Customer Support Call Center Productivity

Evidence and data. Across interviews, support leaders reported that Dialpad materially increased call center productivity by reducing handle times, improving call summarization, and giving agents more real‑time context to resolve issues efficiently.

In their organizations, AI transcription, automated summaries, and integrated call handling eliminated the need to navigate between multiple systems, reduced manual wrap‑up effort, and gave staff clearer visibility into customer interactions. One contact center reduced average call handle time from 15 minutes to 12 minutes using voicemail‑driven workflows, while another interviewee cited 3 minutes saved per call and 1.5 minutes saved in summarization through Dialpad’s AI tooling. The contact center manager in agritech explained how, at their organization, voicemail transcription and summaries created immediate savings: “Instead of listening to the entire complaint, we receive a transcription, quickly review it, and follow up with a brief call or email.”

Agents were also able to handle more complex interactions in less time because Dialpad removed friction in switching between platforms and made it easier to search transcripts for context, accelerating follow‑up and case documentation.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• It has 250 support agents who use Dialpad.

• Each agent handles an average of 4,500 calls annually.

• Dialpad reduces average handle time from 15 to 12 minutes, saving an average of 3 minutes per call.

• Dialpad also reduces average call documentation time from 2 minutes to 0.5 minutes, saving an average of 1.5 minutes per call.

• Fifty percent of time savings are recaptured for productive work.

• The average fully burdened hourly rate for an agent is $30.

Risks. Productivity improvements may vary based on:

• Complexity of support inquiries.

• Level of AI feature adoption, including summaries and real-time assist (RTA) cards.

• CRM and systems integration maturity.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $3.0 million.

Service Scheduling Team Performance

Evidence and data. Service scheduling teams experienced major performance gains after adopting Dialpad. Interviewees reported that the communication platform enabled real‑time routing, reduced voicemail reliance, and eliminated repeated callbacks that previously burdened schedulers and contact centers. One interviewee stated that prior to Dialpad, only 40% of scheduling calls were answered live; with Dialpad, that increased to 70%, while voicemail volume dropped from 60% to 5%.

Self‑service IVR and clearer segmentation (e.g., segmenting new versus existing patients in a healthcare setting) helped reduce queue congestion and ensured that high‑value calls received priority routing. Some interviewees reported that schedulers could now handle service scheduling in a single live call instead of multiple back‑and‑forth attempts, increasing operational throughput and enabling more effective scheduling.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• A scheduling team of 15 agents manages 141,000 calls per year.

• Live‑answer rate improves from 40% to 70%.

• Voicemail volume declines from 60% to 5%.

• Twenty-five percent of total scheduling calls shift to self‑service workflows.

• Average costs include $3 per live call, $7 per voicemail follow‑up, and $0.25 per self-service interaction.

• Seventy-five percent of time savings are recaptured for productive work.

Risks. Variability may depend on:

• Complexity of scheduling workflows.

• Patient or customer preference for live conversations.

• Accuracy and optimization of IVR segmentation.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $683,000.

Issue Resolution Team Efficiency

Evidence and data. At the interviewees’ organizations, specialized issue‑resolution teams (e.g., those handling escalations, consumer complaints, or post‑purchase technical problems) realized measurable efficiency gains when transitioning from live call intake to voicemail‑supported workflows powered by Dialpad AI. With automated transcription, teams no longer needed to listen through lengthy messages; instead, they could review the text summary and respond with a brief call or email. This shifted their model from long synchronous conversations to more asynchronous, sped-up processes.

One interviewee reported a reduction in average call handle time from 16 minutes to 5 minutes, saving 11 minutes per interaction, while maintaining quality and consistency through searchable transcripts and shared call histories. The VP of customer experience in real estate noted: “Instead of waiting to speak with an agent, callers leave a voicemail and we respond efficiently. The entire process is faster and requires no extra staffing.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• Twelve agents manage 44,400 issue‑resolution interactions annually.

• The composite reduces average call handle time from 16 minutes to 5 minutes.

• The fully burdened hourly rate for an agent is $40.

• Seventy-five percent of time savings are recaptured for productive work.

Risks. Savings may vary depending on:

• Degree of shift from live to asynchronous workflows.

• Volume of escalations requiring specialized follow‑up.

• Complexity of cases requiring human intervention.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $547,000.

Support Agent Turnover And Onboarding Improvement

Evidence and data. Interviewees with support organizations described meaningful reductions in turnover and onboarding time after implementing Dialpad. They confirmed that modern, intuitive tools reduced daily friction, improved employee satisfaction, and reduced training burdens. AI tools such as call summaries, sentiment insight, and RTA cards shortened onboarding programs and made it easier for new hires to ramp into complex workflows.

