Building a Flexible, Future-Ready Contact Centre – Beyond Cloud vs. On-Premise:
Building a Flexible, Future-Ready Contact Centre – Beyond Cloud vs. On-Premise:
Building a Flexible, Future-Ready Contact Centre – Beyond Cloud vs. On-Premise:
End of financial year can often feel like just another deadline in an industry packed with them. Yet, for those working in contact centres, EOFY is a unique opportunity. Attending to each detail carefully can bring direct financial benefits. Whether you are a permanent staff member, a contractor, or enjoying the flexibility of a hybrid role, addressing the right areas can reduce your tax stress considerably. Many people leave EOFY preparations too late, scrambling through documents as the deadline looms. With a more structured approach, the whole process becomes faster, more accurate and can even result in better outcomes. Here is a detailed guide on what contact centre professionals should review so they can lodge with confidence.
For many contact centre employees, end of financial year arrives with the same mix of urgency and uncertainty. Payslips have been landing all year. Super has been coming out. Some people have worked from home part of the week, others have travelled between sites, some have bought headsets or equipment, and many are still not sure what they can and cannot claim.
That uncertainty is exactly why EOFY matters.
For employees in contact centres across Australia, this is the time to stop treating tax as an afterthought and start looking at the year with more discipline. It is not only about whether you get a refund. It is about whether your records are in order, whether your super has been paid correctly, whether you are overlooking legitimate work-related deductions and whether your finances are set up well for the year ahead. The ATO’s current guidance remains clear that employees can only claim a deduction where they paid for the expense themselves, it directly relates to earning their income and they have records to prove it. If they were reimbursed, they generally cannot claim it.
Natasha Mackenzie, Managing Director of Evergreen Accounting, says many employees wait until the last minute and then rely on guesswork.
“Too many employees only think about tax when they are about to lodge,” says Mackenzie. “By then, they are trying to reconstruct a full year from bank statements, old emails and memory. EOFY is much easier when people understand what matters before they lodge.”
One of the biggest areas of confusion for contact centre employees is working from home. Hybrid work remains common across customer service, inbound support, outbound sales and workforce management roles. Employees who work from home may be able to claim expenses related to that work, but only for the work-related portion and only where the ATO’s rules are met. That can include some running expenses and, depending on the method used, phone, internet and office consumables. The ATO also requires proper records, including evidence of hours worked from home and supporting documents for expenses.
“People hear someone say, ‘I work from home so I can claim everything,’ and that is simply not how it works,” Mackenzie says. “You need to be able to show the expense is work-related and that you were not reimbursed. The detail matters.”
For contact centre teams, equipment is another area worth reviewing. If an employee has personally purchased a headset, keyboard, mouse, monitor stand, surge protector or other tools needed to do their job, there may be a deduction available depending on the item and the circumstances. The same applies to some work-related phone and internet use where employees are required to use their personal services for work and are not reimbursed. Again, records are central.
There is also confusion around clothing. Standard office wear is generally not deductible just because it is worn to work. The ATO distinguishes between conventional clothing and occupation-specific, protective or registered uniforms. That means most everyday clothing worn in a contact centre environment will not be claimable, even if the employee bought it specifically for work.
“People are often surprised by what cannot be claimed,” Mackenzie says. “Buying black pants, jackets or shoes for work does not usually make them deductible. The ATO is very clear on that distinction.”
Training and professional development can also come into play. In the contact centre environment, this could include courses related to customer service, communication, sales, leadership, workforce planning or management, provided the study has a sufficient connection to the employee’s current income-earning activities. The ATO’s current position on self-education is not broad or automatic. The study must maintain or improve the skills or knowledge needed in the person’s current role, or be likely to increase income from that current role.
Contact centre employees should also look carefully at superannuation. The super guarantee rate increased to 12 per cent from 1 July 2025, and employers remain responsible for paying the correct amount on time. While Payday Super does not begin until 1 July 2026, it is already shaping the compliance conversation and puts even more focus on payroll accuracy. Employees should not assume everything is correct. They should check their super fund, review their payslips and make sure contributions have been received.
