[asterisk-users] Asterisk system for church call center

[Frank Church]

I have been asked by my church to recommend a VoIP system which can do
the following.

They do internet radio shows which are sometimes broadcast on radio.

They are looking for a system which does the following for about 5
agents, exactly as they have described it.

1. Take incoming calls

2. Put them on hold if there is no one to handle the call immediately,
or transfer them to an available agent

3. Take down their details, and number, (if this can be retrieved and
saved from the caller id, thats better)

4. Get them to hold on after taking their details if they still want to hold

5. Call them back when the backlog is cleared up.

I have a fairly good grasp of the hardware and programming part of
Asterisk, having compiled it more than a few times and implemented
A2Billing phone card and call shop system with it.

But the type of software suited to the Call Center side is where my
knowledge gap lies.

I am looking for solutions based on the usual Asterisk distributions
like AsteriskNow, trixbox, elastix etc, whether ready packaged or
requiring additional customization.


The matter of whether they will use soft phones, or regular phones
with headsets is also something to consider. Soft phones with good
GUI's may be preferred if more cost effective for them, although my
personal preferences are with hard phones.

Any recommendations - the ease of software for the end users is the
main thing for me, and integration with the database for taking
customers details is the main thing for me. One of the distributions
with SugarCRM comes to mind here.

Sorry for cross-posting, but ready made and commercially supported
systems are not ruled out, if they come within their budget.

Regards


Frank Church