Contact Centre Research

Almost Half of Contact Centres Still Forecast Contact Volumes Manually

Graph showing responses to method of forecasting contact volumes

Published On: 6th Aug 2026 08:00

According to the results from our poll, 49% of contact centres still use manual methods of forecasting contact volumes. In addition, there remains a large percentage, 31%, of contact centres that use home grown algorithms.

It also appears that the use of specialist models, such as ARIMA and Holt Winners, is low with just a combined 5% using either.

Poll – “What method of Forecasting Contact Volumes do you use?” – answers

Manual – 49%
Home grown algorithm – 31%
Matching trends by eye – 15%
ARIMA – 3%
Holt Winters – 2%

Source: Call Centre Helper Webinar Poll – Webinar: Excel Masterclass – Designing a Better Forecasting Spreadsheet Sample size – 251 Date: April 2016

We have a Monthly Forecasting Excel Spreadsheet Template you might want to try

Reviewed by: Robyn Coppell

Almost Half of Contact Centres Still Forecast Contact Volumes Manually

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