Call center cost per seat -- new vs. existing call centers

Call center cost per seat -- new vs. existing call centers

How can I go about calculating the cost per seat for a 150-seat outbound call center? What accounts should be considered?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

    When you register, you'll begin receiving targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers on the latest customer relationship management (CRM)and call center technology issues today. Our goal is to keep you informed on the hottest issues facing this fast-changing industry.

    Hannah Smalltree, Editorial Director

    By submitting your registration information to SearchCRM.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchCRM.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

There are several ways to calculate call center cost per seat. It is not clear whether you are trying to calculate the cost for a new or existing center. If it is new, you can use activity-based costing tools such as the costing tool from Primary Matters (this can also be provided as a service).

If it is an existing center, you have to decide which costs to include -- and there is no one right answer. Some companies simply divide their budget by the number of seats. Others will include other call center costs. See Prosci's toolkit on call center measurements if you'd like to see some variations on how to calculate costs.

This was first published in June 2006