“EOFY is a good time for employees to verify that their super has actually been paid, not just shown on a payslip,” Mackenzie says. “That is a very practical check and one that people should take seriously.”
Another important area is reimbursement. Many employees blur the line between what they paid for and what their employer later covered. If an employer reimburses an expense, the employee generally cannot also claim it as a deduction. This matters for travel, training, subscriptions, phones and equipment.
What should contact centre employees do now?
Start with the basics. Download or organise receipts. Review bank statements for work-related purchases. Check whether anything was reimbursed. Confirm the work-related percentage of any phone or internet use. Review your super contributions. Make sure your income statement is accurate. And most importantly, do not assume that what a colleague claimed is something you can claim too.
Mackenzie says the best approach is practical rather than aggressive.
“The goal should not be to see how much you can stretch,” she says. “The goal should be to lodge correctly, claim what you are genuinely entitled to and keep the records to support it.”
For contact centre employees, EOFY is less about tax-time panic and more about financial discipline. The people who handle it best are rarely the ones making dramatic last-minute claims. They are the ones who stay organised, understand the rules and treat their own finances with the same attention they give to performance at work.
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As the Australian contact centre industry moves into another cycle of transformation, the pressure on operational performance, financial discipline, people management, and customer experience continues to rise. While technology trends often dominate industry conversations, the deeper issues holding contact centres back are often financial, structural, and operational.
The contact centre world is preparing for an important milestone. On 14 November 2025, the new-look Contact Centre Magazine will arrive with features that put it on the map for industry observers and participants alike. This special edition brings a refreshed design as well as critical content, making it an essential read for anyone following contact centre progress and innovation.
The Growing Influence of Australian Unions in Contact Centres
Australian unions have taken a leading role in shaping discussions around AI in contact centres. Their concerns reflect broader anxieties about automation and its effects on workers. In a landscape where artificial intelligence continues to transform contact centre operations, union leaders call for action. At the Productivity Summit, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) argues that automation should not undermine worker rights and job security. Their campaign champions legislation to regulate AI, making sure workers have a seat at the table when decisions arise that will shape their professional futures.
The Rise of AI in the Contact Centre Landscape
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the contact centre industry, driving a noticeable shift in how businesses and customers interact across Australia. As technology matures, companies increasingly turn to sophisticated AI solutions, aiming to enhance both efficiency and the overall customer experience. This shift is not simply about faster response times, but also about raising expectations for service quality. Organisations are finding that AI can manage repetitive queries, analyse volumes of data instantly and improve the flow of communication between staff and clients.
In an era where customer experience drives brand loyalty and commercial success, businesses are increasingly re-evaluating how they manage customer engagement. One of the most significant shifts in recent years has been the rise of outsourced contact centres—not just to offshore providers, but to high-performing, onshore specialists.
To understand this evolution, Contact Centre Magazine spoke with Richard Forrest, Chairman of Forrest Contact, an Australian-based contact centre and business process outsourcing (BPO) provider. Forrest, a recognised expert in B2B lead generation and customer service delivery, shares insights on why more businesses are choosing to outsource contact centre operations and how the onshore model is redefining customer engagement.
Traditionally, outsourcing was viewed through a financial lens. Businesses, particularly those in highly competitive sectors such as retail, finance, and telecommunications, sought to reduce operational costs by relocating customer service functions offshore. But as Richard Forrest explains that narrative is changing.
“Organisations are realising that cutting costs at the expense of customer experience is short-sighted,” he says. “Today, businesses are outsourcing for strategic reasons—not just financial ones. They want to provide better customer experiences, improve flexibility, and scale efficiently without sacrificing quality. That’s where onshore contact centres come in.”
