Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 20, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 7 attractive to employers. Machado wants to help develop lo- cal-born talent. He has a program to train people on the job to work in IT and is planning to launch a nonprofit to help people who were excluded from local vocational-tech- nical schools to gain the skills needed to work in IT. Delcie Bean, who opened an office for his Hadley-based company Paragus Strategic I.T. in One Mercantile on Feb. 15, said he found employees for the new location through a partnership with Nich- ols College in Dudley. "Worcester has come a long way in a short period of time," said Bean. is, combined with a more reasonable cost of living in Worcester than in the Boston area, has attracted talent from elsewhere in the state. Several of Bean's new hires are from the Boston area and joined the firm to escape the high cost of living in Boston. While Worcester's cost of living has been rising, it is still much lower than in Boston or Cambridge. Bean was attracted to the cost of leasing space in Worcester. "It's a fraction of the cost of Boston or even Hartford," he said. Although office space in Worcester is more expensive than in some MetroWest towns, clients are willing to pay more for the location, Kelleher said. "It's a flight to quality," he said. Improving downtown Although bullish on Worcester. Mach- ado looks forward to Worcester getting high-speed fiber optic internet. "I know for a lot of tech companies, they need high-speed internet, " he said. In 2020, the Worcester Regional Research Bureau published a report on Worcester internet speeds, saying the local economy was being impeded by slower speeds. WRRB encouraged the City of Worces- ter to explore developing its own municipal broad- band network. "If I had the ear of anybody with regards to infrastructure, I would want to put a very high-speed network here. I mean, you can get relatively good speed with cable, but fiber optic is the way to go," Machado said. In December, Verizon announced it would bring its fiber optic network to Worcester, though a timetable has not been announced. For Machado, the number one factor of being in Worcester is the location. "Location-wise, it couldn't be better, " he said, "Within an hour or two hours, you can be anywhere. Any of the major cities in New England and cover other areas as well." Our office needs to be convenient Worcester has seen a number of tech companies moving into its downtown neighborhood. They cite the restaurants and bars, access to transportation, and growing residential development with the ability for workers to live near the office as some of the reasons for choosing the neighborhood as their location. What is the most important factor when choosing a location for your company's offices? F L A S H P O L L COMMENTS "Safety." Easy commuting access for employees 49% W Price 20% Proximity to customers 14% Nearby amenities 10% Other* 7% * 1%-Other similar companies nearby; 2%-An impressive location; 4%-Other (specify in comments) Delcie Bean, CEO of Paragus Strategic I.T.

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