Deciding Where to Locate Your Call Center? Here are Some Tips

By commercial real estate agent Denise Bernard

Over the past decade, the number of call centers has increased dramatically – driven by technology and the increased desire of customers to transact their business or obtain immediate access to information over the telephone.

Call centers are increasingly important in businesses’ customer care strategies. As a result, finding an ideal location for your call center may be challenging. Developing an effective strategy for locating a call center can ultimately improve call center operations, reduce the time needed for location selection, and facilitate the start-up of your new operation.

Six Factors to Consider for Call Center Site Locations:

1. Operating Costs. Labor costs (salary, benefits, recruiting and training) typically comprise 75% of a call center’s operating budget. When evaluating a community as a potential location, the cost of labor can be determined through multiple sources including: published data; interviews with employees using a third party; and surveying the market with proxy ads in the local paper or on the Internet.
2. Qualified Labor. As the dynamics of a labor market change, the ability to compete for labor in a given location may become an issue. There are a number of indicators of the potential strength of a local labor market: area demographics; local sources of labor; competition; and skill enhancement.
3. Facilities. Several facility needs are common: start-up time may be tight and may drive the need to seek out existing facilities; and call centers also have a high parking to office space square footage ratio (6-10 spaces per 1,000 sq. ft. vs. 4-5 spaces per 1,000 sq. ft.) in comparison to typical back office operations. Additionally, the layout of a call center commonly utilizes an open architecture floor plan that can be easily modified. There is also a need to have access to additional space in order to expand in short time frames.

4. Telecommunications Infrastructure. While most metro areas that are targeting call centers have an adequate telecommunications infrastructure, you may wish to consider the following when siting a call center:

   The area should have multiple long distance carriers (LDCs), each with different points of presence (POPs). If direct access to the LDC is not available, then the local service carrier(s) should provide dual routing from the call center facility to the local switch and from the local switch to the LDC’s point of presence.

   Although today’s technology does not required Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) switching or a comprehensive fiber optic network, locating in areas with these capabilities could prove beneficial as technology advances.

5. Regulatory Considerations. Some states or jurisdictions regulate phone soliciting, particularly call times, and the use of automatic dialing and electronic interface. Regulations also differ regarding call monitoring and required employee breaks for video display terminal usage. These regulations, as well as those that apply to a particular industry or type of transaction, should be fully reviewed before committing to a particular location.
6. Community Support/Interest. Communities that have a strong interest in call centers have developed resource packages to attract new operations. Included are offerings such as training resources, tax abatements for company-owned real and personal property, state income tax credits, payroll/sales/use tax rebates, low interest loans, utility incentive rates and offering of facilities at competitive rates. Although it is important to locate in an area where community support is strong, incentives should be viewed as a tie-breaker” after other factors noted in this article are reviewed.