Starting a call center helps new and established businesses increase sales, provide more immediate customer support, and leverage automation to improve the agent and customer experience.

Successful call center implementation requires extensive market research, careful budgeting, and ongoing agent training. Call center owners must set clear and specific business goals, select the right call center software, and define essential KPIs to monitor performance.

Learn how to start a call center by following our step-by-step guide.

 

How to Start a Call Center

  1. Develop and Set Call Center Goals
  2. Choose Call Center Model and Type
  3. Understand Compliance and Legal Requirements
  4. Create A Call Center Budget
  5. Determine Staffing Needs
  6. Select Call Center Software And Equipment
  7. Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
  8. Create Call Center Scripts and Training Materials
  9. Hire and Train Employees
  10. Provide Stellar Customer Service
  11. Consistently Monitor Call Center Performance

 

1. Develop and Set Call Center Goals

First, determine why you want to start your own call center, identify potential business benefits, and set goals the call center will help your company achieve.

Keep these goals as specific as possible, and avoid generalizations like “more sales” or “better customer support.” Instead, set quantifiable goals like “Reduce average handle time by 50% in 4 months.”

Additionally, ensure your goals are realistic, relevant to your overall business plan, and achievable within the set time frame. Consider your budget, available staff, customer base size, and current business phase. Dividing larger goals into quarterly, monthly, and weekly “milestones” keeps morale high, prevents agent burnout, and continually optimizes resource allocation and project timelines.

You’ll also need to create a standardized method of measuring goal progress and identifying the biggest factors helping or hindering your success. (We cover essential call center metrics and KPIs in Step 6.)

 

2. Choose Call Center Model and Site

Setting up your call center, you will have to consider both the operational model (in-house, outsourced, or hybrid) as well as your site setup (on-site, virtual, or remote). Determining which best suits your goals, budget, and staff’s abilities is key to unlocking savings and ensuring you balance both quality and speed in service.

Call Center Model Description Best For
In-House Fully staffed and managed internally by your company. - Businesses that prioritize full control over quality and brand alignment- Organizations with the resources to support internal teams- Companies valuing direct oversight and integrated communication
Outsourced Operated by third-party providers, often offshore. - Companies seeking cost savings and rapid deployment- Businesses needing 24/7 coverage without hiring internally- Organizations with high call volumes and standardized processes
Hybrid Mix of in-house and outsourced agents to balance control and cost. - Businesses aiming for both scalability and quality control- Organizations managing sensitive and high-volume tasks- Teams needing flexibility across geographies and workloads
On-Site Hosted within your physical office using on-prem infrastructure. - Businesses with strict security or legacy system needs- Companies preferring centralized operations- Organizations that don’t require remote or distributed teams
Virtual Cloud-based with agents working from any location. - Businesses supporting hybrid or remote workforces- Companies seeking flexibility and scalability- Teams leveraging modern tools, analytics, and automation
Remote Entirely offsite with freelance or outsourced international talent. - Startups and small businesses with minimal budgets- Companies with no physical office or infrastructure- Organizations needing global, around-the-clock coverage

In-House Call Center

An in-house call center is completely staffed and managed by your own company, you have total control over which team members are hired, trained, and supervised as it’s all internally determined.

Pros

  • Greater control over quality and operations
  • Easiest to align with brand standards and company culture
  • Streamlined communication from top to bottom

Cons

  • Higher upfront and maintenance costs
  • Demands dedicated space and equipment
  • Can be resource-hungry to scale and manage

 

Outsourced Call Center

Outsourced call centers are run by third-party service providers who often are located offshore. These call centers will handle your customer interactions for you.

Pros

  • Cost-effective
  • Easy to set up and quick access to trained agents
  • 24/7 availability thanks to global staffing

Cons

  • Far less control over training and quality assurance
  • Potential for language and cultural barriers between staff and customers
  • Concerns regarding data security and compliance with regulations

 

Hybrid Call Center

A hybrid model takes in-house and outsource agents and combines the two to balance control and cost-effectiveness.

