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IT offers opportunities for rural workers
August 6, 2006
American businesswoman Kathy Brittain White and Graham McGregor, of the University of Otago, assess the suitability of the Cardrona Valley for providing professional information technology services, at the Snow Farm on Saturday.
Wanaka: Rural outsourcing champion Dr Kathy Brittain White, of the United States, believes the Cardrona Valley could be an ideal location for providing professional information technology services.
Dr Brittain White is visiting New Zealand for the first time this week, as the guest of the
University of Otago.
She has been named one of the top 25 businesswomen in the US by Forbes magazine.
Dr Brittain White attended a Cardrona Residents and Ratepayers workshop titled “Making
Cardrona World: A Vision for New Zealand Rural Communities” at the Snow Farm on Saturday and will give a public lecture at the university’s School of Business, in Dunedin, tomorrow evening.
She founded Rural Sourcing Inc in 2003, in partnership with the Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
The company employs more than 100 staff in three states and aims to have 300 staff in six states by the end of this year.
Rural Outsourcing Inc claims its information technology services are cheaper than most
consulting firms because it taps into increasing numbers of rural IT professionals, resulting in fewer overheads and cheaper wages.
It focuses on finding computer science graduates and information technology specialists living in small towns for lifestyle or family reasons, but who cannot find work in their chosen profession.
Dr Brittain White acknowledged the Cardrona Valley had some limiting factors, such as
restricted broadband access and fibre optic capacity.
Someone to lead an IT outsourcing project was also needed.
But it was not important to make a “big splash,” she said.
Starting small and working with a university were the key ingredients to success.
Communities might find their young people came home after tertiary studies rather than staying away, she said.
“Some of these graduates will be rural change agents but if you lose these graduates, the future can also be really different. Communities are dying. Metros are getting bigger and more crowded while rural centres are losing population.”
Dr Brittain White grew up in a small town in Arkansas, where her family still lives.
She left home to study, became a professor and never returned to live.
She has a niece who gained a master’s degree in computer science and now works for her as an intern, while her daughter, a graphic designer and tutor, works on-line in virtual classrooms.
Ten years ago, travelling the world with computer and cellphone was a challenge because there was no compatibility between countries.
Exciting possibilities now existed because of the “wonderful world of technology”, Dr Brittain White said. |
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