Soft-switches allow service providers to unify voice and data traffic in one network. In an IP network, service providers wanting to roll-out IP-PBX, long distance services or VoIP driven services use either Class 4 or Class 5 softswitch. With the convergence of voice and data and the emerging domination of packet switching over circuit switching, we see a lot of softswitch implementations. They are primarily geared towards offering Hosted IP-PBX solutions and long distance services.
When it comes to offering call center ACD features, it is a tall order for any softswitch to directly fulfill the demanding requirements of Queues, Skills based routing, Real-time monitoring, Supervisor dashboards and the million and one features essential for a modern day contact center. But they do have the ability to handle thousands of calls at any given time. With the growth of managed services, the need to provide ACD capability for contact center type functionality will increase.
When looking at an Asterisk based call center ACD, the first impulse for an existing soft-switch user or maker would be about the necessity to use Asterisk since they have an existing soft-switch. The immense complexity involving ACD implementations requires a PBX like Asterisk. Top of the line multi-tenant call center software for Asterisk still depend on Asterisk for various features that are not commonly included in other softswitch feature-set.
This is a case where the softswitch can co-exist with the ACD system. The agent end points can still be the softswitch phone end points but the contact center solution for Asterisk can provide all the features out of the box. Q-Suite is one such multi-tenant call call center software.