6. Operating costs. Not just labor, but also utility costs, especially electric power due to the impact that AI data centers are having on power grids.

SMALLER FROM WHAT TO WHAT?

A: Throwing out the mega contact centers with 1,000-plus workers, I would peg today’ s“ average” size now shrinking from 175 to 150 seats; however, we are just at the cusp of AI and its wholesale adoption by the contact center industry with more shrinkage to come.

WHAT AMENITIES( IF ANY) ARE COMPANIES NOW OFFERING IN THEIR ON-PREMISE CENTERS?

A: We are seeing contact centers that have more on-site agents install larger baskets of worker amenities as effective recruiting and retention tools.

Some examples are more comfortable chairs and workstations, upgrades to gyms and dining options, and state-ofthe-art analytics and dashboards.

On-site childcare, pioneered by Amazon, is a highly valued amenity given the soaring cost of private childcare( almost doubling the rate of overall inflation) and recent cutbacks in some federal childcare programs.

WHAT FACTORS, IN RANK ORDER, ARE GOVERNING CONTACT CENTER SITE SELECTION AND ARE THESE CHANGING?

A: 1. Broadband infrastructure. This is an essential building block for incorporating AI into the contact center equation.

2. Workforce. As has always been the case, a contact center is only as good as its people.

3. Time zones. Agents need to be available when the customers are, to serve companies’ markets. This is especially important for contact centers with a global footprint and centers with the financial services sector meeting new Securities and Exchange Commission( SEC)“ T + 1” settlement cycles.

4. Insulation from natural disasters. This is always a factor but underscored by recent wildfire disasters in California and destructive hurricane events in Florida and the U. S. South.

5. Utility reliability. There is a major spike in utility demand that is being driven by AI data centers, which are putting new and severe pressures on power grids and impacting greatly site selection decisions.

NOTING THESE FACTORS, WHERE WOULD YOU RECOMMEND CONTACT CENTERS TO LOCATE THEIR FACILITIES? AND WHERE SHOULD THEY RECRUIT REMOTE AGENTS? YOU HAD MENTIONED EARLIER ABOUT LOWER-COST U. S. MARKETS, SO WHERE ARE THEY, AND DO THEY APPLY TO BOTH ON-PREMISE AND REMOTE HIRING?

A: Once you have decided to site your contact center in a city or metro area, select mixed-use areas with access to shopping, retail, and other recreational amenities. Make sure you carefully examine safety and crime prevention efforts as these factors continue to be a concern in many urban settings.

Aside from labor, telecommunications costs are major site selection factors for our contact center clients. Most call centers these days use VoIP( voice over Internet Protocol) rather than traditional 800 services from telecom companies.

VoIP is the preferred technology because it’ s generally less expensive, more flexible, scales easily, and integrates well with modern software like CRM systems or AI tools for routing and analytics. It also lets our clients easily establish remote agents locally, nationally, or around the globe.

Most VoIP providers have pretty much equalized VoIP rates over geography but what does vary significantly is how states and municipalities tax VoIP services. Add-on taxes and surcharges on VoIP services can be large and they can be deal-breakers once our search gets down to two or three finalist cities.

Our BizCosts ® data bank shows states like Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Delaware, and Oregon( where our client Royal Caribbean located one of its first centers out of Miami) are among those states having low VoIP taxes and surcharges. Among those states with relatively high VoIP add-on costs are Illinois, Arkansas, New York, and Oklahoma.

Brendan Read is Editor of Contact Center Pipeline. He has been covering and working in customer service and sales and for contact center companies for most of his career. Brendan has edited and written for leading industry publications and has been an industry analyst. He also has authored and co-authored books on contact center design, customer support, and working from home. Brendan can be reached at brendan @ contactcenterpipeline. com.

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