Sento's growth bringing Utah jobs

AMERICAN FORK — Utah will gain 200 jobs and could be in line for several hundred more as Sento Corp.'s growth continues full bore.

The American Fork-based company, boosted primarily by handling customer service calls for Salt Lake-based Overstock.com Inc., plans to hire 200 more agents by next month, with most of the jobs being added in Orem. The company also plans to add 750 Spanish-speaking agents at a couple of centers within the next year, and Utah is among several states in the running for those jobs.

"Things are really looking up here," said Patrick O'Neal, Sento's chief executive officer. "We've had significant growth in the last year. We're pretty optimistic right now."

Sento had about 400 employees last fall when it started handling customer service activities outsourced by Overstock.com. Thanks to that, plus increased work from a few other clients, the company's work force has grown to about 600.

The company has two centers in American Fork and one each in Orem and Evanston, Wyo. Orem will get between 150 and 160 of the new jobs, with the remainder being added in Evanston.

Sento had only hinted about its relationship with online closeout retailer Overstock.com until last week. That's when Overstock's president and CEO Patrick Byrne mentioned it in his company's quarterly earnings announcement.

Byrne called the companies' relationship "unusual" because Sento is only 20 miles away, employees of each company visit each other's offices continuously, the responsible Sento executive is in the Overstock office and Overstock is one of Sento's larger clients. He said he didn't think of the relationship as outsourcing, instead calling it "more of a 'hands-on' alliance."

The jobs added since last fall, plus the 200 announced Tuesday, will be primarily due to Overstock's needs, but other companies, including U.S. Digital Television Inc. and STSN, are major clients warranting the new positions, O'Neal said.

"We expect to have all these people on board by the end of August at the latest, possibly before then," he said. In a news release Tuesday, O'Neal said the anticipated revenue that may be generated from this new business will amount to about $9 million over the next 14 months.

Sento stock climbed nearly 13 percent Tuesday, finishing the day at $5.69, up 64 cents per share. During the past year, the price has ranged from $2.06 to $17.89.

The company also will open a Spanish-only facility that will have 250 workers and expects to have another soon thereafter.

"We expect to open at least two centers during the next 12 months that probably will create a total of 750 jobs when up and running," O'Neal said.

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