Whitepaper
The True TCO of Predictive Dialers and Add-Ons
Seat quotes understate cost. AMD waste, spam ANIs, sampling QA, and bolt-ons show up in CPA before they show up in finance.
Contents
- Sticker vs system cost
- Waste as cost
- Bolt-on stack
- CPA lens
- Fair framing
- TCO worksheet
1 · The problem
Sticker price vs system cost
Procurement compares dialer seats. Operators live with abandonment, spam labels, and vendors missing from the RFP.
2 · Waste
Waste as a cost center
- AMD and dead dials on paid agent time
- Re-buys of lists never penetrated
- Carrier and ANI churn
- Legal remediation risk
3 · Stack
The bolt-on stack
| Layer | Typical pattern |
|---|---|
| Dialer | Core seats |
| ANI | Separate service |
| Co-pilot | Per-seat |
| QA / CI | Credits or enterprise |
| Consent | Another vendor or manual |
4 · CPA
How cost appears in unit economics
Extra dials per connect and re-bought leads inflate CPA. A cheaper dialer with worse connect can lose to a higher platform fee with better penetration.
5 · Fair framing
When legacy still wins
Deep customizations and switching costs are real. Include migration in TCO, not only monthly SaaS.
6 · Worksheet
A simple TCO worksheet
- All monthly layers (dialer, carrier, ANI, assist, QA, compliance)
- Agent hours on non-talk
- List spend per connect
- Audit/incident cost
- Manager hours reconciling tools