Prestige International was founded in 1986 as a pioneer provider in Japanese assistance services for Japanese travelers overseas, aspiring "to become a world-class company with distinguished services." Behind the inauguration lie President Tamagami’s experiences in his life in the United States.

"I had difficulties in managing emergency situations due to the language and the cultural gaps. For example, when I got sick in a foreign country, I could not communicate about my condition in Japanese. Or, when I had a car accident, the language divide frustrated me a lot. After I returned to Japan, I thought about how I could provide Japanese assistance services for Japanese expatriates who have a language barrier like I did. That’s why I started up the business. At the time of its inception, overseas travelers were increasing due to the economic boom and foreign capital credit card companies enhanced advertising campaigns in Japan, which drove domestic credit card companies to leverage their overseas operations. Moving with the times and allying ourselves with companies in the credit card industry and insurance industry, Prestige International rolled out ‘insurance-related solutions’ that support customers of client companies by handling emergency situations and providing medical care arrangements. This established the operational basis of our BPO business."

The BPO that Prestige International aims at is not simply carrying out operations outsourced from clients, but always understanding customers’ needs and getting more involved in our clients’ business processes in order to solve issues that satisfy their needs. Prestige International provides services in a total of four fields, including the aforementioned "insurance-related solutions"; "financial service solutions," which offer Japanese emergency services for Japanese people residing in the United States, payment for which can be settled in US dollars with the "Premio Card"; "automotive-related solutions" that support our clients’ customers in automotive difficulties in the United States and Canada; and "mail order-related solutions," which handle a range of customer interactions for client companies and also provide data-mining support. The success of these businesses can be attributed to the commitment of Prestige International in providing inventive and Japan-original BPO to a global standard, rather than just carrying out works outsourced from clients. "I usually take action immediately after coming up with an idea. You need to explore business opportunities by yourself," says Mr. Tamagami, whose energy continues to drive new business.

The basic service of the BPO business is more than answering telephone calls—it is understanding the wide-ranging troubles and requests from the end users of client companies over the telephone and appropriately responding to these issues for our clients. Prestige International decided to transfer its call center operations to a regional city in order to reinforce operations and improve efficiency. Mr. Tamagami points out "human resource retention" as one of the reasons for taking particular interest in a regional city.

"It was not necessary to keep the call center, which at the core of our BPO business, in Tokyo. Since utilizing human resources is the task of the call center, the services can be easily provided from a provincial area, which has a cost advantage. Especially when taking account of the characteristics of BPO operations, i.e. busy on weekends and interacting via telephone, I assumed that cooler regions would be more suited in order to concentrate on the job compared with temperate regions."

In transferring its operations to a regional city, Prestige International assessed and compared various locations nationwide based on three requirements: "government support for securing human resources"; "ensuring scalable business space"; and "government financial assistance," before finally selecting Akita City. "The city of Akita presented various plans that met our requirements as well as favorable financial support. Additionally, it takes just 90 minutes by air from Tokyo to the West Industrial Area where our office is located. Akita city is not far away considering the travel time required within Tokyo. The access environment was the best compared with other candidate sites." To attract companies, local governments need to be flexible, according to the company that intends to enter the region, rather than simply offering uniform support.

Accordingly, in October 2003, Prestige International opened the AKITA BPO Center for 24-hour operations with a maximum seating capacity of 700.

"We literally started from scratch," says Mr. Katsuya Yakubo, head of the AKITA BPO Center. "Although our current number of employees totals 600, we started with just about 200 employees. We empowered local recruits to run operations, while about 40 staff were assigned from Tokyo to Akita for administration. In general, most of the management-level staff of call centers located in provincial areas are dispatched from headquarters. In our company, however, locally-recruited employees take responsibilities for our operations. Initially, there were about 40 employees on loan from Tokyo, but now there is only myself. Set a target by oneself and proactively fulfill one’s tasks with specific goals or motivations in mind—this is how we work. We believe that this will win the trust of our clients and lead to the growth of our company."

At present, around 70% of the AKITA BPO Center employees are female. The exterior of the office building appears like a museum. The property is fully equipped with day-care facilities, cafeteria, a fitness center, and shower rooms. Mr. Tamagami says, "Women often face difficulties in their lives when they cannot continue their jobs. It is disadvantageous for companies if female employees who have acquired operational knowledge and improved skills are forced to resign. It is a critical issue for us to provide an environment where women with children can balance their work and child-raising and concentrate on their work feeling reassured. In this way we can secure excellent human resources."

In 2007, the second AKITA BPO Center is planned to be completed, as the business is expanding. Equipped with a training center and short-term accommodation facilities, the new center will have intensified functions as a very important hub of the company. "We are not making exclusive contracts with specific companies because we think maintaining neutrality towards all clients is the key to gaining their trust. We strengthen our partnerships with clients through delivering our expertise and capabilities in the BPO business, and developing and providing a range of products. And the role of the AKITA BPO Center is crucial as it is solely responsible for our call center operations for the road services, which is the business base of our company." Mr. Tamagami clearly articulates the vision that will sustain the future of the AKITA BPO Center.