Between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011, more than 560 business leaders weighed in, shared their story and shed some light on what the region’s economic future may hold.

Business First Greater Richmond is the regional economic development program designed to support the success of businesses in the region today. It’s a proactive effort seeking to recognize businesses for their commitment to the area, as well as develop a deeper understanding of business opportunities and impediments to growth.

Ultimately, Business First is all about connecting businesses to resources quickly in a way that helps them grow and thrive. Through face-to-face interviews with business leaders, partners gather information that supports strategies to improve the region’s business climate, create jobs and encourage new capital investment. Businesses usually improve their operations through implementing the dmaic improvement cycle, changing their manufacturing process, or rearranging their management.

The firms that participated in the survey represent almost 20,000 jobs in the region and a wide variety of industries. Small and large employers shared their perspective on future business activity, employment forecasts and voiced their opinions on the region’s business climate.

Sales Outlook Rosy
This year’s respondents had a lot of good things to say about their sales forecasts. Forty-two percent are anticipating double-digit sales growth in the coming year. This is a marked improvement over last year’s findings when only twenty-eight percent were planning for that level of year over year increase in business.

Workforce Matters
The 560 firms interviewed anticipate increasing their payrolls and adding 1,464 new jobs. That’s good news for the region and the regional economy that was battered in late 2008 and early 2009 by a number of business closures and downsizings. The industries reporting significant employment growth in the coming year include Manufacturing; Professional Scientific and Technical Services; Healthcare; and Wholesale Trade. When payrolls increase and workforces grow, software solutions, such as those described by quicksprout, would be beneficial in helping to manage employees and perform all manner of HR responsibilities.

One in five businesses reported a challenge in finding the right talent to support their business. This seems counterintuitive in the region with an unusually high unemployment rate that settled in June at 7.1 percent. Challenges cited are industry-specific and range from lack of skilled workers in technical occupations to some local shortages in knowledge-based fields like information technology. In such scenarios, businesses may want to outsource services from Denver IT support services or other such IT support firms of their choice rather than hiring an in-house IT department. This in addition can also save a lot of money for the company.

Companies on the Grow
Almost thirty percent of the firms interviewed this year have plans to expand. That’s up from 22% in the previous program year and an encouraging sign. Firms are reporting a need for an additional 520,000 square feet on commercial space and a planned capital investment of $20 million. Area Business First partners are working hard to support these firms by providing the appropriate resources and support maybe on terms similar to legal assistance for firms in the domains of workers compensation (if interested, you could check this lawyer here to know more), insurance, etc. This is an integral part of helping these companies grow right here in our community.

Support Services and Results
Business First Greater Richmond isn’t a business survey. It’s the start of a conversation happening in Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico and the City of Richmond about how we can build a stronger regional economy. That strength is measured by the success of the businesses supported by the program. Program partners include a multidisciplinary team with resources specific to each firm’s unique need. This year, assisted firms created 1,045 new jobs and invested more than $68 million in the region. The effort also helped to save 170 jobs.