Answering the call: four new call centers to add 2,100 jobs in the region.

WITH FOUR NEW CALL centers soon to employ more than 2,100 in Delaware and Madison counties, economic development leaders are thankful.

"All four are filling a niche in the employment scope," says Rob Sparks, executive director of the Anderson Corp. for Economic Development in Anderson and Madison County, which welcomed Affiliated Computer Services Inc.'s announcement last fall and Agape Communications LLC's arrival this spring. Delaware County's wins were IBM, opening last fall, and Sallie Mae, in late 2006.

'Any job an economic boon." While they may not be the highest-paying jobs--wages average $10 an hour--they do bring opportunity to the state, says Nathan Feltman, Indiana secretary of commerce and chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. "Indiana has to have diverse offerings of jobs. We have all kinds of skill sets in our population, and these jobs offer opportunities to rise through the ranks or increase your skill sets and move to another opportunity."

Richard Feinberg, director of the Center for Customer Driven Quality at Purdue University says, "Any job is an economic boon." His center estimates that call center jobs have a 1.8 multiplier, the amount of money a dollar adds to the economy as it creates other jobs in the marketplace by tricking down through retailing and services.

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"These jobs are also good because they are entry-level positions and flex positions," he says. "So they employ a lot of 'I-need-a-second-job' type of people. They are avenues of opportunity at the lower- to middle-end of the job scale, and that is needed as much as the higher-end."

Agape Communications LLC. Operations got underway in mid-May and the dialer placed its first call on June 3 at Agape Communications LLC in Anderson. The company's early employment of 45 will grow to 400 within a year, says Jeff Rogers, facilitator at the Anderson officer. Owned by Canada's LPALC Communications, a company founded in 2007, Agape chose a downtown location in the Union Building on North Meridian Plaza.

"This will have an overwhelmingly positive impact for retail and commercial businesses and even downtown events," says Sparks.

Initially, Agape is operating two six-hour shifts. "We are currently quoting work that would include 24/7 coverage for inbound clients. Agape will perform outsourced or contracted work in several trade niches," says Rogers. "Our target market includes controlled-circulation or trade publications, customer or product satisfaction surveys, vacation package offers, consumer magazine paid circulation, debt-reduction programs, and inbound services, including order taking, technical support, FAQ lines and other services relating to the inbound call areas, government polling and surveys and lead generation."

Affiliated Computer Services Inc. Also in Anderson, Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) held a grand opening ceremony in May at its 26,000-square-foot customer care center. Current employment is 348, reports Kevin Lightfoot, vice president of corporate communications at the company's Dallas headquarters. Plans are to boost the workforce to 500 by yearend.

ACS was founded in 1988, employs 63,000 in 100 countries, and serves clients in government, manufacturing, retail, financial services, healthcare, education and transportation. Its calls include surveys, order taking, service requests and sales. The Anderson site provides technical support for a wireless service carrier, among others.

"They had Zero trouble getting employees," says Sparks. "The majority of their employees have been recruited through word of mouth."

In a separate operation, ACS is a partner with IBM in a $1 billion privatization contract with the State of Indiana for processing work for the Family and Social Services Administration. "As part of the FSSA contract, they committed to bringing another 1,000 jobs to the State of Indiana," Fehman says. The ACS and IBM call centers are the result.

IBM. IBM made a $3 million investment in the former Burlington Motor Carriers building in Daleville, occupying 33,000 square feet of 64,000 square feet when it opened last November. The company did not disclose current employment levels, but it has announced plans to hire 500 by 2010.

The call center currently serves new and existing IBM clients and is designed to serve multiple clients, says John Buscemi, director of communications for IBM North America. "Agents help clients assess and obtain services for systems management and business processes ranging from system troubleshooting and upgrades of antivirus software to complete transfer of human resource or finance functions from a company to IBM."

Sallie Mae. Opened in October 2006 in Muncie, Sallie Mae's $11 million, 54,000-square-foot center today employs 718, more than the 700 it had targeted to reach by the end of this year.

"We met and surpassed that goal well ahead of schedule, a tribute to the talented workforce here in Delaware County," says Richard Castellano, manager of public affairs at the company's Reston, Virginia, headquarters. "Sallie Mae has always been committed to the state of Indiana. We have a 40-year history in the state. It is home to our largest employee center, and we have been very pleased with the talent pool here."

The Muncie office handles account collections for its loan programs. It operates from 8 a.m. to midnight weekdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, and noon to midnight on Sundays.

Indiana's cost-competitive. Indiana is an attractive choice for call centers for many reasons, Feltman says "The telecommunications reform legislation that passed here two years ago incentivized AT&T, Verizon and others. Some companies are moving in a lot of jobs that used to be outsourced overseas. And call centers look to locate in places that are competitive from a cost standpoint."

Feinberg says, "States like Indiana get call centers because they have low rent space that has been vacated by other businesses, an effective infrastructure and a competitive tax structure. They are just easy to put in and start, that anyone can do one. In Indiana, you can go from thought to start in 30 days."

While neither knows the number of call centers in Indiana, Feinberg says those at the Center for Customer Driven Quality have a guess. "We think there are 50,000 to 75,000 call centers in the U.S., but we are not sure of that."

Does the news that new centers are opening indicate a growth of such operations in the state? Not necessarily. "There are probably as many call centers that close as open, so it is a wash," Feinberg says. "You do not hear of the closures as much as you hear of the openings."

He also says off-shoring call centers isn't declining so much as it is getting less attention. "We estimate that at its peak, off-shoring will only be 10 percent of all calls to call centers," he says. "They are learning how to better run these off-shore centers. The fad of blaming off-shore call centers as the axis of evil is over. The fact is that companies cannot keep up with the demand for access, and the live agent is the most expensive form of access."

That makes Indiana's affordability particularly palatable. And the State's nod to call centers their economic potential a wise one. "At the state level, when using our resources, we have consciously picked the kinds of sectors we want to see growth--life sciences, IT, advanced manufacturing, and distribution/logistics," says Feltman. "But when we have opportunities for call centers and we know communities will be open to them and want those jobs, we don't turn a blind eye. In the overall scheme, call centers are a fairly small percentage yet an important opportunity for a segment of our population."