Contact center costs have their own inflation rate.
In my experience, it runs about 10-30% per year.
When leaders step back and let operations run on autopilot, 3 things usually happen:
1. Attrition goes up
People need to be led, coached, and developed. Stop doing that and they leave. When they leave, you pay to recruit and train their replacements.
2. Processes get outdated
New products release. Schedules change. If nobody’s maintaining processes daily, they slowly become obsolete, agents start improvising, and quality drops before anyone notices.
3. Technology falls behind
This one is usually the most expensive. A system that works today can go a decade without obvious problems, then fail at the worst possible moment.
None of this happens overnight.
It creeps in slowly, month by month.
And most leaders don’t notice it until it shows up on the P&L.
The best-run contact centers I’ve seen treat improvement as a daily discipline.
Consistent attention to the people, processes, and technology.
Because the reality is there is no maintenance mode.
There’s improving, or falling behind.
I’m Mark Danielson, and I help healthcare leaders reduce support costs while improving patient satisfaction.
Follow me for practical insights on cutting contact center costs, improving service quality, and modernizing operations without the tradeoffs.
