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

[Robert Lister]

Do you have any idea of numbers of users, and number/type of external
lines as this can be quite important when deciding what type of asterisk
setup and hardware to go with. (For example, if your lines are already
presented over ISDN PRI or BRI, or if they are provided over IP, by an
IP telephony provider.)

Also you will need to think if you want to support analogue devices such
as modems/fax machines etc.

Do you have existing IP handsets that you want to integrate, and what
are these? Or are you starting from scratch? Or are you going to use 
PCs with soft phones and headsets? (Often very suitable for a call
centre setup)

What sort of support do you require for the system / handsets?

Do you need CTI integration / soft phones / headsets etc?

How many lines in total are coming in to the system?

Do you need hotdesk users or are they all based at the same 
desks every day?

What are the requirements for redundancy/failover? (ranging from 'none'
to 'magic failover between two sites')

If you can answer this, then it will help work out what sort of hardware
you will need (software can be changed about to suit, but choice of
server setup/cards/media gateways is important in that decision as
well.)

Software, There are many pre-built solutions that are based on asterisk
which have GUIs to use/admin them. These may or may not do what you want
out of the box. Hot desk support is particularly limited in many of
these.

Or you can install just the base asterisk and roll your own. This is a
bit more complex (and maybe unneeded if you are using on the most common
features.) but it has its benefits, such as not being restricted by a
particular GUI or management system, and being able to customise things
a bit more.

Rob



On Tue, 2010-01-12 at 10:55 +0000, Peter Childs wrote:
> This is currently still at a proof of concept stage.
> 
> After being mis-sold a Alcatel phone system, that does None of the
> things we asked for.... (Ok it takes calls but that's about it) We are
> looking at alternatives to try and bring some of the features we
> previously had on our old Analogue STS phone system.
> 
> 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.