IT support firm bringing rural model to Manning
Provalus will ‘bring the training’ to area, company official says
Officials at a new computer services support company have the hunch they can help address the nation's technology talent shortage from site locations in rural America and help develop those communities in the process.
Will Ruzic, general manager with Alabama-based Provalus, said Thursday that establishing information technology support jobs in rural areas to support Fortune 500 or Fortune 1000 clients in larger cities has basically never been done before. However, the firm thinks it has a business model to do it, and that's why it recently chose Manning for its third operations center.
Founded in 2017, Provalus announced on Nov. 14 it was establishing an operation in Clarendon County and bringing at least 105 jobs to the area. To date, the firm has hired 23 employees and is looking for about 15 more to begin training.
Smaller, rural communities - like Manning - have not benefited as much with job creation as major metropolitan areas in the currently strong economy, Ruzic said, but that doesn't mean there are not talented people in those areas with a good work ethic.
Many residents in these communities don't have IT experience but do have the ability to learn the skills and just need an entry point. Often, currently, he said, to get that education and experience, people have to move away to a city where IT is more prominent.
"Our desire is to bring that to them," Ruzic said, "and the key to our model is we bring the training. So, we didn't locate in Manning and say, 'Open the doors, and now give us all your IT talent.' We located in Manning knowing the challenges we're going to face in rural America but knowing we're going to do the training."
Potential employees can run the gamut, according to Ruzic, from people with a retail background to stay-at-home moms to anyone with the desire to get into the IT world.
Applicants must have some aptitude for the work and problem-solving skills, he said.
Provalus' model is to locate in areas similar to Manning - where there might be about 5,000 to 7,000 people - that are far enough from major cities that those metro areas don't steal their employees after training and a few months on the job.
That happens a lot with IT jobs in hub cities like Charleston, Columbia and Greenville, but with its model, Provalus thinks it can mold a long-term employee who wants to stay local and enjoys the small-town lifestyle, Ruzic said.
The firm has facilities in two similar-sized communities in Brewton, Alabama, and Jasper, Texas, and has found a good supply of previously untapped talent in those communities, he said.
And with IT jobs projected to continue to increase, Ruzic and other company officials think the model will continue to be successful.
The Alabama technology support center has been open for two years and has about 135 employees. The Texas facility opened about eight months ago and is up to 75 workers, he said.
While Provalus' job announcement for Manning was just more than 100 jobs, Ruzic said the company's goal is for each center to eventually be in the range of 200 to 300 employees. He said he thinks the Manning operation can reach 105 employees in 12 to 18 months.
The center is operating out of the 600 building at Central Carolina Technical College's F.E. DuBose site at 3351 Sumter Highway in Manning. Provalus will eventually move to downtown Manning in a former Belk department store building. That facility is undergoing renovations, and officials hope the move can be made later this year.
The firm also likes to hire former military personnel and wants to tap into retirees coming out of Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, Ruzic said.
"We're already making some headway there with some partnerships and want to help some of those folks transition," he said. "These people have been programming missiles and don't necessarily see how that converts to the civilian world, but we're like, 'Look, if you have been programming missiles and doing communications, then we certainly have opportunities for you.' Those skills transition very nicely."
Provalus' job announcement is the largest for Clarendon County since 2014 when bicycle builder Bicycle Corporation of America said it was bringing 175 jobs to Manning.