If you’re looking to venture into business process outsourcing or expand your own organization’s customer service offerings, there’s been no better time to think about starting a call center. The global call center market is expected to reach $160.33 billion USD by 2027.

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Whether you’re focused on inbound or outbound calls, customer service or BPO, we’ll walk you through how to start a call center with our comprehensive step-by-step guide. Let’s dive in!

Article Roadmap

• How to Start a Call Center
• Staff Requirements
• Choosing a Call Center Type
• Call Center Tools
• FAQs
• Next Steps

How To Start a Call Center

Taking your goal of starting a call center from the planning stage to the implementation stage can be the most daunting part. Let’s take you through some of the basics steps you’ll need to take to ensure a streamlined and smooth set-up.

Step 1: Outline Your Goals

The first step in starting a call center is to outline your goals, so you go into it with a clear idea of what you want.

First, you need to determine the purpose of your call center. If you’re looking to start a dedicated call center for your own company, consider things like the size of your organization, your budget and any industry-specific needs.

If your goal is to set-up a call center for BPO services, you need to figure out what kind of industry niche you want to fill, whether you want to primarily service local or global clients, and how you’ll establish a customer base.

Your goals will also determine the type of call center you need. If your goal is to start a customer service center, you’ll have an inbound call center. If your goal is to set-up a telemarketing operation, it’ll be an outbound call center.

Step 2: Determine Your Call Center Type

The next step is to determine the kind of call center you want to start. Call centers can be inbound or outbound, remote or on-premise.

We’ll cover the different types of call centers and their pros and cons in more detail later on — but for now, let’s cover the basics.

The type of call center you want to start will largely depend on two things: your goals and whether you need or want a physical office or not.

Inbound call centers are generally customer service-oriented, while outbound call centers are sales-oriented. So, if you’re setting up a help desk or customer service center, you’ll want an inbound call center. Marketing and sales operations require outbound call centers.

Unlike on-premise real-world operations, virtual call centers don’t require a physical location or much infrastructure. Agents work remotely and use VoIP-based call center software to field calls.

Virtual call centers come with a much lower cost of entry than their on-premise counterparts, but managing a distributed team of remote agents can be challenging, especially if you don’t have the experience.

Before deciding to start a call center business, consider your objectives, your budget and your comfort level with different staffing structures. This will help you figure out the ideal call center for your business goals.

Step 3: Determine Your Budget

Once you have a general outline of your goals and what you need to achieve them, you need to determine a budget. Your budget should be practical and realistic — you need to be able to cover the basics without overextending yourself.

It’s best to consider factors like scale of operations and minimum industry standards when determining your initial budget. The larger the scale, the higher the cost.

Other factors, like location, whether you’re going for virtual or on-premise and your industry type, are also important. Virtual call centers are typically cheaper to start because you don’t need to worry about the cost of office space and other associated infrastructure.

Step 4: Do Your Research

Call centers can be a complicated and expensive venture to set up. It’s important to do thorough research into infrastructure requirements, common challenges and best practices, among other things, so you have what you need and aren’t blindsided by issues that may come up.

Create a list of requirements and use that to determine what tools or technologies you need to succeed. If you’re trying to start a BPO call center, for example, you’ll need to figure out the best way of finding clients.

Another thing to keep in mind is licensing and business registration requirements. Make sure you consult local laws and regulations and are in compliance with any that apply.

The internet is a very useful tool, but it’s a good idea to talk to colleagues as well, especially if you have contacts in the same industry. Talk to people who have experience running or overseeing a call center and see what advice they have to offer.

At this stage, you can also talk to various vendors and get quotes on hardware and software tools that your call center will use. This can help you adjust your budget if needed.

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Step 5: Deploy Infrastructure and Technology

Next, you will want to deploy infrastructure and set up your call center according to your requirements. If you’re starting a traditional, on-premise call center, you’ll need to lease out an appropriate office space. You’ll also need to buy or rent equipment like desktops, headsets, phones and phone lines for your agents.

Once the hardware is set up, you can deploy your software. Both on-premise and virtual call centers use software, but on-premise ones can choose between one deployment method or the other. For virtual call centers, cloud-based software is essential, since these operations are remote and agents work from home. But cloud-based software is also easier to scale up, so you can expand your call center operations as your business grows.

Step 6: Hire and Train Staff

Your staff, particularly your agents, are the most crucial part of your call center. Though many call center operations can be automated, human agents will always be the backbone of customer service. In fact, a 2023 Hiya report found that voice calls, which usually require human agents, were the top most preferred channel of communication for consumers.
It’s essential to ensure that you not only staff your call center with the right people, but that they’re also well-supported.

The most basic roles you will need to fill are agents, team leaders, managers and directors. Prioritize hiring agents and train them to use the tools you give them effectively. In 2022, Zendesk found high-performing companies in the realm of customer service are 6.4x more likely to invest in training opportunities for agents, and 9.9x more likely to have agents of the highest caliber.

