The COVID-19 pandemic proved to the rest of the world what the tech Industry already knew: if you leverage technology, most office work can be done anywhere, from anywhere, at any time. Which is why it was a bit of a conundrum that some of the largest technology companies – who have always been at the forefront of remote and hybrid work models – continued to stay focused on establishing large concentrations of workforce and real estate in high-cost U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco. After all, it logically follows that those who produced software and technology that enabled us to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic should also be using that same technology to work from anywhere themselves. For some, it was about staying where they had rooted themselves from the early days of a tech startup. For many others, it was the "network effect" of being immersed in adjacent companies and infrastructure that was accustomed to supporting the rapid, demanding pace of the tech industry. 

Post-pandemic, the rest of the world leveraged their learnings during what was essentially a forced, global pilot program in remote working and found themselves embracing remote and hybrid work in big ways, permanently dispersing portions of their workforce into lower cost cities. Because of this, tech companies are now realizing their "network effect" – and the support that comes along with it – can be found outside of New York and San Francisco. Even more surprising, they are finding that some of the more experienced computer engineering, programming and other advanced technology skillsets can also be found in tier-2 U.S. cities and potentially, even internationally. 

For example, a financial tech company was recently looking to position a large portion of its workforce in Wisconsin. These roles were responsible for building the technology and developing the algorithms for its wealth management products – roles that typically have been found in global financial centers like New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago. They also required a large, secured data center tied to a trading room that monitors global financial markets 24/7, something that is definitely out of the ordinary for a Wisconsin suburb. More recent conversations with a core, global tech company yielded serious interest in developing models and business cases to build significant scale in international cities like Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, and even Ho Chi Minh City.