State Farm will relocate 70 jobs from its Collinsville operations center to Indianapolis by the end of January.

Employees were initially notified of the move in May 2011. Company spokeswoman Missy Dundov said this move is not a layoff.

"No one was told you're not going to have a job any more," Dundov said. "They were given the choice to move with their job function to that location."

She also said the latest technology is ushering in this consolidation. Last year, the company revealed that its decision was based in part from a study analyzing office space capacity and efficiency.

"We are able to do a lot more things virtually, so we decided to consolidate offices throughout Illinois, Indiana and Michigan into fewer office locations, and Collinsville is one of those many offices," she said. "Those workers will be moving to the Indianapolis office. Some employees will be staying as mobile workers. They will have a laptop, cellphone and work out of their homes or car or be on site if there is a claim."

In Illinois, the insurance company will keep two operations centers in Bloomington and Downers Grove open while 10 field offices across the state will consolidate to remaining offices in Illinois and Indiana. Aside from Collinsville, the company is closing operations centers in Marion, Springfield, Champaign, Peoria, Moline, Rockford, Elmhurst, Tinley Park and Arlington Heights.

Agents' offices and State Farm's corporate headquarters in Bloomington are not part of the consolidation. The company is also consolidating field operations from nine to two offices in Indiana and also nine to two offices in Michigan.

State Farm has operated at the Collinsville operations center in Suite 8 at 100 Lanter Court, since February 2002.

Contact reporter Will Buss at wbuss@bnd.com or 239-2526.