Step 7: Organize Operational Procedures

Creating streamlined operational processes helps your agents work more efficiently. It’s critical to set up clear and systematic workflows and train your staff to adhere to them. This helps your call center operate smoothly, enhances the customer experience and improves overall agent productivity.

Create clear rules on the procedures for agents to follow when working. For example, if you’re starting a telemarketing call center, create a clear workflow that agents can follow from the point of first contact, to nurturing the lead and eventually closing.

Call center software with workflow automation and scripting tools can be helpful. Also, once you’re up and running, talk to managers and team leaders for their feedback to determine if the processes are working or need tweaking.

Step 8: Set Up Reporting Infrastructure

Setting up proper tools for analytics and reporting can help you grow your call center in the right directions. According to McKinsey, advanced analytics can help you increase employee engagement, improve customer satisfaction and boost the conversion rate on service-to-sales calls by nearly 50%.

Call center software usually offers a range of built-in reporting tools, but you can also go the extra mile and use advanced data analytics and custom reporting tools to gather data on your call center operations. Once you have the data, you’ll need to review it periodically to ensure your call center is consistently performing well. You can also create data-driven strategies for growth based on the insights you receive.

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Staff Requirements

According to a report by McKinsey, business leaders are increasingly becoming aware of the need to hire and retain talented staff in order to improve customer service experiences. Let’s look at some of the basic staff requirements for a call center. If you’re just starting out, these are the roles that you need to prioritize hiring.

• Executives/Directors: These employees are at the top of the organizational hierarchy, overseeing the overall operations and productivity of the call center. They answer directly to c-suite executives. They help create long-term and short-term goals and growth strategies for your call center.
• Managers: These employees supervise the day to day operations of the call center. They help develop targets and processes for agents to follow. They’re also responsible for hiring new recruits. They manage and supervise the performance of multiple teams.
• Team Leaders: Team leaders come under managers and are responsible for leading and overseeing the operations of their respective teams. They handle more routine tasks and directly coordinate with agents to meet targets.
• Agents: Agents are the most essential human resource in any call center. They handle calls and directly interact with customers. They are the people who represent the company to customers and work to create positive customer experiences.
• Analysts: These employees aren’t involved in the day to day processes of the call center. Instead, they’re focused on the big picture, working to ensure overall service quality. They analyze various KPIs to make sure teams are performing well, and create reports to help managers and directors identify areas of improvement and create growth strategies.

Choosing a Call Center Type

While discussing the process of setting up a call center, we briefly went over how to choose the type of call center you want. Let’s discuss this process in depth, including the different types of call centers, their differences, advantages and disadvantages.

First, you need to decide three things:

• Whether your call center is mainly for customer service or marketing and sales.
• Whether you want to set up a physical office or opt for remote operations.
• Whether you’re setting up a call center for your own operations or for offering BPO services.

The first point determines whether you’re setting up an inbound or outbound call center. The second helps you decide whether you want an on-premise or virtual setup. And the last choice determines whether or not you’re setting up a BPO operation.

Let’s break this down further!

Inbound vs. Outbound

Inbound and outbound call centers are mainly differentiated by the type of call traffic they receive. This table breaks down some of the key differences between these two types.

	Inbound	Outbound
Call Traffic	Mainly receives incoming calls.	Mainly makes outbound calls.
Purpose	Generally used by customer service centers and help desks to receive and resolve customer queries and complaints over the phone.	Generally used by sales and marketing teams to reach out to and follow up on leads or conduct market research.
Technological Needs	Help desk software, ticketing software and auto-attendant tools are useful for most inbound call centers.	Auto-dialers and contact management software are must-haves for most outbound call centers.
Agent Training Focus	Agents need to be trained to patiently listen to and resolve customer problems. They need problem-solving skills, empathy and patience.	Agents need to be trained to be persuasive talkers who can market or sell a product without losing the prospect’s patience or interest.

Virtual vs. On-Premise

The on-premise setting is the traditional call center model. It requires a physical office and infrastructure that’s installed at the company’s location. However, with the rise of cloud-based software and reliable VoIP technologies, virtual call centers have also become prevalent. Let’s look at the differences between these two models.

	On-Premise	Virtual
Location	Requires a physical office.	Remote. Agents can work from anywhere.
Hardware	Requires on-premise infrastructure including desktops, headsets, phones, phone lines and a PBX system. You also need a fast, reliable internet connection and associated infrastructure.	Agents can work from home but still require equipment like laptops and headsets. Agents are responsible for their own internet connection and you can provide them an allowance for it.
Software Deployment	On-premise call centers require call center software, auto-dialers, auto-attendant systems, IVR systems, among others. These tools can be deployed on-premise or through the cloud.	Virtual call centers require much of the same software tools as an on-premise call center, but they can only use cloud-based platforms.
Scalability	These types of call centers are not easily scalable because you might need to lease more office space and expand on-premise infrastructure before hiring more employees.	It’s easier to scale up a virtual call center since no additional office space or hardware is required.

