Comparing "an agent for 799 zł against a salary" is convenient and untrue. An agent does not replace a job, it replaces minutes of conversation, and a consultant costs something other than the salary alone suggests. For the comparison to mean anything, both sides have to be brought to the same unit: the cost of a minute of actual conversation.
The numbers on the agent's side are ours, straight from the pricing. The numbers on the seat's side are assumptions to replace with your own.
What an agent minute costs
You pay a subscription with a package of minutes, and minutes beyond the package come out of a prepaid balance.
| Plan | Subscription | Minutes included | Beyond the package | Outbound channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business | 799 zł | 1,800 | 0.45 zł | 2 |
| Enterprise | individual | from 5,000 | 0.39 zł | 5 |
An example on the Business plan at 6,000 minutes a month:
799 zł + (6,000 - 1,800) × 0.45 zł = 2,689 zł
2,689 zł / 6,000 min = about 0.45 zł per minute
At that volume we are already talking about the Enterprise plan, where a minute beyond the package costs 0.39 zł and the price of the package is agreed individually.
Two billing rules that change the bill when calls are short:
- Every call is rounded up to a full minute. A thousand calls of 40 seconds are a thousand minutes, not 667.
- Calls shorter than 10 seconds do not use the package, and cost 0.03 zł once it is used up.
On top of that come phone numbers (20 zł a month for a Polish number) and any text messages.
What a consultant minute costs
The formula is simple; honest inputs are harder:
cost per minute = monthly cost of the seat / minutes of actual conversation
The cost of the seat includes salary with on-costs, the switchboard and CRM licences, equipment, the desk, and a share of the team lead and training. The denominator is not working time but talk time: without breaks, after-call notes, training and waiting for a call.
An example with assumptions everyone should replace with their own:
- cost of the seat: 7,000 zł a month,
- 160 working hours, half of which is actual conversation, so 4,800 minutes.
7,000 zł / 4,800 min = about 1.46 zł per minute
The most sensitive parameter The result turns on the share of talk time in working time. At 70% it comes to 1.04 zł per minute, at 35% it is already 2.08 zł. That share falls furthest at night and at weekends, which is why the gap in the agent's favour is widest there.
Where an agent pays off, and where it does not
It pays off where a consultant minute is expensive or unavailable:
- After hours and at weekends, where the alternative is a night shift with low occupancy or an unanswered call.
- On overflow at peak, where the alternative is a seat needed for two hours a day.
- In repetitive outbound campaigns: confirmations, reminders, the first call back to a lead.
It does not pay off, or will not work:
- In calls that end with a person anyway. If the agent has to hand over 80% of calls, you pay for the agent's minute and the consultant's.
- At very low volume. On the Business plan 300 minutes a month is 2.66 zł per minute, because you pay for a package you do not use.
- Where the process needs live listen-in or the transcript handed to the consultant before they pick up. We do not have those.
How to work it out for yourself
- Take the minutes of conversation for the last month from your switchboard, split into working hours and the rest.
- Work out the cost of a consultant minute separately for the day and for the low-occupancy shifts.
- Estimate what share of calls are matters with a ready answer. Move only those minutes into the agent's bill.
- Only then compare the two results, not a subscription with a salary.
If you would like to go through the numbers with us, the form is on the AI voice agent for call centers page. How an agent takes traffic at peak and after hours is covered in call center overflow.
