Posted on

Asterisk telephony with complementary ACD

Asterisk is one of the most flexible and powerful hybrid PBX available for building out an IP telephony platform, whether it is a premise based setup or a cloud based install. With rapid rise in the deployment of Asterisk, vertical application builders are looking for a fully developed ACD to complement Asterisk. Q-Suite ACD has been built grounds up to fit this particular need. Q-Suite is a unique full function ACD that can scale to multiple Asterisk servers. It is available for deployments in applications where customers require complete control over Call-flow and Queue management on top of the standard skills based routing.

Continue reading “Asterisk telephony with complementary ACD”

Posted on

Delivering more performance at lower cost with Asterisk based ContactCenters

Contact Centers are the backbone of modern web driven commerce. They handle more and more complex transactions from multiple channels and are expected to deliver higher performance at lower cost. Modern contact centers are being stretched with technology demands that require them to handle multiple channels like Voice, E-Mail, Chat and Social Media seamlessly. The economic pressures to lower cost of operation and increase productivity is ever increasing. This presents a game changing opportunity to introduce an Asterisk based contact center platform, take advantage of its incredibly flexible next generation architecture and increase performance and lower overall cost.

Continue reading “Delivering more performance at lower cost with Asterisk based ContactCenters”

Posted on

Moving Contact Center infrastructure into Cloud

It is not an easy decision but we can feel the trend. The growth of IP (Internet Protocol) Network and the availability of Bandwidth at lower costs are pushing organizations to consider data centers for their infrastructure. There are compelling reasons to setting up a Contact Center in the Cloud.

Cloud in our context is a well recognized data center with excellent connectivity and decent infrastructure. Some of the immediate advantages of  Cloud for a contact center operation are, Continue reading “Moving Contact Center infrastructure into Cloud”

Posted on

Can Multi-channel Contact Center ACD include Social Media channels?

Social Media is a powerful tool in disseminating information. It is quick, sensational and unconventional. All major organizations are paying close attention to it to further sales and marketing. Contact center technology solution providers are trying to bring social media channel as a part of the multi-channel Unified communications. This is more so with CRM providers who hope to effectively capture a social media profile of individual customers using various tools.

Continue reading “Can Multi-channel Contact Center ACD include Social Media channels?”

Posted on

Importance of Simplified API for CRM integration to ACD and Dialer

CRM drives sales by providing centralized customer and lead management with instant access to the history of each customer and prospect. Most CRM software offer up to date customer history on demand with access through the Web or desktop application. The power of lead management and CRM can be amplified by integration to a Dialer platform to improve efficiency and productivity. Most Dialers provide for different modes of dialing like Predictive, Preview and Progressive. ACD integration to CRM allows better management of incoming calls. The most important aspect of setting up CRM integration is the ability of Dialer and ACD software to work seamlessly with the CRM.

Continue reading “Importance of Simplified API for CRM integration to ACD and Dialer”

Posted on

Next Generation Contact Center Technology Stack

Making informed decisions on the technology stack required to setup customer contact center is very challenging. The overall costs of the proprietary product stack of well known manufacturers like Avaya, Cisco and Aspect are daunting. After all, their internal costs are going up for everything from salaries to marketing and everyone has to sell more or sell for more to keep up with this.

Continue reading “Next Generation Contact Center Technology Stack”

Posted on

Social Networking, Contact Center operations and Customer Satisfaction

You guessed it right. The new buzz in marketing is “Social Networking”. It is interesting to see how technology providers are pursuing this buzz. We recently had Salesforce announcing acquisition of Radian6 to monitor, analyze and engage in social media conversations within its CRM platform. Now Cisco has released a self-commisioned whitepaper on next generation contact centers conducted by Forrester. It mentions customer dissatisfaction as a key finding. We all deal with customer service for services like banking, insurance, phone plans, cable and internet. I have left out many more services. The general perception is that customers are left unsatisfied while dealing with customer service contact centers to resolve outstanding issues.

Continue reading “Social Networking, Contact Center operations and Customer Satisfaction”

Posted on

Building a Cloud Contact Center using Asterisk

Technological innovations are driving growth and productivity in the contact center industry and  one way to tap into the technology advancement is by building out a cost effective Cloud Contact Center with Asterisk as the PBX. Cloud setup in a reliable data center provides instant scalability and does away with the need for large capital investment and capacity planning. Availability of reliable infrastructure and bandwidth at reasonable cost and the option choosing VoIP and SIP for Telco connectivity are added reasons.

Continue reading “Building a Cloud Contact Center using Asterisk”

Posted on

Convergence of Dialers, Cloud Setup and CRM Integration

Quite an interesting phenomenon is unfolding with the convergence of CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Cloud Setup and Dialer technology. As we all know, CRM is the heartbeat of any sales team. CRM software provides significant edge for sales operation to scale. Similarly Web and IP connectivity form the information superhighway connecting all the major data centers around the globe in this phenomenon called “Cloud”. This is seen in the growth and availability of reliable Data Centers around the world. Phone service is more important than ever because of the proliferation of Web and Online business that has changed the way commerce is carried out. Because of this, Dialers have become the engine for driving for customer contact.

Continue reading “Convergence of Dialers, Cloud Setup and CRM Integration”

Posted on

Essential ACD Queue features for Customer Service

Queues are at the heart of any ACD (Automatic Call Distribution). Most of us have experienced waiting in a Queue while trying to access customer service by phone. Call distribution within a Customer Contact Center is driven by an ACD. Efficiency of the ACD is determined by its ability to manage distribution of calls from multiple queues to its customer service representatives. Skills based routing allows distribution of calls to the most appropriate customer service representative. But there are other important features within an ACD that can assist in improving the overall performance of a customer contact center. Let us examine a few:

Continue reading “Essential ACD Queue features for Customer Service”