Asterisk to telephony is what Linux is for operating systems. It is by far the best available IP telephone system and provides an easy base to setup up powerful cost effective contact centers. The power of Asterisk makes is easy to supplement it with a good contact center software ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) and build an advanced contact center technology platform. Contact center softwares have an ACD to handle inbound calls and a Dialer capable of predictive, preview and progressive dialing. A good contact center software should provide customizable Agent Screens with screen pops, a script building tool, an IVR building tool, Real-time and Historical reporting, Skills based routing for inbound, Supervisor Dashboard, a self pacing predictive dialer, QA and an API to manage further enhancements.
The overall economics and technology advantage of an Asterisk based contact center setup is obvious and is driving its adoption and growth.