CARIBOU, Maine — Ever since SaviLinx, a Brunswick-based customer service outsourcing company, opened an office in Caribou last fall, city and company officials have deemed the expansion a major step forward in local economic development.
Founded in 2013 by Brunswick native Heather Blease, SaviLinx provides mobile customer service for questions related to health insurance, technology support, eCommerce and government contact centers.
The company opened in Caribou in October 2020 at 52 Sweden St., the former location of Virtual Managed Solutions, initially hiring around 50 full-time people. SaviLinx has increased their local workforce to around 70 people and plans to hire seasonal employees to work from October to mid-December.
“The city has been extremely supportive. They’ve made it easy for us to do business in the community by promoting our job opportunities,” Blease said. “We’ve brought in some excellent team members from Caribou and are excited to become part of the community.”
Though the Sweden Street site serves as the “hub” for employee technology support and training, around 95 percent of Caribou area employees work from home, according to Blease.
SaviLinx also has offices in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Blease noted that SaviLinx most often looks to expand in locations that would benefit from increased job opportunities. In Caribou, roughly 100 job positions were lost in fall 2019 after the closure of Sitel, also a customer service call center.
“We’re very interested in specific areas of Maine that are looking to provide good-paying jobs with benefits. We want to do what we can to help improve economic development in areas like Caribou,” Blease said.
Interim city manager Penny Thompson noted that SaviLinx’s expansion into Caribou, along with initiatives such as the Omnibus Downtown Tax Increment Financing District, will benefit the tax base moving forward.
“The Sweden Street businesses are vital to our community and it is wonderful to see activity resuming,” Thompson said. “Since [SaviLinx] is in the TIF District, the revenue generated on the captured value supports other economic activities like the façade improvement grant program and community outreach like Thursdays on Sweden Street. This is how success will lead to more success and SaviLinx is a part of that.”
SaviLinx’s location was owned by the Caribou Economic Growth Council during the 2019 and 2020 tax years but has since been put back on the city’s tax base. City officials are hoping that the increased business on Sweden Street will encourage future economic and community growth.
With community activities resuming, Blease and other company officials plan to visit Caribou in late August during a Thursdays on Sweden Street event. Blease views the visit as an opportunity to better connect with city officials and the community after the restrictions of COVID.
The company is currently seeking a full-time information technology technician, a part-time technical support agent and a full-time customer service representative for their Caribou region coverage, according to its website.
