ervice Source, a San Francisco-based outsource sales organization specializing in the business of technical service contract renewals for computer hardware, software and healthcare clients, looked for some outside help in selecting the right site for its third U.S. service center. Service Source, which manages $2.5 billion in service contracts for a list of clients that includes GE Healthcare, Sun Microsystems and Alcatel-Lucent, needed just the right site for its NA3 (North America 3) facility and needed it quick.
   At the suggestion of its new minority shareholder General Atlantic, Service Source turned to the Project Management & Logistics Division of global real estate advisor firm Newmark Knight Frank. General Atlantic, a private equity firm that acquired an interest in Service Source earlier this year, had worked with Newmark Knight Frank previously.
   Service Source worked with Newmark Knight Frank's Matt Ryder, using the company's DeciMetrics software and services. DeciMetrics allows clients to find a market or a location through a multi-criteria analysis of factors including operations costs, employee satisfaction, customer service levels and image of selected areas. Service Source's objective was to find the best combination of a low-cost location and an educated work force.
   Dave Dunlap, Service Source's senior vice president of worldwide operations, says top considerations were labor rates, labor draw, real estate availability real estate pricing.
   "We needed four-year educated folks, mainly young, in their first to second job and highly intelligent and highly trainable," Dunlap says.
   In addition to San Francisco, where the company started in 1999, Service Source has a service center in Denver, which opened in early 2006, and an operation in Dublin, Ireland.    Using DeciMetrics, Service Source began looking at 2,000 counties before narrowing it to a manageable list of 20 and then a final three of Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; and Phoenix, Ariz., in just a six-week period. Service Source was evaluating real estate options in these three cities when Site Selection's November issue went to press.
   Dunlap says Service Source did its own research in selecting the Denver site, and that has proved to be a good decision.
   "Now, our risks are much higher and this is a higher profile project. We needed the safety net of using an objective third party process and tool. Doing it yourself seems cheap, but in fact it can by very expensive. I've already told Matt we will be using DeciMetrics again the next time we expand in Europe and also in APAC if we expand there."
   Dunlap says Service Source plans to be operational during the first quarter of 2008 and hire more than 250 people in its first year.
   Newmark Knight Frank thoroughly interviews DeciMetrics clients about their goals and objectives and then lets the software do its work. DeciMetrics can analyze detailed demographic and financial information on all 3,100 U.S. counties. Important quality-of-life information such as average drive times can also be obtained.
   "We can do some neat stuff such as measure the amount of consensus that exists in a client's leadership team," says Ryder, managing director of consulting services for Project Management & Logistics at Newmark Knight Frank. "Often companies don't have the same vision at different levels. DeciMetrics makes it easier to make sure everyone is on the same page."
   Goals and objectives can be outlined analytically, with weight given from important to least important.
   "At this point, you have an intersection of information and can get down to a manageable list," Dunlap says. "This model does the heavy lifting for us. Instead of looking at the usual suspects, we can bring the best 20 to light," Ryder says. "We are able to start with a huge number and allow the software to work properly and get down to a manageable number."