Company is Latest Star in New Orleans’ Tech Galaxy
The recent announcement that DXC Technology will locate a major operations center in downtown New Orleans is being called one of Louisiana’s greatest economic development triumphs.
DXC Technology plans to hire a workforce of 2,000 over the next five years — a move that will create more permanent direct jobs at one site than any prior economic development deal in the state, according to Louisiana Economic Development.
Entergy New Orleans’ economic development team became directly involved in the recruiting effort more than a year ago when DXC Technology announced interest in locating its Digital Transformation Center in the Crescent City, said Steve Molnar, Entergy New Orleans’ business and economic development project manager.
He added that President and CEO Charles Rice was among several local business leaders who met with DXC Technology to promote the advantages of operating in New Orleans. Entergy also helped fund the production of a pro-New Orleans video that envisioned DXC Technology moving to a building downtown — a vision that soon will become reality. The company plans to locate its Digital Transformation Center in the Central Business District at a soon-to-be-announced site.
“Louisiana was competing with 30 other states for DXC Technology,” Molnar said. “Our economic development teams were able to demonstrate that the New Orleans market is getting stronger for IT-related jobs, and that colleges and universities in Louisiana are willing to customize curricula to help create a pipeline for their workforce needs.”
The DXC Technology project represents Louisiana’s largest single higher-education investment in a private-sector workforce partnership, reported LED. The State of Louisiana will fund a $25 million higher-education initiative to expand the number of degrees awarded annually in computer science, management and STEM fields.
Four campuses will lead the initiative: Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, the University of New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond and Delgado Community College in New Orleans.
Formed in April, DXC Technology resulted from the merger of HP Enterprises, previously part of Hewlett Packard, and CSC, formerly known as Computer Sciences Corp. DXC Technology is headquartered in Tysons, Va., and employs a global workforce of 170,000.
Post-Hurricane Katrina investments in hotel, housing and office developments coupled with strong support from the economic development community have positioned New Orleans as a growing hub for the tech industry, Molnar said.
“There were some concerns in the real estate world about overbuilding,” he said. “But now we’re seeing supply meet demand with $2.5 billion in hospital industry development and growing IT investment. We’ll have 2,000 more people coming here to work for DXC Technology, which will be a boon for the local economy and expand Entergy New Orleans’ customer base.”
According to financial website SmartAsset, New Orleans ranks No. 1 for growth in technology jobs in the nation. Other major IT-related developments that have gone online in the Crescent City in recent years include the GE Capital Technology Center in the Central Business District, the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park adjacent to the UNO campus and the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Atlantic on Lakeshore Drive.
