Calls
How to start a small call centre in Kenya: a 30-day plan
19 Oct 2026 · 11 min read
The short answer
To start a small call centre (or call center), pick one business number, seat three to five agents with headsets and a browser, put them in one queue, script the greeting, and review your numbers at day 30. Cloud software replaces the PBX and desk phones. Five agents cost from KES 12,100 a month on SautiDesk Basic.
A small call centre does not need an office build-out, a PBX or desk phones. It needs one business number, a handful of people with headsets and a browser, one queue that shares calls fairly, a script for the first ten seconds, and a report you read every week. This plan puts those pieces in four weeks. It uses real SautiDesk steps and prices, and it works the same way for any cloud call centre setup.
What is the difference between a call centre and a contact centre?
A call centre handles phone calls. A contact centre handles phone calls plus WhatsApp, SMS, email and web chat. Customers often switch between a call and a WhatsApp message about the same problem, so a small team should plan as a contact centre even if it starts with phones.
| Call centre | Contact centre | |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | Phone only | Phone, WhatsApp, SMS, email, web chat |
| Customer history | Per call, often in a notebook or spreadsheet | One ticket per customer across every channel |
| Typical risk | Callers who hang up are never seen again | Same customer answered twice by two people |
| Staffing | Agents sit on one queue of calls | Agents work calls and messages from one list |
| On SautiDesk | Calls, queue and recordings | Same, with WhatsApp and live chat on the same ticket |
What does an inbound call centre do, and which type should you start?
An inbound call centre answers calls that customers make to you: orders, delivery questions, bookings, complaints, payments. Outbound calls are calls you make, such as reminders and callbacks. Start inbound. It has a clear purpose, it is easier to measure, and a missed call is a lost customer you can count. Add outbound later, starting with callbacks to people you missed.
Week 1: choose the scope and get the number
In week 1 you decide what the centre handles, when it is open, and which number customers call. Write the scope in three lines before you buy anything.
- Scope. Name the three most common reasons customers call. Everything else goes to a person, not a menu.
- Hours. Pick opening hours you can staff every day. A number that rings out at 4 pm is worse than one that closes at 3 pm.
- Number. Take a Kenyan business number. It costs KES 500 a month and rings whichever agent is free.
- Workspace. Create the workspace, connect the number, and invite your first agents. Basic includes one queue, one number and one email address.
- Test call. Call the number from your own mobile and answer it in the browser with a headset. Do this before you tell any customer.
Week 2: hire, seat and build the queue
In week 2 you choose the people and set how calls reach them. Three agents plus a supervisor can handle a small business line. Hire for listening and plain spoken English or Kiswahili, then teach the product. Agents need a laptop or phone, a reliable internet connection and a headset. That is the whole kit.
Next, set the queue. SautiDesk offers five ring orders: whoever has been free longest, take turns, ring everyone at once, fairest by talk time, and a fixed order. Start with “whoever has been free longest”. It spreads calls as some run long and others run short. Read how call queues and ACD work if you want the detail.
How many agents do you need?
Staff for your busiest hour, not for the daily average. Worked example, with assumed numbers you should replace with your own: 60 calls a day, 5 minutes of talk and 1 minute of wrap-up each, so 6 minutes of work per call. If 20 percent of calls land in the busiest hour, that is 12 calls × 6 minutes = 72 minutes of work in one hour. One agent has 60 minutes, so you need at least 2 agents on shift at that hour, plus cover for breaks. The Erlang guide shows how to size this properly.
Week 3: scripts, outcomes and a soft launch
In week 3 you write the scripts and go live for a few hours a day. A script is a fixed opening, a set of questions and a rule for how every call ends. It stops each agent inventing their own version of your business.
- Greeting (under 10 seconds): business name, agent first name, offer to help. “Thank you for calling (business name), this is (first name). How can I help?”
- Confirm the problem: repeat it back in one sentence before you act on it.
- Ask for the identifier: order number or phone number, so the call attaches to the right ticket.
- Close: state what happens next and when. “I will call you back before 4 pm today.”
- Wrap-up: choose an outcome on the ticket after every call. Basic has a standard set of outcomes. Pro lets you write your own, such as “Booked” or “Paid”.
For the soft launch, route the real number to the team for two hours a day, in the quietest window. Every missed call becomes a ticket with an owner, so someone always calls back. Review those tickets at the end of each day. Read why missed calls cost money for the numbers to watch.
