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by TRACY HEATH

Arkansas changes gears
to meet the needs of today's
frantic, technology- driven companies.

Time is money -- a latter-day mantra that the Arkansas Dept. of Economic Development has taken to heart. And it's a good thing, because today's technology-driven businesses have little or no time to wait. So to keep up, Arkansas has made some impressive changes in operations to better meet the needs of industry.

"First of all, having leadership that came from the private sector gives us a lot of credibility, and it says we understand the choices that have to be made," says Barbara Pardue, executive director of the Arkansas Dept. of Economic Development. "We understand that decisions have to be made quickly, and so we move far more rapidly today in the way we respond to proposals, and that's because we have developed a team-oriented approach."

In fact, Arkansas now manages prospective projects with multifunctional teams that include members from finance, community development, training, research and property information services. This allows for quicker responses that are much more thorough in nature, Pardue adds. The state also moved to a performance-based environment, "which, from an economic development perspective, gives Arkansas a major competitive advantage, because we think more like the private sector than we do a public agency," says Pardue.

The state's more aggressive approach has created quite a stir among site selectors. "Overall the state has a good business climate," says Mike Mullis, president and CEO of J.M. Mullis, a Memphis, Tenn.-based consulting firm. "Our firm in the last year analyzed the state for a third-party Internet distribution center, and due to the availability of a 500,000-sq.-ft. (46,452-sq.-m.) facility and an aggressive package, Arkansas was selected for the 500-employee distribution center."

BELOW: Little Rock has been the recipient of many IT expansions of late,
including major announcements by Acxiom and Alltell.

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