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A History of WSLive In the late eighties, City of Dubuque, Iowa leaders approached Michael Budde and suggested he open a teleservices bureau. At the time, Budde was a professor at Loras College, specializing in market research and statistical analysis. Budde, president and CEO, founded WSLive in 1988. WSLive opened in 1988, initially occupying 7,500 square feet on the third floor of the CyCare Plaza in downtown Dubuque, employing little more than 10 employees. The company’s rapid growth led to an expansion from 7,500 square feet to 65,000 square feet and about 150 support personnel for a total of about 700 employees by July of 1998. The company's Oelwein, Iowa call center was opened shortly after in November of 1991. The company’s growth was confirmed in 1994 when the company appeared on both the Top 50 Inbound Call Centers and the Top 50 Outbound Call Centers ranking lists. This was the first time the company appeared on both lists simultaneously. The rankings, based on call volume placed WSLive as one of the largest 50 call centers in the country. It is currently estimated that there are over 1,250 telemarketing companies in the U.S. WSLive has appeared in the Top 50 rankings every year since 1991. In November of 1995, WSLive again received national recognition when it was awarded the ACCE Award for inbound call center excellence from Teleprofessional Magazine. On December 8, 1996, President and CEO Michael J. Budde announced that the company was beginning a search for an additional site outside of Iowa. On January 25, 1997 the company selected Superior, Wis. for another call center site. The Superior location is the company's largest call center. The Superior site was opened in April 1997. At that time, the company had quadrupled in size since 1992. On July 26, 1998, fire destroyed the building that housed WSLive’s Superior, Wis. call center. No one was injured in the blaze. The building was a total loss. On July 30, 1998, the company found a new home in Superior, saving about 175 jobs. The company was able to resume full operations by the end of October. In September of 1998, WSLive announced that it would create 80 jobs in Fond du Lac, Wis. by opening a call center at a downtown location. The site opened on February 24, 1999. In March of 1999, WSLive began construction of a new office building in the Dubuque Technology Park off of U.S. Hwy. 151/61 south of Dubuque. The new facility would become the corporate headquarters for the firm and house a 200-seat call center. The firm was occupying the new building by December of 1999. The new office building was yet another confirmation of the growth and confidence in the future of the company. WSLive was awarded the 1999 Telo Award, which honors excellence in design and implementations of inbound and outbound telephone-based marketing strategies. The Telo Awards, the most prestigious worldwide competition for the teleservices industry, are presented annually by the American Teleservices Association (ATA). Shortly after moving to its new corporate headquarters in the Dubuque Technology Park, WSLive announced that it would be expanding yet again. Ashland, Wis. was chosen for another call center. The Ashland call center opened in March of 2000. In May of 2000, Michael J. Budde, President and CEO, was named one of 16 finalists for both the 2000 Iowa/Nebraska Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the Entrepreneur of the Year sponsored by Ernst & Young. In March of 2003, WSLive was awarded the Silver Marketing Via Phone (MVP) Quality Award by Customer Interactions Solutions Magazine. This marked the fifth consecutive year WSLive received the honor, having previously captured Bronze (2002), Silver (2001, 2000) and Gold (1999) MVP Awards. 
In June of 2003, WSLive marked a two-week long celebration
of its 15th year in business with the unveiling of a commemorative 15th anniversary logo.WSLive is an award-winning company recognized for its excellence. In addition to industry specific recognition, WSLive’s accolades include: The Governor’s Iowa Industry Award, Dubuque Ambassador’s Certificate of Recognition, and State of Iowa Governor’s Achievement Award. WSLive is an inbound (24/7) and outbound teleservices provider, making or taking 110,000 calls per day. The company employs over 500 individuals across four call centers, including Oelwein and Dubuque, Iowa, and Superior and Ashland, Wisconsin. Serving over 100 clients, WSLive provides the following teleservices: Customer Relationship Management (CRM), dealer locator, customer service, order processing, e-mail management, product registration, escalation management, third-party verifications (TPV), sales, lead generation, market research, fundraising, and technical support.
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