Pros

  • Best for scalability and flexibility
  • In-house levels of oversight for the more sensitive tasks
  • Delegation of repetitive or high-volume work to the outsourced staff

Cons

  • Introduces complexity as different teams require different tools and schedules
  • Requires a heavier hand for management to coordinate teams

 

On-Site Call Center

An on-site call center is housed inside your company’s physical space or office. You will need on-premise infrastructure, usually by way of dedicated hardware and/or PBX systems.

Pros

  • Complete physical oversight
  • Robust security and control
  • Best compatibility with legacy systems

Cons

  • High upfront and maintenance costs for both hardware and space
  • Not much opportunity for scalability
  • Unideal for distributed or asynchronous teams

 

Virtual Call Center

Virtual call centers are accessible from anywhere so long as you have an internet connection due to the fact they are cloud-based. Agents can work from home or at the office thanks to VoIP and other communication tools.

Pros

  • High degree of flexibility and scalability
  • Advanced analytics and automation tools can underscore opportunities for improvement
  • Support for hybrid and remote teams
  • Lower upfront set up costs

Cons

  • Needs cloud-oriented IT support
  • Dependent on everyone’s internet connection
  • Potential for security breaches if used without safeguards

 

Remote Call Center

Remote call centers are entirely offsite and usually are conducted through freelance or outsourced talent on an international scale.

Pros

  • Lowest overhead in costs
  • Great for startups or businesses that do not have physical locations
  • Global reach for all hours access

Cons

  • Little to no managerial oversight
  • Quality control can be hit or miss
  • Potential for time zone coordination issues

 

3. Understand Compliance and Legal Requirements

Before you launch your call center, you must comply with industry-specific requirements like legal and regulatory obligations. Noncompliance can lead to huge fines, legal issues, and reputational damage.

 

Telemarketing and Communication Regulations

If your call center does outbound calling (think sales, fundraising, campaigns), you need to adhere to strict telemarketing rules like:

  • Do Not Call (DNC) Lists: You must ensure your calling lists do not go against national and state DNC registries like the National No Not Call Registry by the FTC.[*]
  • Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA): This law regulates usage of auto-dialers, pre-recorded messages, and even text messages. Consent requirements will vary by call type and even the channel you use. The FCC has a guide for these rules.[*]
  • Telemarketing Sales Rule: The FCC has imposed a few restrictions on misrepresentation, call abandonment, and payment methods to protect consumers.[*]

 

Before you proceed, remember that these laws are applicable to third-party dialing tools or outsourced telemarketing efforts, you will need to maintain proof of consent and opt-outs. Fines are hefty at $500-1,500 per violation, per class member, with no requirement to prove actual injury.[*]

 

Data Privacy and Customer Information

Call centers often will need access to customers’ sensitive data, so compliance with existing data protection laws is crucial, especially in the world of inbound support and omnichannel interactivity. Below are some examples of data privacy laws to account for:

  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): This applies to any company with service to the European Union. These regulations cover data storage, consent, access rights, and breach reporting.[*]
  • California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): California residents have the right to access, delete, or opt out of the sale of their personal data. Ensure your services respect the law or face fines.[*]
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: Established in 1996, HIPAA regulates how companies conduct and interact with health-related information. Any business planning to access a customer’s health-related information must comply with any standing HIPAA rules.[*]

 

Beyond these three, there are other region and industry-specific regulations like PCI DSS (for payment processing), SOC 2 (service security), and other frameworks. Ensure your call center is aware and compliant with these to avoid costly fines and ensure customer trust.

 

4. Create A Call Center Budget

The total cost of starting a call center business ranges from $2,000 to $25,000 and up, with expenses varying according to call center type, the number of employees, software and hardware, billing structure, and required features (to name a few.)

