[asterisk-users] Beginners Guide to setting up a Call Centre

[Peter Childs]

On 16 January 2010 06:04, Sean Brady <sbrady at gtfservices.com> wrote:
>>Looking at all the docs I can find Asterisks looks like it should be
>>able to do the job and a whole lot more.
>
>>This is for a small call centre so ideally we want all the features of
>>an average call centre, ACD, Call Recording, Queue's etc etc.
>
>>Any pointers on how to get started would be most helpful.
>
>>Peter.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> (sorry this is so long)
>
> Peter,
>
> I figured that I would chime in, as I run IT and am a managing partner of a small call center based on Asterisk and I think that my experience will be helpful (hate to beat a dead horse)...
>
> Asterisk can definitely do what you need, so I am not going to talk about that any further.  I wouldn't waste my time with anything else.
>
> I would strongly recommend either of the two following methods to get started, with the deciding factors being time and money.  There are lots of factors that will sway this argument, such as the complexity of your workflow, CTI needs, etc., but those time and money are the biggies.  You also have to carefully weigh your support requirements, uptime, and your desire to manage a phone system.  Asterisk doesn't have to take that much work once it's installed and tuned, but it will require some maintenance.  You will need to evaluate whether or not you want to take on that maintenance role or whether you want to pay to have it done for you.
>
>
> Method 1: A professional installation by a Digium Certified Asterisk Professional.
>
> It will cost you some money, how much depends on your needs and how clearly you articulate them.  There are lots of great people out there that can help you get EXACTLY what you want and design a system that will grow with your business.  Call Digium for recommendations, or reply to this with your contact info and we can talk off list (I'm not trying to sell anything, but I have some people that I can recommend).  This can be a great option for a solid Asterisk system with good support and reliable operation with little maintenance.
>
> There's a couple different approaches to this method- managed and developed with support.  Managed is where the team that developed the dialplan and asterisk environment for you manages the system for you as well for a recurring support fee.
>
> Drawbacks to this method:
>
> A. You will have to find a good vendor that will charge fairly and deliver on their SLA (always get an SLA with enforceable penalties).  This isn't that tough, but it's important.
>
> B. The recurring support costs can eat into your budget quickly
>
> C. This will take some time to develop properly, and for simple environments it may be overkill.
>
> D. Adds/changes/ and deletes can be costly as well.  This can be mitigating by communicating the need to accommodate staff turnover with a user maintainable system.
>

Does not sound much worse than what we have now :)

>
> Method 2: Get a distro, install it, be dialing in about 8 hours or less (the route that I took when we started).
>
> This method is by far and away the easiest, cheapest, get-it-up-and-running-consequences-be-damned method.  You will take less time, effort  and money to get going like this than any other way I know of.  If your call flow is simple to moderately complex, this is the way to go in my opinion.  The FreePBX distros (Trixbox, AsteriskNOW [I think], Elastix, etc) all are very well put together, and will do everything that you listed in your original message and then some.  Of the distro's, I would probably either go with AsteriskNOW or, if you are up for a little more setup work, FreePBX on it's own.
>
>
> Drawbacks to this method:
>
> A. I can't speak for others, but I found that the configuration engines have their limitations when it comes to call centers.  They simply weren't designed to do some of the specific things that we needed to do as we grew.  This doesn't mean that they wont do everything you need though, each case is unique.  They were fine for us in the beginning, but as our business grew so did our specific needs, and we outgrew these solutions.  There is nothing wrong with that if you understand from the outset that you may have needs that aren't met in the future.  These distros have to factor in the needs of their respective communities, and what may be good for one organization might not be good for others.
>
> B. Troubleshooting issues can be more complex as you start to understand Asterisk and increase your level of sophistication.  I had a hard time troubleshooting FreePBX until I understood it's dialplan more, and it made troubleshooting complicated as I didn't fully understand the call flow through it's dialplan. The more you work with it, the easier it gets, but there can be a learning curve.
>
> C. Integration with other vendor's products can sometimes be a challenge if they don't already support your configuration GUI.
>
> D. You cannot, no matter what anyone tells you (I know this to be cold, hard fact), modify the built in dialplan of FreePBX.  When you upgrade, or even reload sometimes, you will wipe your changes.  You can add to it, request modifications, etc, but you cant open VI and change the dialplan.  That's not always a bad thing, but it's something to be aware of.
>

Sounds good, if only we had time and man power to do that :)

We are quite keen to find a good solution, weather than be Asterisk or
not... We are really just currently in search of good advise. and some
how good advise is hard to come by.

I've now set up an Asterisk in a Flash system internally, (Soft Phones
only and no phone lines plugged in yet) which seams to work quite
well, but I'm not sure I could ever make it scale and do 100% of the
stuff we would like. (I'm sure it could in theory)

So we're now looking for some professional advise. If anyone can help
with such please email me off list. We are quite hesitate to jump to
quickly after the mistakes we made last time.....

Thanks

Peter.