As industry veterans, we are often tasked with evaluating or assessing a contact center for its performance, efficiencies, or gaps for improvement. Brandt Business Services uses the consulting-led approach for all our clients. We offer a range of services, such as strategy development, process improvement, organizational design, and training. We work very closely with our clients to understand their unique challenges and develop tailored solutions to meet their needs.
When the needs arise, we also provide training and coaching to help clients build their internal capabilities and sustain the improvements made through our consulting reports. Our objective is to deliver value to our clients through expert advice and helping them achieve their desired outcomes. The result is that we do get requests to guide an organization to build up a new contact center operation. Setting up a contact center requires careful planning and execution to ensure that it runs smoothly and meets the needs of both customers and agents. Here are some steps to consider when setting up a contact center.

In this simplified guide, we are going to condense into three major streams:
- The Strategy
- The Technology
- The People
- The Process (or Operations)
The first step is defining your goals and strategic intent. These are crucial, fundamental elements that explain why you are setting up in the first place and the “what and how” you are going to do it.
The Strategy
- Your intent should determine the type of contact center you need. There are different types of contact centers, such as inbound, outbound, and blended. Each type requires different tools and resources, that’s why we always look at the strategic intent. This actually will also determine the financial needs.
- Your strategic intent will also determine the needed performance metrics. This will help you determine what metrics to track, what technology to use, and what processes to establish.
The Technology
- Select the technology: There may not be a right technology for everyone, but it is essential for setting up a contact center. You need to choose a technology solution that supports your business goals.
- If you’re setting up a new location – look at your agent requirements in addition to infrastructure and business needs. While the availability of redundant power, network, and communications is essential, accessibility is also important – it allows people to get to work easily but look at the available talent pool as well. It will make the next step easier.
The People
- Sourcing, and hiring your workforce. Agents are the backbone of your contact center, so it’s essential to hire and train the right people. A competency framework should be one of the key elements you should develop to maintain people’s performance.
- Regular, ongoing coaching and support are essential also for maintaining skills and knowledge to deliver excellent customer service.
The Operations
- Establish processes and procedures to ensure that your contact center operates efficiently. This includes call routing, call handling, and escalation procedures. Document your processes and ensure sufficient governance is in place to build trust and reliability.
- Regular monitoring and performance measurement is key to achieving the strategic intent. You may not hit the performance goals on day one, but you should progressively achieve them. Some sample key performance indicators such as average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), and customer satisfaction (CSAT) are typically used to track performance.
- Continuous improvement should be the standard. Look at growth and feedback from your customers. Data analytics is important but you should also be ready for changing market needs.
This is a quick overview of what is required but there are plenty of steps and pieces in the puzzle involved. If your organization is new to setting up a contact center, it may be advisable to seek the help of an organization like Brandt Business Service. We can play an advisory role, or even assist with Build-Operate-Transfer model.