Transcom makes it official: it’s Greenville

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Transcom's U.S. officials have made their final choice, and a cross-community welcome had something to do with it.

“Local government, big government, the business community, the academic community: everyone was there supporting this, and it was really the first time we’d seen that in a community, to have that diverse of a group spending as much time as they did with us,” Don Berryman, vice president and chief commercial officer of the company’s North American operations told GSA Business Report during a Tuesday interview.

The Swedish call center company whittled down its initial roll of 125 locations to a shortlist including Greenville for its U.S. brick-and-mortar corporate hub after a visit in October.

Today, the company shared its plans to hire 450 people at its 33,000-square-foot 650 Executive Center Drive office. The announcement came during a virtual Greenville Area Development Corp. event.

“The South Carolina business community is outstanding,” Berryman said during the announcement.

The Upstate market’s workforce and ability to attract employees were keystones in the company’s decision.

Transcom needed a location where the company could expand up to 1,000 employees, a place “we think will be a great base of operations, a place where we will grow and, most importantly, one where our employees will love coming to work … where our clients like coming to — a community that they like to visit and don’t mind spending the days or weeks or even a month here while they’re training,” he said.

Despite having been ahead of both the work-from-home and off-shoring curve, the company recognized that with a new U.S. contract, a brick-and-mortar American presence was the best way to connect with its largest market.

“We found here in Greenville, a very positive environment,” Berryman told GSA Business Report in October. “Probably, most importantly, a workforce we can sustain for many years.”

Transcom seeks to field complex customer service queries and recruit employees with perks such as a hybrid work model, a yet-to-be determined competitive starting wage and an upfit office environment with a café and gym, according to Kyla Starks, senior vice president of the company’s North American operations.

“People want that flexibility to be able to work from home, but they want to have that connection too,” Starks said, adding that the workforce is searching for an in-person community. “How can you really connect to the community where your people are if you don’t have a base there?”

Transcom has 30,000 customer experience specialists at 69 centers across 26 countries, delivering services in 33 languages for international brands in various industies.

“Greenville County Council is pleased that Transcom, the global customer experience experts who use leading-edge technology and customer insight to provide excellent customer care, have chosen our community to launch and grow their U.S. operations,” Greenville County Council Chairman and Greenville Area Development Corp. board member Willis Meadows said in a news release. “We believe that the company is a perfect fit for our growing knowledge-based economy and wish them continued success."