Easiest cost-saving measure to justify: replacing a manual process with a computerized system. Next easiest: upgrading software and hardware to increase scalability and performance. While it’s generally understood (with one notable objection!) that IT investments boost productivity, you won’t need complicated ROI models to justify remote agent software for your contact center.
For contact center managers, return on investment is a well-trod approach to analyzing communications hardware and software purchases. You account for cost savings and potential increased revenue and weigh that against the cost of the investment to come up with a normalized percentage. (For larger projects, managers and CFOs often use advanced models that take into account the cost of capital.)
IT boosts corporate productivity and output, right? Not so fast! There’s now a backlash—led by Nick “IT Doesn’t Matter” Carr—that technology commoditization reduces IT’s competitive advantages.
Any company, it is said, can buy the best practices that are embedded in enterprise technology—think shrink-wrapped e-commerce Web software-- and compete with the bleeding-edgers without taking on the risks of being first.
Note to self: Address major issues with Carr’s view in a future post.
For contact centers, a simplified ROI analysis, known as cost displacement, has taken on a new life. Everyone —even Nick Carr—agrees that technology investments that reduce energy costs will increase profits.
Cost displacement methodology is simply a back-of-the napkin calculation that tallies up costs for new systems, comparing them against the old (or displaced ) costs to derive the investment’s break-even point.
In our current economic climate, remote agent technology has incredibly favorable ROI. By allowing agents to work from home, businesses can displace construction and spiraling energy costs associated with satellite offices. Good deal!
For more insights into cost displacement and other cost-saving ideas for contact centers, listen in on this conversation between Nick Lippis and Eddie Jenkins, Vice President Consulting and Systems Integration.