According to Forrest, this shift reflects a broader reorientation toward service excellence. “The difference now is that businesses are asking: how can we deliver a better experience, not just a cheaper one?”
While offshore outsourcing still has a place, renewed interest in onshore providers is driven by tangible benefits. There’s more at stake than geography. Language fluency, cultural familiarity, and time zone alignment directly impact service quality and customer satisfaction.
“Language fluency, cultural understanding, and local market knowledge are non-negotiables when your business is committed to delivering a premium customer experience,” says Forrest. “It’s not just about answering the phone; it’s about understanding the customer’s context, nuance, and expectations.”
Onshore contact centres typically deliver faster resolution times, more empathetic interactions, and better customer satisfaction scores. Forrest notes that today’s customers are less tolerant of scripted, impersonal responses that fail to resolve their issues or reflect their tone.
“The post-pandemic customer values connection. When something goes wrong, they want to speak to someone who understands them—not just their problem.”
A growing area of demand is overflow management. Businesses that operate their own customer support teams often perform well—until they’re stretched beyond their limits. Peaks in demand, seasonal surges, or unexpected events can create sudden pressure that in-house teams aren’t equipped to handle.
“We work with companies that are capable under normal conditions, but they hit a wall when things spike,” says Forrest. “It might be a new product launch, a marketing campaign, a system outage, or even just end-of-quarter service requests. That’s where we provide immediate capacity without compromising quality.”
Beyond overflow, Forrest highlights the role of outsourcing in addressing skillset gaps. Some internal teams don’t have the experience required for outbound lead generation, appointment setting, onboarding calls, or complex sales engagement.
download ebook on www.forrestcontact.com.au.
“Sometimes outsourcing isn’t just a stopgap—it’s a strategic enhancement. We bring expertise, systems, and trained people to functions that a business may never specialise in internally.”
Hybrid models are also on the rise. Many businesses are blending in-house teams with outsourced support to balance control, expertise, and scalability. Forrest Contact increasingly works as an extension of internal customer service and sales teams, handling specific segments such as B2B telemarketing, lead generation and qualification, or product support.
“We’re not replacing their team—we’re augmenting it. That’s the distinction,” Forrest says. “Our role is to deliver specialised support, while allowing businesses to focus on what they do best.”
Modern outsourcing is data-driven. Clients now demand visibility, accountability, and performance insights from their contact centre partners. Forrest Contact provides clients with analytics dashboards, call reports, quality assurance feedback and lead conversion tracking.
“Clients want transparency. They want to see what’s working, what isn’t, and where to adjust. That’s exactly how it should be,” Forrest explains. “We’re not a black box—we’re a partner invested in performance outcomes.”
Importantly, Forrest sees outsourcing not merely as an operational tool but as a growth enabler. Businesses are increasingly bringing contact centre strategy into their broader commercial planning, viewing it as a lever to drive sales, deepen loyalty, and optimise resources.
“Outsourcing is no longer the domain of reactive decision-making. It’s part of the business development strategy,” Forrest notes. “We’ve moved from the cost centre mindset to value creation.”
Despite the widespread adoption of automation and AI tools, Forrest is confident that human interaction remains irreplaceable in the contact centre environment. He sees AI as an enabler, not a substitute.
“AI has a valid role, particularly in back-office and self-service channels. But when it comes to persuasion, empathy, negotiation, and problem-solving, people want to deal with people. That human conversation still matters.”
In fact, he believes that as consumers become increasingly weary of automation, human engagement will become a differentiator.
“We’re already seeing pushback from customers who feel dehumanised by chatbot loops and scripted workflows. When they’re spending money or facing a problem, they want to feel heard.”
As Forrest Contact continues to grow its service offerings and client base, Forrest sees the future of contact centre outsourcing being anchored in three pillars: specialisation, flexibility, and measurable performance. And it’s clear that the businesses embracing these values will be the ones delivering customer experiences that go beyond service to drive long-term loyalty and commercial success.