Week 4: go fully live and read your first report
In week 4 you open for your full hours and read your first numbers. The default targets in SautiDesk are the classic 80/20: answer 80 percent of calls within 20 seconds, keep abandoned calls under 5 percent, and keep the longest wait under 120 seconds. You can change all three in Settings.
On Pro, reports show volume, response times and outcomes by day, channel or agent, and the live floor view shows who is on a call and who is waiting. On Basic there is no reporting screen, so count from the ticket list: calls received, calls missed, missed calls returned the same day. Either way, hold the same 30-minute review each Friday and look at the same four numbers.
| Number | How to read it | First target |
|---|---|---|
| Answered within 20 seconds | Share of answered calls picked up in time | 80% |
| Abandoned calls | Callers who hung up before an agent answered | Under 5% |
| Missed calls returned | Missed-call tickets closed the same day | 100% |
| Longest wait | Slowest answered or abandoned call | Under 120 seconds |
Pair these with the customer service KPIs that matter once you have a month of data, and give supervisors the ten-minute morning check.
How much does it cost to start a small call centre in Kenya?
A 3-agent centre on SautiDesk Basic costs about KES 7,460 a month, a 5-agent centre about KES 12,100, and a 10-agent centre about KES 23,700. Pro costs KES 3,000 per person instead of KES 1,000. Incoming calls are free. Outgoing calls cost KES 0.05 per second, which is KES 3 a minute. Prices come from the pricing page and you can run your own numbers in the calculator.
| 3 agents | 5 agents | 10 agents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic seats (KES 1,000 each) | 3 × 1,000 = 3,000 | 5 × 1,000 = 5,000 | 10 × 1,000 = 10,000 |
| Pro seats (KES 3,000 each) | 3 × 3,000 = 9,000 | 5 × 3,000 = 15,000 | 10 × 3,000 = 30,000 |
| One business number | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| Callbacks: 10 a day × 2 min × 22 days × KES 3 a minute, per agent = 1,320 | 3 × 1,320 = 3,960 | 5 × 1,320 = 6,600 | 10 × 1,320 = 13,200 |
| Total on Basic | 7,460 | 12,100 | 23,700 |
| Total on Pro | 13,460 | 22,100 | 43,700 |
The callback line is an assumption: change the 10 calls a day to your own figure. Recordings count toward storage, which starts with a free tier of 1 GB. Totals count agents only. Supervisors and admins are billed per person too, and only the workspace owner is free. Totals also exclude any tax that applies and the cost of salaries, internet and headsets.
What to buy, and what not to buy
Buy a headset for each agent, reliable internet, a business number and one tool that holds calls and messages in one place. Do not buy desk phones, a PBX server, a separate dialler or quality-assurance software in the first 90 days. You will not know what you need until you have a month of real calls.
- Buy: headsets, a stable connection (and a mobile hotspot as backup), a business number, the help desk and call software.
- Delay: a wall display, call scripts printed in colour, a second number for each branch.
- Skip for now: desk phones, a PBX, a separate WhatsApp phone shared by the team. A shared WhatsApp inbox replaces it.
Do you need to tell callers you are recording them in Kenya?
Treat a call recording as personal data and tell callers before you record. In a decision reported in November 2025, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) found that Liquid Telecommunications Kenya had recorded a former employee’s exit call without his consent, kept the recording after he asked for it to be deleted, and breached his rights under the Data Protection Act, 2019. It ordered KES 700,000 in compensation (Capital FM report). A later Capital FM report gives the complaint as No. 1125 of 2025 and says the ODPC treated a recording of a person’s voice as personal data.
- Say it at the start of the call: “This call may be recorded to help us train our team.”
- State the purpose and use the recording only for that purpose.
- Act on a request to delete a recording. The ODPC cited the right to erasure, Section 40(1)(b), when the company kept one after being asked to delete it.
- Read the ODPC guidance notes. They include notes on consent, the communication sector, and registration of data controllers and processors. None is about call recording specifically.
SautiDesk’s terms make you responsible for the consent your customers need to give before you record. This is general information, not legal advice. Ask a lawyer whether you must register with the ODPC.
Can a virtual call centre work from home?
Yes. A virtual call centre is a team that answers calls from wherever they work, using a browser and a headset. On SautiDesk anyone with a laptop or phone and an internet connection can take calls, so you can start with agents split between an office and home. Keep supervision on schedule: remote teams need the daily floor check even more.