The Flexible and Scalable Solution For Migrating to IP Telephony
The world of telecommunications is moving away from one mature and reliable protocol (TDM) to a new and more flexible (VoIP), primarily due to the unification of data, voice and all other media over an IP (Internet Protocol) infrastructure. We all understand the importance of acquiring a new or next generation contact center technology platform for improving productivity. More important is the need to successfully migrate to a superior contact center platform that can be a competitive differentiator.
However, when looking at migration options, companies should look beyond the immediate objective of achieving increased employee productivity. They should carefully examine the contact center technology solution’s underlying architecture, as well as other considerations, which have long-term impacts on their business. Along with comparing feature sets of competing contact center solutions, it is critically important to pay close attention to the call center ACD software and its underlying telephony. The ACD and its underlying telephone switch together form the backbone of your contact center technology platform. Limitations can seriously impact the ability of your contact center functionality and introduce additional costs.
Why consider Asterisk as the IP Telephony platform for your call center?
The underlying telephony switch is usually a large portion of the initial cost when buying a packaged proprietary contact center technology solution. If you are able to find a proven, next generation switch then all that remains is searching for a feature-rich ACD to go with it. In Asterisk, you have the most powerful open source hybrid telephone switch tested by millions of users worldwide. Therefore, by selecting Asterisk, you have an immediate cost saving.Most proprietary contact center switch providers quite often have their internal teams playing “catch up” to keep their legacy CTI up to date, whether it be adding features for the switch or enabling cutting edge VoIP migration. Asterisk, on the other hand, provides all the PBX functionality independent of the underlying telecommunications connectivity, be it TDM (PRI E1/T1) or VoIP (SIP/IAX). It also provides seamless integration of the underlying VoIP and TDM connectivity. This important feature provides two distinct benefits. First, Asterisk allows working with existing TDM, and second, companies significantly reduce risk as they gradually migrate to VoIP based on company timetables rather than having to “flip a switch” when go-time is at hand.
There are other benefits inherent to Asterisk. In the past, achieving voice recording capabilities has required additional expenditure and time consuming CTI developments. However, voice recording is intrinsic to Asterisk, meaning there are no additional costs. It is also important to note that Asterisk is designed to work in commodity hardware, including Dell and HP. Again; there are multiple benefits to this feature. The most direct benefit is that you can easily avoid proprietary equipment lock-in by utilizing a proven Asterisk based contact center technology platform. Another benefit is ease of scale. When an Asterisk server reaches its processing limit, additional Asterisk servers can be added to scale with the growth of the call center. With this in mind, the platform can also be architected to be redundant.
With so many clear benefits to be had by utilizing Asterisk, you will rightly ask “why hasn’t everyone switched?”. The answer is simple: the call center industry is mature, and it requires a suite of sophisticated features in order to cope with the demands of customer interaction today. As such, there is a need for a feature rich call center ACD that is capable of functioning with Asterisk’s advanced switching capabilities.