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Virtual Call Centers

Advantages

• Low set-up cost since no physical office or significant hardware infrastructure is required.
• You can hire employees from anywhere since you aren’t restricted to a single location.
• A Gartner study found that 70% of customer service employees prefer remote jobs. Virtual call centers can help improve employee engagement and reduce attrition.
• Easy to scale up.

Limitations

• Virtual call centers are heavily internet dependent. If you or your agents live in an area where the internet connection is unreliable, having reliable remote operations can be very difficult.
• Managing a fully remote team is different from managing an in-person staff, so it may not be the best option for someone who hasn’t done it before.

On-Premise Call Centers

Advantages

• Better data security as customer data can be stored on private servers.
• On-premise software is typically customizable than cloud software used by remote call centers.
• Does not rely solely on internet connection, meaning your business can function in areas with unreliable internet.

Limitations

• Leasing or buying a permanent office space can be expensive, especially for a small or new business.
• Heavier infrastructural needs come at additional costs.
• Agents need to live in the same physical location as your business, limiting hiring flexibility.
• More difficult and expensive to scale up.

BPO Call Centers

Business process outsourcing, or BPO, refers to the practice of larger companies sourcing out certain business operations to third-party providers. Customer service is one of the most commonly outsourced processes, and demand is booming in recent years.

The BPO market is expected to be valued at about 544.8 billion USD by 2032. Various factors, like lockdowns during the pandemic, boosted the need for call center services and created a huge market for customer service and telecommunications outsourcing. Meanwhile, the growth of remote work and virtual call centers has made starting a BPO business much more accessible.

The process for starting a BPO call center isn’t much different from starting an in-house call center. The main difference is that BPO call centers generally take contracts from larger companies to handle their telecommunications needs. So, you’ll need to add another step to the process — finding clients.

Networking within the industry, introducing yourself to people, attending industry events and getting referrals are some ways of growing your network and finding new clients. You can also use more tried and true methods, like cold calling or emailing, traditional advertising, building an outreach campaign and other ways of increasing your business’ visibility.

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Call Center Tools

Call centers require both hardware and software infrastructure. Virtual call centers have relatively few hardware requirements. However, you’ll still need to provide your agents with basic hardware like headsets and computers to work from home. Additionally, virtual call centers require cloud PBX systems.

If you’re running an on-premise call center, you’ll need an office space with appropriate furniture and other equipment. You’ll also need hardware like desktops and headsets for agent workspaces and a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) for internal communications.

Traditionally, phone lines and analog phones were essential for on-premise call centers, but VoIP eliminates the need for them. No matter where your agents are working from, a reliable internet connection and the compatible infrastructure are necessary for modern call centers.

Both on-premise and virtual call centers require call center software to handle day to day operations and CRM software for customer relationship management. If you’re not using traditional phone lines, you’ll also need VoIP telephony tools. Call center scripting and call monitoring software are useful in guaranteeing service quality.

Customer service desks require issue tracking software for ticket management and issue resolution. Automatic call distribution tools help automate and streamline help desk operations and reduce call wait times. Sales and marketing call centers will require auto-dialers and predictive dialers to make dialing more efficient and to contact as many leads as possible.

FAQs

1. How much does it cost to start a call center?

The costs of starting a call center will vary from business to business and location to location. If you’re setting up a call center in the Philippines, India or another developing country, it will cost you significantly less than if you started one in the U.S. Virtual call centers also typically cost less to set up than on-premise call centers.

2. Can you start a call center from home?

Yes. With the growth of remote work and cloud computing, you can start and operate a call center from home easily. A virtual call center will require cloud-based call center software and VoIP support. Read our article on virtual call centers to learn more about starting a call center from home.

3. What equipment do you need to start a call center?

You’ll need both hardware and software infrastructure to start a call center. Phone systems, computers, headsets, and office furniture and supplies are some of your most basic needs. You’ll also likely need call center software, agent scripting software, VoIP tools and a range of other call center tools.

4. How do I start a virtual call center?

To start a virtual call center, you won’t need a physical office, but you’ll still need to meet some of the same requirements as a traditional call center. You can follow the steps mentioned in this article to get a sense of the process, or take a look at our article on virtual call centers linked above.

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Next Steps

Setting up a call center can be a daunting endeavor. However, with the right research and the right tools, you can start a successful call center in no time.

We hope this article helped guide you in the right direction. For further insight into the best systems on the market, check out our free call center software comparison report. You can easily compare products across dozens of customizable criteria that match your company’s needs.

What’s the most important thing to consider before starting a call center? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!