Issue link: http://businessnc.epubxp.com/i/756318
50 N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 50 N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E W hen Fidelity Investments announced in October 2015 plans to invest $8 million and bring 600 new jobs to Durham and the Triangle, it added to the company's already robust presence in the region. The Boston-based asset manager fi rst set up operations in Raleigh in 2002 and over the years has added a data center, customer contact center and various walk-in investor centers in Charlotte, Greensboro and other cities. Helping seal the most recent deal was a state incentive package worth up to $15 million, provided the company meets hiring targets. Fidelity also received a $54.6 million grant to bring 2,000 jobs to Durham and Wake counties in 2006. Today Fidelity employs about 4,200 people in North Carolina, most of them at the company's Research Triangle Park campus. Company offi cials indicated that most of the new 600 positions will be in information technology, software engineering and cyber security. The average annual salary will be more than $100,000. Fidelity ranks among the world's largest money managers, with its 25 million customers holding $5.4 trillion in assets. It is perhaps best known for its 462 mutual funds. Owned by the Johnson family of Boston, Fidelity can take a long-term view rather than be subject to the quarterly pressures facing publicly traded peers. "This was a very big project for Durham," says Ted Conner, vice president of economic development and community sustainability for the Durham Chamber of Commerce. "These are very tumultuous times, and we're lucky local companies are growing and national companies, to a degree, are still looking here. We just need to be in the right position to take advantage of any opportunities that present themselves." Conner says Fidelity wouldn't be expanding in Durham without confi dence that the area's workforce can meet their needs. "The Triangle is very unique. One of our many strengths is the great universities and colleges, which are continually training new potential employees and making this a very sustainable location for new and growing businesses." Much of this educational training is focused on technology, which is crucial in preparing the workforce of tomorrow and attracting innovative, growing companies. Fidelity Investments is not only embracing technology, but driving it. Researchers and scientists in the company's Fidelity Labs, including locations in North Carolina, identify and explore emerging technologies to create new products and services. Recent innovations include the fi rst investing app for both Google Glass and "smart" watches. The company also works with Harvard, MIT and Stanford to develop pilot programs for artifi cial intelligence, big data, fi ntech and predictive analytics projects. "There is no pure IT industry anymore," says Conner. "IT is converging into so many other clusters, especially fi nancial services. All these diff erent disciplines are coming together and creating new products and new ways of doing business, which create a plethora of new opportunities for business. Today, in order to compete in the global marketplace, companies either have to have a sophisticated IT component or be able to partner with the right IT companies. If they don't, they'll soon be out of business." FIDELITY INVESTMENTS: HARNESSING THE POWER OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES F I N A N C I A L T E C H N O L O G Y