Outbound contact calculator
 
Welcome. This calculator helps you to plan outbound contact; communications where agents and customers 'converse'  in real time. This calculator assumes that use of contact centre automation technology such as a predictive dialler or click-to-dial agent support. It provides you with an indication of the number of agents needed in your contact centre to meet campaign targets.
Start here
Before you start you need to know:  
How many people are you trying to contact per day?  
The average agent activity time per contacted record. What's the average agent 'talk time' plus 'agent work time' per completed contact in seconds?  
Your operational hours. How many hours agents deliver service each day.  
Select appropriate parameters on the Calculate agents tab  
Calculate agents
Target contacts per day
Select the number of
people you expect
to reach per day
   
Average agent activity time (seconds)
The average time an agent spends handling a contact including time spent updating records
(in seconds)
   
Daily operational hours
How many hours agents
deliver service each day
   
You need   agents  
What the results mean
The calculated number of agents -above- indicates the number of people that are required during each operational hour to meet the target.  
But real people take breaks, require training, have reviews………. so the actual number of people you need to be working is likely to be higher  
Notes and Analysis
This model makes a number of assumptions:

1. The supply of records matches (or exceeds) the available capacity at all times. That is, from the agent's perspective there are always calls that can be made.

2. The algorithm assumes regulatory compliance.
 
The most common questions around this (apparently) simplistic tool are 'But you haven't considered…..' . This looks too easy. It may look too easy but it isn't!

The critical element of the model is "Average agent time (seconds)". The model extrapolates this value to  the time spent on ALL system activity including contact attempts that don't result in contact.
 
Limitations and Caveats
This calculator is designed to provide general guidance only. No specific advice is given or implied.  
Get in touch - kenneth.reid@me.com
Copyright Kenneth Reid