathered on the northeast campus of Midlands Technical College's Enterprise campus in the Carolina Research Park on Columbia's north side.
The event was organized by the Columbia Insurance Technology Consortium (CITC), chaired by Pete Ashi, COO of Columbia-based T.M. Floyd & Co. with the support of Neil McLean of New Carolina, South Carolina's Council on Competitiveness, a public-private partnership focused on growing the state's economy guided by strategist Michael Porter's economic cluster study of the state (scroll down to South Carolina Competitiveness Initiative: A Strategic Plan for South Carolina for a link to the full 116-page report). The Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce has also been supporting CITC efforts. Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina sponsored the event (other companies involved or invited to the meeting can be found by clicking here).
The agenda and panelists were assembled to expand and invigorate the dialogue between employers and educators. Neil McLean gave an opening presentation which outlined the history of insurance technology employers working as an economic cluster as well as an explanation of how economic clusters benefit all the companies involved as well as the surrounding economic community. The economic impact of the CITC on South Carolina's economy is documented as significant when measured by jobs, payroll, or any other meaningful metric.
One of the recurring themes of the day was the importance of high-quality internship programs. Employers need to provide them in order to attract the best and brightest of today's students. Without internship programs, local employers are at a disadvantage at graduation time because larger employers in largers cities are much more well known to students seeking choices. And it's not enough to just hire interns. Top students are discriminating in their choice of internships. In order to make sure every insurance technology employer is aware of what constitutes a high-quality internship program, the staff of New Carolina provided "best-practices" internship program guidelines.
In addition to employers and educators, several students joined the proceedings with an interest in the varied opportunities offered by insurance technology careers. Eddie Jones of Fiserv pointed out to them that A. M. Best reports that insurance industry jobs in the US are, counter to broader trends, up for the second straight month, Fortune magazine suggests that students include in their career searches industry-specific sites in addition to broader mainstays such as CareerBuilder.com and Yahoo! HotJobs. In turn, students suggested to insurance technology employers and educators that much more could be done to inform students of opportunities in this industry.
Kaye Shaw, Coordinator of the Midlands Regional Education Center, described to employers how they could tell their story to the K-12 educational community through the Personal Pathways to Success program. This innovative program, created by South Carolina's Education and Economic Development Act of 2005, allows businesses to having speaking opportunties with students, host teachers to tour businesses and learn about the industry, serve on an advisory board for a nearby regional education center, host internship programs, and, in the case of the CEO, serve on the CEO Roundtable. There was widespread acknowledgement that such programs are necessary to inform students of the opportunities in insurance technology. Even with thousands of such jobs in Columbia, the industry remains hidden from student and educator views. Ms. Shaw offered a concrete way for employers to begin to change that current reality. There's more information at www.scpathways.org, including specifics about how employers can get involved.