Georgia is Great for Technology so Why Leave?

Georgia based CheckFree announced yesterday that they are being purchased by Wisconsin based Fiserve. This marks another sad day in technology business in Georgia.

With the announcement, CheckFree joins BellSouth, ISS, Secure Computing, Invirtus, and Cubed Technologies in the move away from being Atlanta owned companies. While some are moving out of the area others have said they have no intentions of leaving.

It is usually a PR game. After you get bought by a company outside of your home town you tell the locals you are staying then quietly move out of town closer to your parent company or be absorbed altogether. Last year Secure Computing said they not only were staying but they planned to add jobs in their Alpharetta based offices. I don’t find it surprising then that the HQ address on their Web site has recently been changed to California. A scheduled interview for a job that a friend of mine had in their Alpharetta offices was suddenly cancelled this spring. They told him they were moving the job to California.

It is indeed a sad day for technology in Georgia. I am not sure who should get the blame. Are the politicians doing enough to keep our tech based companies happy here? Are they doing anything to really foster a great atmosphere for incubating start-ups? Several years ago GCATT was at the forefront of heading up such efforts but lately I, for one, have not heard much out of them. Is our congested Atlanta traffic to blame like usual?

Sure, there are still dozens of brand name Tech companies based here such as ScriptStart, Equifax, and ADP but my perception is that the list has been getting shorter lately, not longer.

Georgia has a lot to offer with top schools such as UGA, Ga. Tech and Emory and a good weather climate. West coast tech firms work hard to recruit technical people yet we seem to have a few to spare right now. Real estate costs less here and you can get away with paying 10-20 percent less in salaries. It seems like a no-brainer to me to keep your technology company based here or even relocate it to this area. What do you think?