The most important factors to consider when starting a call center (and their average costs) are:

  • Employee Salary: In-house call center agents have an average annual salary of $39,680.[*] IT technicians earn an average of $73,234 annually.[*] While hourly pay, contracted workers, and outsourced or remote teams can lower costs, employee salaries will likely be your biggest annual expense.
  • Office Space: While remote teams avoid the cost of office space, in-house call centers need space for agents as well as on-site servers and equipment.
  • Equipment and Hardware: In-house call centers should expect to pay over $5,000 for required hardware like VoIP desk phones, headsets, and servers–plus continued installation and maintenance fees. Cloud call centers require minimal VoIP equipment, as employees can access the business phone system from their personal devices.
  • Call Center and Business Software: Most call center software ranges from $20-$100+/agent/month, with scalable plans and volume discounts available. Business owners may also need to purchase CRM software ($20-$40+/user/month), team chat and video tools ($25+/agent/month), and project management systems ($10-$15+/user/month).
  • Employee Training and Customer Support: Some basic employee training, like on-demand webinars, may be included with call center software, but custom, in-person training comes with fees. While some level of customer support is included with most call center platforms, priority or 24/7 omnichannel support costs extra. Employee training and nesting costs can range from $115,200-$345,600.[*]

 

5. Determine Staffing Needs

Once you’ve set a budget, you’ll be able to calculate the number of employees you can afford to hire–and determine which positions you need to fill.

The most important call center management roles are:

  • Call Center Manager: Outlines agent/supervisor roles, evaluates customer expectations and business needs, defines/monitors KPIs to monitor call center activity and agent performance, reports directly to the business owner
  • Call Center Supervisor: Trains, monitors, and provides real-time assistance and feedback to agents, implements manager's performance expectations, reports to the call center manager
  • Call Center Agent: Speaks directly to customers, provides customer service and sales support, represents the company to consumers, reports to supervisors

Additional positions like a dedicated IT support team, a website designer, or HR representatives can be filled by part-time on contract-based employees until the budget allows for more full-time hires.

To estimate the number of required employees, evaluate current call volumes, average handle time, and the strength of your customer self-service options.

 

6. Select Call Center Software And Equipment

Selecting the right call center technology is easily the most important aspect of starting a call center, and essentially determines its success or failure. Below, we’ll tell you what to look for in call center software and other Software as a Service (SaaS) tools.

 

Phone Systems: Cloud, VoIP, and PBX

Selecting the ideal phone system is mission critical to creating the best setup:

  • Cloud-based VoIP: Hosted entirely online, cloud-based VoIP requires no on-premise hardware making it ideal for your virtual, hybrid, or remote teams
  • On-premises PBX: These are your traditional, hardware-based phone systems used usually for on-site call centers, enjoy full control at the cost of high upfront and maintenance expenditures
  • Hosted PBX: Takes the physical features of PBX and combines them with VoIP flexibility, this setup can be managed offsite through a provider

 

Call Center Software as a Service

Call center SaaS combines cloud VoIP calling with third-party integrations, analytics and performance monitoring, advanced call management strategies, and automation to streamline workflows, agent tasks, and customer service.

Call center solutions offer scalable, tier-based pricing–so businesses only pay for features they currently need.

Key call center features include:

 

Open Source Call Center Software

Open source call center software is a free alternative to paid platforms released to the public under a license allowing anyone to modify, use, and distribute it. Open source software lets users build a completely custom call center solution by adding features, channels, and other capabilities a la carte.

While open source software requires at least basic familiarity with coding, developer communities simplify the process by providing lines of code with corresponding installation instructions.

