Deluxe Corp. opened its FinTech and Customer Innovation Center at 5565 Glenridge Connector in Sandy Springs, where it will eventually employ more than 700 workers with an average salary of $91,000.
“We’ve already had our first customer events at the space, where we’re working on code development of new products with our customers. Our team has also begun occupying the space, and the management team is holding regular meetings there,” CEO Barry McCarthy said.
He said Deluxe is pleased with the location near Ga. 400, I-285 and MARTA, along with great amenities for its employees.
“Of course, COVID has slowed down our return to the office, as we would expect. And we have advised our workforce that we don’t expect people to be back on our normal schedule until after the first of October,” McCarthy said.
The challenges from the pandemic are not unique to Deluxe, he said. Every business deals with keeping employees safe, making sure workplaces are safe and well sanitized. He expects employees to be in the office more often than not. The future for the company will be a hybrid model with office and remote workdays.
The company continues its path to hiring 709 tech workers for the Sandy Springs office, which will occur over what he called a reasonable period of time.
“A primary motivation for us to have our facility here in metro Atlanta is the great access to fintech talent, the concentration of which here is higher than anywhere else in the country,” McCarthy said.
As a fintech and payments company, Deluxe wants access to that talent pool. He said so far they’ve been very pleased with their ability to hire great talent from the area.
The company has also been pleased with the cooperation from Sandy Springs, the metro area and the state, he said.
The founder of the 106-year-old company had invented the checkbook and created the beginnings of the modern payment ecosystem, McCarthy said. As a trusted payment and business technology company, Deluxe provides enabling technologies and solutions to help businesses succeed.
The company still delivers checks, but has three other businesses: payments, cloud-delivered services and promotional products.
“All of them are multi $100 million-a-year businesses growing with healthy margins,” he said.
The future is all about the payments and data businesses. Deluxe intends to process more than the nearly $3 trillion a year in its payment processing business, he said.
The FinTech and Customer Innovation Center in Sandy Springs brings customers and partners to a multi-purpose space for whiteboarding and innovation sessions.
The center also has a focus group studio.
“The focus group studio is a place for customers to gather and discuss a product, service or a concept [where] product managers and technology leaders can be on the other side of a one-way mirror and observe the customer’s experience,” McCarthy said.
The company also creates a lifestyle program on Amazon, called the Small Business Revolution. Similar to a home improvement show, Deluxe selects different businesses to help improve their operations and help them grow.
A book about Deluxe also entitled “The Small Business Revolution” that shares what the company knows about small businesses will be available on Sept. 28 on Hulu.
