New Carolina: South Carolina's Council on Competitiveness

Champion

Eddie Jones, Accenture

Website

www.its-sc.com

Overview/Mission

The Columbia Insurance Technology Services Cluster (ITS|SC) is a New Carolina cluster dedicated to promoting the Greater Columbia area's wealth of opportunities within the insurance technology sector.

The vision of ITS|SC is to grow its 30 employers and 6,000 to 8,000 employees into the largest, most dynamic, and most competitive insurance technology cluster in the world. 

The ITS|SC is dedicated to accomplishing five goals in achieving its mission of helping to increase the competitiveness of insurance technology in South Carolina:

1. Attracting and retaining high quality professionals with technical and/or insurance industry experience to the Greater Columbia area by promoting the advantages of living and working in the area
2. Assisting insurance technology companies to identify, grow, and source local talent by collaborating with the educational and workforce development community through curriculum development, internships, and student engagement activities
3. Creating a business and regulatory environment where insurance technology and services companies have a competitive edge by communicating the value of the industry to economic development, governmental, and higher education organizations throughout the state
4. Supporting innovation within the industry by establishing collaborations with statewide research institutions to help companies develop more competitive products and services
5. Promoting Columbia and South Carolina as a center of excellence in insurance technology and services to help companies attract both talent and new business opportunities

Why Columbia?

Columbia is home to a growing cluster of important entities to the insurance, technology, and services industry. The collaboration among the insurance technology cluster combined with the talent developed at the progressive research universities in South Carolina make Columbia a great place to do insurance business. Columbia is quickly becoming a talent magnet for innovative solutions providers in the insurance technology field from boutique software development firms to fortune 500 nationally recognized leaders.

It begins with talent, and it ends with a world class cluster, where innovation, collaboration, and a shared vision collide.    

Economic Impact 

• 40+ companies
• Diversity – Fortune 500 to Start-ups
• 6,000+ knowledge-based jobs
• Average salary: $65,000+/year
• Economic impact:  $1Billion +

Reference Library

• American Risk & Insurance Association
• An Incomplete History of Insurance Technology in Columbia
  
• Innovation in Insurance
• Economic Impact of Insurance Technology on South Carolina
• Insurance & Technology Magazine
• Tech Decisions
• Insurance Technology Business Directory
• Business & Application Software Developers Association
• New Carolina Champion Eddie Jones and John Denise on the SC Business Review

Success Stories

Quality Software Services Inc. Announces New Facility in Richland County

Working with the Central SC Alliance and the SC Department of Commerce, New Carolina's ITS|SC prepared research and material to help seal the deal that will bring Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI) in its new facility to Richland County, South Carolina. This will be a $480,000 investment expected to generate 70 new well-paying jobs. QSSI is a software engineering and security services firm that delivers a broad range of healthcare information technology solutions.  The new facility will be an IT service provider that will focus on custom software development, help desk support and testing services.

Innovation in Insurance

In collaborations spawned by ITS|SC, the University and other partners have created a resource for innovations in the insurance industry. Innovation in Insurance's purpose is to foster innovation in the way insurance is practiced by providing a portal to all online resources helpful to insurance technology, services, and outsourcing. Insurance technology can be defined as information technology applied to any aspect of insurance. As such, it touches every part of every insurance business process - from the time that the policy is sold until the last claim dollar is paid and the policy has expired. For example, insurance agents, insurance companies, claims adjusters, and almost everyone else in the insurance industry uses computers and computing power today. As information technology continues to evolve, it will support more and more insurance processes.