Even as unemployment rates soar, teleservices outsourcer WS Live is expanding its Dubuque, Iowa -based operations thanks to a contract to provide customer sales and support for a new unnamed Fortune 1000 technology client.

The new business has led WS Live to take over the first floor of the historic Interstate Power Company Building. The new contract initially adds 25 positions, while expanding client business could add up to 50 new jobs by the end of the year. The company’s headquarters in Dubuque will now occupy the entire environmentally-friendly building in the city’s downtown.

WS Live completed the move of its contact center headquarters in January 2009 to the newly renovated building, a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The environmentally green building boasts a new geothermal heating system, energy efficient windows, Energy Star lighting, and water efficient bathrooms.

“Our move early this year has really helped the company's visibility,” says Kelly Uhlrich, assistant vice president of operations. “We've been able to attract more job applicants, and we're happy to be in a great, new work environment.”

The move that set up for new expansion had been part of a complex rearranging of offices to accommodate new arriving companies and growth. When IBM (News - Alert) decided to bring 1,300 new jobs to Dubuque in 2008, the city made arrangements with WS Live and McKesson, which provides healthcare services and information technology to help accommodate the move. IBM’s new technology center will be housed in the Dubuque Building, an historic ten-story structure and city landmark partially occupied by McKesson.

Ironically, WS Live’s predecessor company, Advanced Data-Comm, occupied space in the Dubuque Building between 1988 and 1999. McKesson will relocate to the former WS Live facility located in Dubuque Technology Park.

“When we were approached about moving, we saw the opportunity to put WS Live in a revitalized downtown area with more visibility and amenities,” says WS Live Jeff Mentzer, chief financial officer. “At the same time, it helped the city bring in more than 1,000 new jobs, so it was really a win-win situation.”

 

WS Live is owned by Working Solutions, which also provides home-agent services.  It had set up WS Live in 2006 when the parent firm’s owners purchased the assets of Advanced Data-Comm.  When asked why his firm seemingly go against the grain and open/go into business with an ‘old-fashioned’ bricks and mortar center, Working Solutions’ CEO Tim Houlne explains that WS Live focuses on outsourced transactions that are more likely to remain in such an environment.

“We have always believed that the optimal outsourced solution is blended across onshore (facility and home), nearshore, and offshore, depending on the sales, support, and economic model of the customer,” says Houlne. “We do not subscribe to the notion that 100 percent of transactions will be in the home, and we do not believe that 100 percent of transactions should go to any one-dimensional service offering.”