Montana’s largest cybersecurity firm – hired five new full-time employees last year for a total of 20 at its downtown Missoula headquarters, and founder Sherri Davidoff expects to hire four to eight more this year.
The company brings a substantial amount of out-of-state money to Missoula by selling services to clients such as law firms, health care providers and financial institutions, in addition to its local customer base.
The firm is emblematic of Montana’s high-tech industry, which is red hot and expected to get hotter this year.
Employment and revenues are growing at rates seven times faster than the statewide economy, according to a study released Thursday that was conducted by the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research.
The study was commissioned by the Montana High Tech Alliance, a statewide membership organization with more than 250 high-tech and manufacturing companies, and the BBER surveyed its members on everything from wages to projected employment growth.
Alliance member companies expect to add 940 jobs this year that pay average annual salaries of $56,800, more than twice the median salary of the average Montana worker of $25,594. Salaries at the companies are growing 30 percent faster than in other sectors.
“Growth projected in high-tech businesses significantly exceeds average statewide economic growth,” said BBER director Patrick Barkey. “Median annual wages are much higher than in other sectors, and since we completed the first survey a year ago, they have increased by 12 percent.”
For the second year in a row, tech businesses reported that Montana’s quality of life, the beauty of the natural landscape and the myriad recreation opportunities provide a significant advantage in business.
“Montana is a great place to start a small, high-tech business,” Davidoff said. “Here, we have affordable office space, a trained labor force and strong community support for high-tech initiatives. Thanks to the Internet, LMG’s staff can live in a gorgeous place and at the same time provide world-class cybersecurity services to an international market.”
[“Source-missoulian”]
