Merchant e-Solutions Inc. plans to move its Spokane Valley operations center to a larger, more open office space this summer. 

Nearing the end of its lease at 920 N. Argonne Road, the Atlanta-based electronic payment acceptance and management company, plans to move its call center to 12825 E. Mirabeau Parkway in July. 

The move will follow a $1.1 million overhaul of a 19,600-square-foot leased office space there. Remodeling work started in March and is expected to finish in time for a July 15 opening. Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor for the project, which will include creating new meeting rooms, informal break and game rooms, and office workstations.  

Tim Schneible, Spokane-based executive vice president of operations for Merchant e-Solutions, says the new space is a nontraditional design, offering employees more collaborative spaces, along with billiards, shuffleboard, video games, and a snack room. 

“This design is a more open workspace, vibrant and fun, allowing for collaboration across teams,” he says. 

At its new location in the Pinecroft Business Park, Merchant e-Solutions will be the building’s third tenant, with the other two being Salesforce.com Inc. and Servatron Inc.

Schneible says the new space is about 15 percent larger than the company’s current space, and should allow for growth during the next couple of years. 

“Currently, we have 90 employees in our Spokane office, and we’re expecting that to grow to 110 by this time next year,” he says. “As our customer portfolio continues to grow, we are constantly working to find more ways to be proactive in our support services.” 

According to Schneible, the card payment industry recently has seen a significant amount of work in implementing EMV chip and pin technology. EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. The three companies joined together to create the chip as a method of secure payment transfers and acceptance. 

“We’ve been hard at work assisting our customers with applying that technology,” he says. “We also continue to work on creating better products and services to aid customers in processing and reporting.” 

Schneible says the company intends to keep building areas like information technology, engineering and product management services, as those areas interact closely with the customer-facing side of its business. 

“Looking ahead, we have some aggressive business goals in mind for the Spokane Valley location,” says Schneible. “Our focus will be on internal promotion paths for our team members and continued community involvement.” 

He says so far this year more than 20 people here have been promoted to higher-level positions, and the company’s recent volunteer events with organizations such as Second Harvest and Habitat for Humanity have provided community benefit as well as opportunities for company team-building exercises.

“This area supports a good quality of life and an excellent pool of talented individuals from which to build our team,” he says. “Engaging in community events is important to our organization and benefits both our team and the community they live in.” 

He adds, “With the growth in our customer base, the move to a new space couldn’t have come at a better time. We’re thrilled at the progress we’ve made and will continue working to become all we can be for both our team’s benefit and that of the customers we serve.” 

Merchant e-Solutions assists merchants in accepting payment transactions and enables its clients to manage those payments through one software platform, which they can access online, through mobile devices, and in-person interactions. 

According to its website, Merchant eSolutions is both a merchant acquirer and global processor, processing more $17 billion in transactions annually and supporting 150 global currencies, including all major credit cards, debit, and alternative payment methods.

Schneible say that the company has been successful financially in recent years and anticipates reaching a record $20 billion in processing volume this year. 

The company is owned by Cielo, a Brazilian-based credit and debit card operator. The company, which recently moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Atlanta, has had an operation in Spokane Valley for 15 years.