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Updated: August 2, 2021

After going remote during pandemic, a call center moves forward with hybrid workforce

Photo / Jim Neuger Heather Blease, founder and CEO of SaviLinx, a call center that has 1,000 employees in four locations, including Brunswick Landing, where she’s pictured.
By Catie Joyce-Bulay

Heather Blease has started two call center companies. The first, EnvisioNet, filed for bankruptcy after six years after losing a key client. The second, SaviLinx, launched over a decade later in 2013, has grown gangbusters and now has about 1,000 employees in four locations nationwide, headquartered at the former Brunswick Naval Station with additional locations in Caribou, Aroostook Co.; Lawrence, Mass.; and Hattiesburg, Miss. Mainebiz caught up with her to find out more about what it’s been like running her business during the pandemic.

Mainebiz: What does SaviLinx do and who are its clients?

Heather Blease: SaviLinx is a complex call center provider for organizations who want to provide caring, expert call center experiences for their employees, citizens and customers. We’re known for delivering an excellent customer experience when it’s mission-critical to get it right. Our clients include federal and state government agencies and leading corporations. For example, we have a long-term federal contract to help U.S. military families enroll in their health plans, and state contracts to help citizens enroll in unemployment benefits and paid family leave. We also deliver call center support for federal student financial aid, corporate help desks, and state economic development efforts.

We were founded in 2013 as a Maine-based, privately held, woman-owned business with a core purpose of helping people. Thanks to our extraordinary employees and client partners, we continue to grow rapidly. SaviLinx has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Companies (North America) annually since 2017, when ranked #27.

MB: What lessons did you learn from EnvisioNet that you took with you in starting SaviLinx?

HB: The two companies are very different from each other in the scope of services we provide and our revenue models. One welcome change is how much the technology has evolved since the mid-1990s. Back in the day, with EnvisioNet, we purchased very expensive, on-premise phone switches in advance of answering our first phone call (and generating revenue). Today, our phones and entire technology infrastructure are cloud-based and pay-as-you-go, which has huge economic and efficiency advantages for us and our clients.

MB: What has it been like running a call center business during a pandemic with remote workers?

HB: When the pandemic hit last year, we sent our entire workforce home within a two-week period and never skipped a beat. Fortunately, all our systems are cloud-based and support a remote work environment. We all suddenly became Microsoft Teams and Zoom experts and quickly adjusted to managing remotely, fortunately having the systems and processes in place to effectively conduct our work. The rate at which our workforce transformed and settled in to working from home is nothing short of miraculous.

MB: What do plans to return to on-site work look like? Will some workers stay remote?

HB: Our philosophy is that people are welcome to work in the facilities if they choose. Otherwise, our team members can continue to work from home unless they are having technical or quality issues impacting their work. We have teams now coming back to the facilities for training or team-building events but most folks love working from home and I see no reason to revert back to pre-pandemic on-site work days.

MB: Have there been any unexpected changes brought on by the pandemic that you feel were for the better or long-lasting?

HB: The pandemic was transformational for our company. Government agencies and companies facing unprecedented call volume chose Savi to meet their call center needs based on our reliability, scalability and exceptional user experiences. We stood up several emergency call center programs to assist states with unemployment benefits by deploying hundreds of team members within a few weeks. The intense growth fostered collaboration and focused execution, taking tremendous effort while highlighting areas of strength and weakness in our company. Several new processes evolved as the team creatively problem-solved with a “can-do” attitude to meet the client’s objectives. Necessity is the mother of invention!

MB: Do you have any advice for other women-owned startups?

HB: My advice to other women in senior leadership roles is to embrace who they are and how they operate. For example, being a mother of four children provides me with the perspective and intention of promoting a values-based, inclusive and supportive company culture committed to helping people. In fact, that’s our core purpose, and reason for being: to help people. I deeply care about the people in my company and our clients. We feel like part of a big family.

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