The VP of customer experience in real estate reported that their organization saved 5 hours of onboarding time per new agent and the turnover rate at their call center dropped from 25% to 23.75%, which was driven by simplified workflows, reduced manual tasks, and a better agent experience. They said, “We shaved off 5 hours per onboarding effort ... thanks to RTA cards.”

Interviewees also emphasized that eliminating poorly integrated legacy systems helped retain staff who previously struggled with disjointed tools.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The average cost to replace an agent is $18,000.

• Dialpad reduces turnover rate from 25% to 23.75% across all agent groups.

• The organization hires 66 new agents per year on average.

• Dialpad reduces the average agent onboarding time by 5 hours.

• The fully burdened annual salary for an agent is $30.

Risks. Variability may result from:

• Internal cultural factors.

• Hiring volume fluctuations.

• Degree of AI adoption for onboarding.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $171,000.

Manager Coaching And Reporting Effectiveness

Evidence and data. Interviewees who were contact center leads described significant reductions in time spent on coaching, QA reviews, and weekly reporting. Before Dialpad, supervisors had to listen to entire call recordings and compile metrics from multiple systems. Dialpad’s dashboards eliminated the need to investigate queue or service‑level issues manually, while actionable insights helped managers quickly identify coaching priorities.

With AI‑generated transcripts, sentiment scoring, searchable call content, and real‑time dashboards, managers now focus on targeted coaching and faster case reviews. The VP of customer care in telecommunications said: “The manager no longer needs to listen through entire calls because transcripts make it easy to review and search for specific details. This simplifies quality checks and coaching, making the process much faster and more focused.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• Thirty-three managers use Dialpad.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for a manager is $45.

• On average, each manager saves 12 hours per month on agent coaching and 6 hours per month on reporting.

• Seventy-five percent of time savings are recaptured for productive work.

Risks. Outcomes may vary based on:

• Manager familiarity with AI‑driven coaching.

• Call volume stability.

• Level of adoption of Dialpad scorecards and dashboards.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $568,000.

Legacy System Decommissioning Savings

Evidence and data. Interviewees’ organizations transitioned from legacy, on‑premises PBX systems to Dialpad’s cloud‑based platform, eliminating costs associated with hardware, server maintenance, third‑party reporting tools, and telephony infrastructure. Interviewees described frequent outages, vendor dependencies for simple routing changes, and escalating costs for desk phones and analytics systems before using Dialpad.

By retiring on‑premises infrastructure and decommissioning desk phones, organizations saved on hardware purchases, data center costs, networking equipment, and third‑party software.

IT teams also saw time savings as monthly telephony maintenance dropped by up to 80% due to Dialpad’s self‑service IVR, cloud routing, and reduced troubleshooting burden. The contact center manager in agritech highlighted: “Our old system was on-prem and any update or fix was a burden on IT. It felt like we were babysitting the phone system instead of focusing on strategic projects.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• In Year 3, it realizes savings from not having to replace 310 desk phones at $129 per unit.

• Dialpad eliminates the cost of the legacy telephony system and associated IT infrastructure, totaling savings of $250,000 per year.

• The composite organization saves 1,536 hours per year from not having to maintain the legacy phone system.

Risks. The magnitude of legacy system savings depends on:

• Size of retired legacy footprint.

• Whether organizations previously used third‑party reporting tools.

• Complexity of the telephony environment.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $758,000.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• Data-driven workforce optimization. Before Dialpad, teams across scheduling, support, and specialty operations were routinely overstaffed during high-peak seasons and understaffed during others, largely due to poor visibility into call patterns and workload distribution and inefficiencies caused by voicemail backlogs. Contact center managers had limited insight into which teams were truly overloaded, which roles were duplicative, or how individual performance varied across different functions. As a result, interviewees’ organizations compensated by adding headcount just to keep up, often hiring additional schedulers or support specialists when the underlying problems were workflow fragmentation and the lack of operational transparency.
  Dialpad allowed organizations to consolidate roles, empower skill sets, and unlock staffing efficiencies that would have been challenging under the legacy systems. Skill‑based routing, queue segmentation, and integrated analytics with real‑time dashboards made it clear where teams were over- or under‑resourced and enabled smoother training. Several organizations noted that instead of hiring in response to volume spikes, they absorbed the work with existing staff because calls flowed to whoever was most available and best equipped to handle them.

• Improved customer experience and SLA adherence. Legacy telephony made it difficult for organizations to identify service bottlenecks, understand caller needs in real time, and consistently deliver experience standards. Long wait times, high voicemail volumes, and unpredictable routing contributed to customer frustration and inconsistent service levels. Even when managers wanted to improve performance, they lacked reliable, real‑time data to guide those decisions.
  Dialpad provided the visibility and control needed to improve customer experience. Real‑time dashboards allowed supervisors to spot rising queues before they became service failures, sentiment analysis surfaced conversations at risk, and analytics‑driven routing ensured customers reached the right person more quickly. Several interviewees shared that they saw wait times drop within weeks of implementation as teams reorganized based on actionable insights.

