A call center is a need felt by every customer oriented organization these days regardless of the size of the business, be it a huge multinational company or even a small service oriented firm.

And for that, low cost labour in a low cost back office which makes up for low call center cost is the first priority of any business instead of paying for cost of call center services which are hired. Although a need of a call center is getting prominent day by day but businesses are hesitant about investing a huge amount in call center startup cost as it is a service which does not meet face to face with the customers and hence does not need to be decked up all the time. An efficient staff that is responsive on time is the basic criteria which need to be met among some other few.

Following is a step by step guide which will state the setting up of a call center:

1. Deciding on a technology platform:
If we talk about technology platforms, server based platforms are the best bet for call centers basically for two reasons:
• Low cost of setup: server based call centers are cheaper to set up as compared to the traditional set up of servers as the total cost comes down to almost one fourth of the original cost. The reason being that the components used in the servers are standard owned components instead of integrated systems.
• Web interface: internet is a must have expense included in any call center cost which helps to push audio and visual data easily on the web. The server based platform has multiple handling capacities which helps in faster and easier integration of voice and audio.

2. Location of the call center:
The location of the call center should be decided keeping the welfare and convenience of the staff working there like easy accessibility, least disturbance, safe area etc

3. Connectivity:
The call centers need high speed connectivity to take on numerous calls in a single time. For this they can opt between International Private Leased circuit (IPLC) provisioned by VSNL as well as private sector and a channel called Primary Rate Interface which is provisioned by BSNL/MTNL.

4. Other infrastructure:
The location of the call center should be checked for other infrastructure facilities like power supply, transport facilities, distance to polices stations and fire stations etc.

5. Deciding the site layout:
There are different factors that need to be looked into while deciding a site layout for call center like:
 The topology where you need to decide the positioning of the staff according to their post
 Human connectivity as this is where the staff will eb the most part of their day and their need should be looked after.

6. Hiring staff:
Hiring of the staff for a call center depends upon the purpose and the need of the call center. An extra amount of staff should be recruited to fill in for absent recruits calling in sick or due to natural calamities. Also in case of natural calamities when the staff is not able to leave the call center premises, there should be provisions like medical, food and water for them.

7. Training for the post:
In any business training is an ongoing process. Training of the staff of a call center is a requisite when
 Recruiting
 Performance appraisal
 Change in post
 Change in job description

After going through the above steps for setting up a call center, all you have to decide is that who will be doing all the above jobs. You have the option of doing everything yourself or hiring the services of an expert and paying for call center outsourcing cost.