 

Integrations and Automations

Efficient and modern call centers will often lean on integrations and AI-powered tools to cut down on manual tasks and improve agent efficiency and job satisfaction like:

  • CRM Integrations: Connect your mainstream platforms like Salesforce, HubSport, or Zoho to keep track of customer interactions and see pipelines for upsell and crosselling opportunities
  • AI Chatbots: Triage commons support issues and free up agent time using voice and live chats entirely conducted through artificial intelligence
  • Workforce Management Tools: Schedule your agents smarter using forecasts and models generated through existing data
  • Analytics for QA: AI-powered sentiment analysis and transcriptions will help you evaluate staff performance and key in on common repetitive patterns and issues
  • Omnichannel Support: Meet customers where they are through SMS, web chat, email, and social media through unified dashboards

 

Call Center Hardware and Equipment

Your call center model will inform what exact equipment you will need for your operation. Below we’ve outlined some of the variations in typical hardware needs based on your setup:

  • For on-site setups: PBX servers, routers and router switches, Ethernet cabling, routers
  • For virtual setups: VoIP ATA adapters, webcams, softphones, and high fidelity headsets
  • For both setups: high-speed internet connection (the rule of thumb being 10Mbps for every 5 users), backup power, and dual monitor setups for agents

It cannot be emphasized enough that headsets should offer ergonomic comfort, noise cancellation when possible, and confirmed compatibility with your teams’ phone system and software.

 

Security and Backup

Protecting customer data and ensuring uptime is non-negotiable for any call center that wants to keep customers happy. The average data breach costs companies $4.88 million, 10% over the previous year.[*] Be sure to include:

  • End-to-end encryption (a must-have for omnichannel platforms and VoIP applications)
  • Automatic backups and data recovery options
  • Compliance features (PCI, GDPR, and HIPAA)
  • Cloud redundancy to cut down on downtime
  • Multi-factor Authentication to ensure customers are the ones accessing their personal data

Extra considerations should be made for outsourced and/or remote agents, ensuring home setups meet the security requirements and bandwidth demands your office teams have for consistency.

 

7. Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Selecting and continually monitoring specific KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) is the most effective way to evaluate the success of your call center. Automated real-time and historical analytics provide interactive charts and graphs filterable by call type, date range, department, and more. Call tags help to further sort data, but drilling down to review individual KPIs tells the complete story.

Essential call center metrics to monitor include:

  • First Call Resolution Rate (FCR): The percentage of customer calls that are entirely resolved (requiring no follow-up) during the first call
  • Call Abandonment Rate: How often customers hang up (abandon) their calls before being connected to a live agent
  • Average Handle Time: The total amount of time spent per call, including talk time, hold time, post-call work, and follow-up tasks
  • Call Volume: Monitors the total number of inbound/outbound calls over a set period
  • Missed Call Percentage: The number of missed calls out of the total call volume
  • Cost Per Call: The average cost of each inbound/outbound call
  • Call Queue Length: The average amount of time a customer spends on hold (waiting for an available agent), or the average number of calls in a queue
  • Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Score: Measures overall customer satisfaction levels based on the customer’s 1-5 ranked response to the question “How satisfied were you with today’s service?”
  • Agent Turnover Rate: Measures the percent of agents that quit their jobs in a certain time period

Our complete guide to call center KPIs provides additional information.

 

8. Create Call Center Scripts and Training Materials

Call center scripts–for both automated IVR menus and live customer service/sales interactions–provide a consistent support experience and ensure agents have all the information they need at their fingertips.

CTI screen pops use speech analytics to automatically pull up relevant agent scripts, though agents can also search the company wiki to locate ideal responses.

When writing call center scripts, avoid company jargon, be as brief as possible, and always mention additional customer support channels like automated chatbots and an online knowledge base.

Next, develop training materials for agents, managers, and supervisors. These can include training webinars, in-person training from the software provider, self-guided training with built-in testing, and on-the-job training via call whisper and coaching. Resources and tools like canned responses, internal knowledge bases, automated agent assist, and agent performance scoring ensure consistent, high-quality support.

 

9. Hire and Train Employees

Hiring managers should consider applications that highlight not only industry experience, but also a variety of hard and soft call center agent skills.

