Columbus makes Cyber Monday and its deals possible| Opinion

Les Carrier is a member of Hilliard City Council.

The online digital technology that powers Cyber Monday can feel like something remote and distant.

After all, you’re spanning the globe finding gifts and bargains from the comfort of your home or office.

It turns out, the technology engines and resources that make the internet work and that make online commerce a convenience for us all are everywhere, in tech hubs across the country and, increasingly, right here in the central Ohio.

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For many, this is a surprise to learn.

Wasn’t the technology industry the exclusive club of West Coast locations like the Silicon Valley, with its research center, good-paying jobs and the most promising new start-ups all clustered in the Bay Area?

That may have been the perception once, but it’s certainly not the reality today. The Columbus area is legitimately on the map as a place where technology thrives and the industry’s movers and shakers want to be.

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And we earned it in our own right.

Almost 10 years ago, Amazon Web Services began building data centers and other facilities here. Other tech companies followed suit. and Intel’s new mega-factory to produce computer chips is the largest example yet–and it won’t be the last.

For me, as a longtime resident of the Columbus area, it brings me great pride to say that we are now the Silicon Heartland and that, unequivocally, we help make the internet happen–be it streaming movies or online holiday shopping.

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Make no mistake, as our hometown continues to stretch and grow and transform, it brings changes. Is there construction? Do our communities invest in tax incentives to bring us new jobs? Are there new skills employers seek?

The answer to all of these questions is, of course, yes. But these are welcome changes because of the new opportunities they make possible.

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The opposite developments–decline, joblessness and struggle–bring change also, just not the kind any community wants. I’ll take these kinds of growing pains any day, not just because they are temporary, but because the benefits they bring far outweigh their cost.

Research shows that new investments in technology have an amplified positive community impact far in excess of the impacts created by other sectors. For instance, traditional manufacturing investments create three indirect jobs for every one manufacturing job. Technology investments are almost double that, creating five news jobs on average for every technology job created.

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Good-paying jobs generate economic activity for local businesses and tax revenue for our communities. The benefits are widespread and significant.

This season, when you jump online to shop for gifts, remember this: it’s made possible by central Ohio.

The technology that makes it happen is no longer someone else’s, it’s ours now.

It’s being built and managed by Columbus area residents.

The Silicon Heartland, built on the continued investments of Amazon Web Services over the past decade are here to stay, and will only continue to grow.

Let’s take pride in the role that central Ohio increasingly plays in the world of technology and the internet.

Les Carrier is a member of Hilliard City Council.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: History of Cyber Monday. Role does Columbus area plays in online shopping?