A California-based company that provides wearables and health, safety, and wellness applications for seniors is opening a 50,000-square-foot service center in San Antonio.
GreatCall, a subsidiary of consumer electronics store Best Buy, announced Tuesday it will open a new call center at 9810 State Highway 151. The center will open in October and bring 400 jobs to San Antonio. This is the third U.S. location for GreatCall, which also operates in Reno, Nevada, and Carlsbad, California.
GreatCall provides connected health and personal emergency response services for the aging population through mobile products. Those products connect to urgent-response agents who provide immediate help, dispatch emergency personnel or offer general concierge services. It currently serves more than 900,000 subscribers.
“We know that the right technology can enrich lives and help older adults remain independent and connected, and give their caregivers peace of mind knowing their family members are safe,” stated Lynn Herrick, GreatCall’s chief human resource officer. “Our caring centers allow us to support older adults and provide the superior level of personalized service for which GreatCall and Best Buy are known.”
A GreatCall representative did not respond to the Rivard Report‘s request for more information on the new call center.
No economic incentives were provided to attract GreatCall to San Antonio, said a spokeswoman from the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation (SAEDF).
“In recent years, ‘Team San Antonio’ has further refined its business recruitment strategy to focus on target industries of IT, cybersecurity, life science, and manufacturing for all proactive marketing outreach,” stated Michele Boggs, executive vice president of business development for SAEDF, in an email to the Rivard Report. “[We] will continue to be supportive of companies like GreatCall that seek out SAEDF to learn more about San Antonio’s business landscape as part of their site selection process.”
Best Buy acquired GreatCall in 2018 for $800 million in an effort to enter the growing market of technology-driven health products. In the U.S., there are approximately 50 million Americans over the age of 65, according to the GreatCall announcement, and that number is expected to increase by more than 50% within the next 20 years In San Antonio, there are about 170,000 people over age 65, according to 2017 Census Bureau figures, and the median age of that group is 73.
The company said the new San Antonio facility will feature a collaborative environment, training rooms, a state-of-the-art telephone system, and sit-stand workstations. The address for the center is at the One51 development in the Westover Hills area.
Job openings with GreatCall in San Antonio are posted here.
Great to hear that. We all need more companies like this, and more apps and gadgets to track our health. I know that healthcare industry nowadays use so many innovative technologies like AR/VR, 3d modeling and printing, as well as the apps and gadgets for people’s security, and it allows people to cure severe diseases. My friends work at this firm, and he said they are currently working on a software solution for a medical organization.