Essential call center soft skills include:

  • Excellent Verbal Communication: Active listening and empathy, ability to rephrase and clarify, identify viable leads and potential customers, make customers feel valued, build long-term relationships with new customers
  • Independently Motivated: (Especially important for remote teams) can meet deadlines and create effective schedules, strong problem-solving ability, excellent decision-making skills, access to a distraction-free home office environment, self-discipline
  • Effective Team Collaboration: Ability to brainstorm and share business ideas, plan projects, assign/share tasks with coworkers, clear and consistent communication with teammates and between departments
  • Ability to Multitask+Transition Between Tasks: Switching between inbound/outbound calls, juggle multiple accounts, pre-call and after-call work, communication across channels and time zones, task prioritization, navigating between applications

Top call center hard skills include:

  • Familiarity With Call Center Software: Experience using call center and CCaaS platforms like Nextiva, RingCentral, Genesys, NICE CXone, GoToConnect, Dialpad, Talkdesk, etc.
  • Sales and/or Customer Service Experience: Cold calling, tech support, telemarketing, and call center company experience, writing sales pitches/sales scripts, ability to close leads and maintain/manage accounts, customer success management experience, etc.
  • Data Entry: Familiarity with CRM systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, etc., experience writing detailed call notes/call summaries

Once the hiring process is complete, begin training and onboarding employees using the materials and strategies developed above.

 

10. Provide Stellar Customer Service

Once business and call center goals are achieved, expect to work constantly to maintain them.

Automatic real-time and historical call center analytics, alongside shareable reports, simplify the process.

Call center managers should set up real-time SLA alerts to be notified when performance levels drop, allowing them to intervene and take over live customer conversations if needed. Managers should consistently review call center activity for trends in customer and agent behavior. They should also listen to call recordings and read call transcripts to evaluate the quality of customer service and support.

AI-powered conversation analytics offer insight into customer sentiment, common support topics, CSAT scores, and the efficacy of self-service options like IVR and chatbots.

These analytics tools monitor and analyze 100% of omnichannel customer interactions–plus customer survey responses–to pinpoint roadblocks in workflows, customer journeys, and the agent training process.

 

Agent QA and Mystery Shopper Programs

Ensuring consistent service quality means implementing agent quality assurance (QA) reviews. This can be conducted through auditing call recordings and transcripts to check for tone, accuracy, and even empathy. Additionally mystery shopper programs will simulate real customer interactions and allow you to objectively assess agent performance in real time.

 

Omnichannel Support

Customers want to meet you on their terms and turf across voice, SMS, live chats, and social media. As many as 52% of customers say chat is their preferred method of communication.[*] Unified interfaces help your agents roadmap customer history across the different channels to reduce resolution times and improve the overall experience. Be sure to monitor interactions across all your platforms to ensure consistency.

 

Agent Incentives and Rewards

Agents need motivation, provide it through targeted incentive programs, based on performance-tied bonuses, recognition awards, or gamification elements to retain staff and boost morale. High-scoring agents should be rewarded with mentorship opportunities or career development pathways to ensure a culture that values excellence.

 

11. Consistently Monitor Call Center Performance

Today’s call center software includes numerous features designed to automate and optimize call center operations, agent engagement, and the overall customer experience.

These include:

  • Workforce Management (WFM): Automated agent scheduling with custom forecasting, real-time adherence monitoring and schedule adjustments, shift bidding, and PTO management
  • Agent Assist: Leverages Natural Language Understanding and integrated knowledge base, helpdesk, and CRM data to automatically provide context-aware next-best-action suggestions to agents during live customer conversations
  • Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs): AI-powered voicebots and chatbots that use machine learning, sentiment/intent analysis, NLU, and historical data to provide high-level customer self-service without involving a live agent
  • Agent Performance Management: A suite of tools designed to optimize agent performance and increase employee engagement and retention. Popular features include performance gamification, live wallboards, custom agent scoresheets with automated scoring and training module assignment, in-call coaching, and employee recognition/rewards

For further details, see our report on call center automation trends.

 

FAQs

Below we've answered the top FAQs related to managing a call center.