Comparing an in-house team with outsourcing based only on salary or hourly price leads to misleading conclusions. The full cost of customer service includes people, technology, management, demand variability, quality assurance and the consequences of insufficient staffing.
Employment cost is more than salary
The calculation should include employer costs, holiday, absence, breaks, training and meeting time. The important figure is the cost of hours genuinely available for customer work, not simply the contracted number of hours.
Recruitment and time to proficiency
Advertising, selection, recruiter time, training and support from experienced employees all create an entry cost. A new agent needs time to achieve stable quality. Staff turnover causes this entire cycle to begin again.
Technology and maintenance
Telephony, CRM, ticketing, recording, WFM, QA, AI licences, security and integrations all have implementation and maintenance costs. Administration, updates and user support should also be included.
Management and support functions
Team leaders, trainers, QA, WFM, reporting specialists, administrators and project managers may not be assigned directly to each interaction, but the process cannot operate without them. Their cost needs to be allocated according to actual usage.
Staffing that does not match demand
A fixed team can create excess cost outside peak periods or long queues during campaigns. Calculate both the cost of unused capacity and the cost of poor availability: abandoned calls, lost leads and repeat customer contacts.
Quality has a financial impact
An incorrect answer can create another contact, a complaint, a return or customer churn. Cost per contact should therefore be reviewed alongside FCR, QA and process outcomes. A cheap interaction that fails to resolve the issue may increase total cost.
How to build a comparable model
- define the period and volume forecast,
- separate fixed, variable and one-off costs,
- convert them into cost per contact, productive hour or outcome,
- include seasonality and variance scenarios,
- add quality, risk and expected change costs,
- compare the current, improved and outsourced models.
Pricing models
Billing can be based on productive hours, positions, contacts, availability or outcomes. Outcome-based pricing is possible after a pilot, when both parties understand lead quality, process dependencies and real statistics. A poorly selected metric can encourage behaviour that conflicts with the customer's interests.
Do not overlook transition cost
Changing the delivery model requires knowledge transfer, integrations, training and sometimes a period of parallel operation. These are one-off expenses, but they belong in the business case together with the timeline for reaching target performance.
Call Center PRO has operated since 2008 and adapts the delivery model to each project. We combine human agents, AI and flexible teams, including for non-standard processes. Explore our services and request a calculation based on your volume.