IT-oLogy

The Consortium

When executives at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina realized they need a larger pool of qualified candidates to fill positions in their growing IT department, they reached out the University of South Carolina. Instead of developing a partnership that would solve the problem only for BlueCross BlueShield, they sought a solution to address the problem across the Southeast.

USC and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina partnered with IBM in December 2008 to form the Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management. The Consortium was formed in part to encourage young people to learn the skills needed to manage enterprise systems, large-scale computers that process high volume transactions. Since its inception, numerous other corporate and educational supporters have gotten involved and the mission has expanded to include all aspects of computer science, engineering and technology.

In January 2011, the Consortium moved into a new high-profile location in downtown Columbia and introduced the IT-oLogy program to advance the study of Information Technology as a profession. The move positions IT-oLogy to be a part of the University of South Carolina’s Innovista campus, designed to stimulate applied business research while providing fertile ground for businesses and job creation.

Today, the Consortium is a non-profit collaboration of companies, academic institutions and other organizations dedicated to growing the IT talent pipeline, fostering economic development and advancing the IT profession by being the power behind IT-oLogy.