In the last three months, CERC has been involved with numerous events designed to promote Connecticut’s assets and overall business case to site selection consultants. These have included assisting with the planning and implementation of two separate site selector tours in Connecticut in the South Central and Southeastern regions, attendance at the annual United Illuminating Economic Development conference, and attendance a the Round Table event hosted by Expansion Management Magazine where attendees have the opportunity to engage consultants in a series of one-on-one meetings. In a normal year, we will participate in anywhere from eight to 14 events, and will speak directly with approximately 75-100 consultants.
This is not meant to be an ad for CERC, so what’s my point? Discussions at these events can and do take many forms, but without exception, the topic of best practices in the field of economic development is always addressed. For me personally, this elicits feelings of great pride and satisfaction when it is confirmed that on-line programs and platforms hosted by CERC meet or exceed accepted industry standards. Two of these are the CERC SiteFinder® and the Economic Development Data and Information database (E.D.D.I.®). Unfortunately I usually come back from these events personally frustrated as well; this is derived from the fact that we have made investments to develop these programs and yet many municipalities and regions don’t take advantage of them.
There is no cost (beyond staff time) to list important local economic development data in the E.D.D.I. database, and we offer training and assistance. Yet, since its inception three years ago, there are only 44 of 169 cities and towns that are contributing information and promoting E.D.D.I.
The annual fee for a municipal SiteFinder membership that includes all benefits is only $550 (reduced rate), and this includes training and assistance from CERC staff as well. Yet, after 12 years, there are only 43 of 169 municipalities listing properties and receiving SiteFinder benefits.
We all know that in today’s highly competitive environment, site selection consultants, corporate real estate executives, and end users alike, require extensive information at their fingertips. Everyone uses the Internet to gather the information they need, and direct contact now takes place in phase two of the search process instead of serving as the starting point.
My friends – for those who are engaged, keep up the good work (and of course, keep your data up to date). For those that have not yet engaged, you simply cannot win the game if you are not in it. Call us – we can help!
Stephen MacKenzie
Senior Vice President
