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American Financial Services
Chooses Bakersfield
Several companies, including MDS Communications Corp. and Pleasant Travel Services, have placed call centers in Bakersfield, Calif., during the past couple of years. But the city has now landed perhaps its biggest fish yet.

American Financial Services Association, a Utica, N.Y.-based college loan processing firm, has tapped Bakersfield for a call center that might eventually employ 1,000. Company officials say the area's available labor force was one of the key factors influencing the location decision.

"Kern Economic Development Corp. would not take no for an answer when convincing us that Bakersfield was the place we wanted to be," AFSA Executive Vice President Michael Brady says. In fact, city officials expanded Bakersfield's Enterprise Zone to accommodate the particular site and building of interest to the company.

"Several more companies are looking at Kern County for call centers right now," says a Kern Economic Development Corp. official. "This is an area with available land and buildings, as well as a fairly widespread employee base for this type of operation."

SAFECO, Venture Data
Invest in Spokane
Seattle-based SAFECO, which markets insurance and financial products through independent agents and financial professionals, has tapped Spokane, Wash., for one of four state-of-the-art Contact Centers that it will be developing during the next two years.

The location decision is part of a larger strategy by SAFECO to consolidate many call center operations currently in nine cities into four facilities that will serve agents and customers nationwide. (The other three sites are Bothell, Wash., Indianapolis and Denver.)

Spokane was selected for the 300-employee facility because of its qualified work force, available real estate, strong telecommunications infrastructure and the responsiveness of local economic development officials, among other factors.

"The Spokane Area Economic Development Council has guided this entire process and enabled us to get set up in only eight weeks -- a feat we didn't imagine we could accomplish until we came to Spokane and met with the EDC and its partners," Venture Data President Jeff Call says.