• Remote work enablement and avoided real estate costs. Before Dialpad, remote work was either impossible or highly inefficient due to on‑prem PBX systems, hardware desk phones, and network limitations. The lack of flexibility made it difficult for organizations to staff distributed teams, open talent pools beyond office locations, or reduce real estate budgets. Some teams were even preparing to expand office space because traditional telephony required it.
  Dialpad’s cloud‑based architecture and device flexibility changed the environment. Teams were able to transition to hybrid or fully remote work almost instantly, with agents using laptops or mobile devices as their primary workstations. This enabled organizations to avoid the cost of expanding physical offices and to hire talent outside their immediate geographies.

• Third‑party tool elimination. Before adopting Dialpad, many organizations relied on fragmented systems, including separate tools for faxing, transcription, reporting, quality assurance, and analytics. These tools required multiple licenses, created redundant workflows, and prevented teams from having a single source of truth for customer interactions. Integrations were limited, and employees often switched between systems during or after calls, increasing handling time and error risks, which also drove up administrative overhead and slowed training.
  Dialpad’s unified platform allowed teams to consolidate many of these third‑party tools into a single environment. Interviewees highlighted that their organizations could eliminate separate faxing systems, retire transcription add‑ons, remove external QA tools, and reduce reliance on standalone reporting platforms. The SVP of IT transformation in healthcare said: “We eliminated all other third‑party faxing, reporting add‑ons, and transcription tools. We moved it all into one platform.” This consolidation not only reduced licensing expenses but also simplified tech stacks, minimized integration failures, and improved the agent experience by keeping workflows in one place — freeing teams to focus on higher-value work and end customers.

• Reduced outages and improved resiliency. Some of the organizations using legacy, on‑prem telephony systems faced frequent outages due to hardware failures, carrier delays, or maintenance windows. These outages disrupted service, jeopardized revenue, and forced managers into controlling touchy situations reactively. Even small disruptions could cascade into long backlogs and lower customer satisfaction.
  In contrast, interviewees reported significantly fewer and shorter outages after moving to Dialpad. The platform’s cloud‑native resilience, automatic failover, and distributed infrastructure reduced downtime noticeably. The contact center manager in agritech shared: “With our old system, something was always down. With Dialpad, we’ve only had one meaningful outage in years, and we knew exactly what was happening the entire time.” This reliability gave organizations greater confidence in their ability to support customers, particularly in environments where service disruptions directly impacted customer care, operational efficiency, or revenue.

• Operational agility. Prior to Dialpad, making simple operational changes (e.g.,  updating call flows, adjusting routing logic, or setting up new processes) required IT intervention, third‑party support, or long internal queues. Teams struggled to adapt quickly to new service lines, emerging customer issues, or shifting priorities. This lack of agility forced organizations to maintain inefficient workflows, extend training cycles, and delay improvements that could have benefited customers and employees.
  Dialpad accelerated organizations’ ability to adapt. Interviewees across industries highlighted how the platform’s self‑service configuration, drag‑and‑drop IVR tools, and clean administrative controls made them more agile. Changes that once took weeks could now be implemented instantly or with very short notice.

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Dialpad and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• Expanding Dialpad into additional service lines and functions. Interviewees found that once Dialpad proved its value in one department, they expanded it across new markets, business units, or customer‑facing teams. The SVP of IT transformation in healthcare confirmed, “Since then, we have done seven or eight other Dialpad implementations with existing and new customers, and I’m traveling next week to go do another one.”

• Adding deeper integrations with core systems. Customers are actively planning or implementing deeper integrations between Dialpad and key operational platforms like CRMs, ticketing systems, or industry‑specific tools, unlocking future automation and time savings. The VP of customer experience in real estate added: “Dialpad and our CRM is the heartbeat. That’s how we unify sales, onboarding, customer success, and support.”

• Consolidating additional third‑party tools over time. Customers expect to further simplify their tech stacks as Dialpad continues to absorb functions previously supported by separate products. The VP of customer experience in real estate said, “We are planning on consolidating sales coaching and playbooks tools once Dialpad’s sales enablement capabilities are adopted.”

• Adopting new AI capabilities without changing platforms. Interviewees noted that Dialpad’s ongoing AI roadmap will allow them to capture future automation and productivity gains without reinvestment or migrations. The VP of customer experience in real estate announced, “Agentic AI is coming, and that’s what we’ll use next.”

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Total Economic Impact Approach).