Economists see tech companies as a saving grace in Bozeman economy

Last year, economists were worried about manufacturing in Bozeman.

With America’s economy suffering the worst downturn since the Great Depression, good-paying jobs at companies that relied on a nationwide or worldwide customer base were especially vulnerable to the faltering market.

Dennis Dixon, president of Zoot Enterprises, the Four Corner’s firm that designs software to help banks calculate credit risk, said he was worried, too.

"Our clients are the financial industry," Dixon, sporting a goatee and wearing blue jeans, said Wednesday during an interview at Zoot’s modernistic campus near the West Gallatin River. "That industry led the recession. That hurt us."

But this year, Montana’s economic observers have a more optimistic outlook for the manufacturing sector. As economist Paul Polzin told a crowd at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research conference in Bozeman Wednesday, manufacturing is one of the "movers and shakers" of Gallatin County’s economy, and the valley’s tech economy is to thank.

RightNow Technologies http://www.rightnow.com/ , Zoot Enterprises http://www.zootweb.com/ ( PrintingForLess http://www.PrintingForLess.com in Livingston) and several smaller firms counted in the manufacturing column of Bozeman’s economic profile collectively employ 13 percent of Bozeman’s workforce.

By DANIEL PERSON, Chronicle Staff Writer

Full Story: http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2010/02/11/news/090tech-economy.txt