Beyond the licence: call charges, recording, integration, training, flexibility and compliance costs, with a 20-agent worked example.
When looking at cloud contact centre quotes, most businesses focus only on the per-agent licence fee. Yet total cost of ownership (TCO) includes six more items besides the licence. Calculate them all up front so your budget holds.
1. Call (minute) charges
In contact centres the biggest item is often not the licence but call charges. A 20-person outbound team talking 1,500 minutes per agent a month produces 13,800 TRY of call charges at an average rate of 0.46 TRY/min; that is almost as large as the licences at 790 TRY (15,800 TRY).
2. Recording and retention
Recording is an extra charge in most plans, and storage cost grows as retention lengthens. Find out beforehand the period your industry requires (for example five years in finance).
3. Integration development
If there is no ready connector for your CRM or ERP, custom integration is priced per engineering day. Providers with a ready integration catalogue bring this item close to zero.
4. Training and migration
Agents and managers getting used to a new console can cause a one-to-two-week productivity dip. Ask whether training is included in the plan.
5. Extra channels and licence flexibility
Campaign periods may need temporary extra agents. A plan you can raise and lower monthly is much more economical than binding annual licences.
6. Quality and compliance
Legal advice and process design for call recording, informing the called party and KVKK-compliant retention are cost items. Check whether the provider offers compliance guidance.
Worked example
For a team of 20 agents talking 1,500 minutes a month: licences 15,800 TRY + calls 13,800 TRY + recording 780 TRY = about 30,380 TRY a month excluding VAT. That is 1,519 TRY per agent. With the cost of an old PBX, E1 lines, maintenance and IT staff, the same team typically carries 36,000 - 42,000 TRY.
What to do
Compare quotes in the same table: licence, calls, recording, integration, training and extra capacity. The Ahize cost calculator shows most of these items on one screen.
Where is the room to negotiate?
Companies that commit to monthly call minutes can win a 10 - 20 percent discount on the per-minute rate. Keep the commitment realistic, though; unused minutes do not roll over in most contracts. It is safer to run the first three months without a minute commitment and sign the contract on real usage data.