December 7, 2010 at 21:18Asterisk for corporate clients
Sometimes I hear from system administrators: "I put the Asterisk, I connected SIP subscribers to it, now everything is free and the PBX is not needed." And how does he call your city? And how does it integrate with the existing telephone network of the company, implemented on the basis of Definity or Panasonic PBX? How does he help business?
The fact that Asterisk is an open platform with a large selection of boards for implementing various functions does not mean that you do not need to invest in infrastructure development. Perhaps this allows us to talk about reducing costs and a lower degree of risk when introducing new functionality for business needs.
Next, I will share a little experience in introducing Asterisk into the telephone networks of corporate clients.
1. It all starts small:) The client has a solid business, a large team and a PBX connected to the operator through the E1 stream. And there is a desire to do something new to improve customer service (not without our help).
For example, add more phones to remote sites: warehouses, points of sale. Or add a voice menu with the ability to record conversations of operators. And there are always several options for solving the problem: use the native equipment of the manufacturer of the customer’s PBX or Asterisk.
The first option is quite expensive - you can check with Avaya equipment distributors how much CallCenter costs for 10 operators for Definity and even with digital telephones and CRM integration (moreover, Avaya involves equipment upgrade with serious additional investments). A similar situation was repeated more than once, because Definiti sold out enough. Yes, and Panasonic TDA series with streaming boards is full.
The most suitable solution for such clients was a VoIP gateway, assembled on the basis of a server with a Digium board installed on 2 E1 ports, Asterisk software. This gateway is installed "in the gap" of the existing stream E1, i.e. it becomes a bridge between the telephone network and the telephone exchange available to the client.
Thus, the necessary numbers can be hung voice menu with all the attendant features. In this way, additional remote locations can be connected via SIP. Thus, you can realize the potential of Asterisk without breaking the existing infrastructure of the client and without investing money in upgrading the equipment of an outdated exchange. 2. Another part of customers has 2 or more E1 streams from various operators. Office PBX capabilities to manage calls are often limited. For example, it’s difficult to make it possible for Avaya Definity on Avaya Definity to call with a certain caller ID through a certain operator. And for some customers, MP-8 digital switches were previously purchased
- A relatively inexpensive solution for many tasks related to the possibility of more competent traffic resolution on corporate telephone networks. And they also made decent CDRs for call detailing.
Now there is an asterisk. You can do the same for less money. With all the attendant features.
For example, in addition to traditional local operators connected via E1, you can connect a SIP-operator and merge all long-distance traffic onto it. That pretty much saves corporate customers the cost of communication, and the return on investment becomes obvious quite quickly. How much does this introduction for money come out? To do this, it is worth assessing the amount of equipment required and the cost of installation time. Server - approximately $ 1000-1500
Digium 2xE1 board - about $ 1,500, Digium 4xE1 board - about $ 2,500
It is advisable to provide an uninterruptible power supply for this case more powerful, but to put all the equipment in a rack or wall cabinet away from inquisitive hands. Then correctly configure the Asterisk, and it remains only to make rationalization proposals to the heads of the business units of the company:)
In general, for about 3-4 thousand cu you can achieve more functionality than sweep tens of thousands of dollars in solutions from Avaya, Nortel, Cisco and plunge into their world with licensing problems, support contracts, multi-position accounts, etc.
A short summary. What gives the introduction of Asterisk to a corporate client? This gives the development of the company, an evolutionary approach: new features can be added as needed. You can try to make some changes to the call service without purchasing paid licenses (i.e. right away, today, and not after paying the bills for the vendor’s license). And if you don’t like something, you can return to the previous communication scheme.
The fact that Asterisk is an open platform with a large selection of boards for implementing various functions does not mean that you do not need to invest in infrastructure development. Perhaps this allows us to talk about reducing costs and a lower degree of risk when introducing new functionality for business needs.
Next, I will share a little experience in introducing Asterisk into the telephone networks of corporate clients.
1. It all starts small:) The client has a solid business, a large team and a PBX connected to the operator through the E1 stream. And there is a desire to do something new to improve customer service (not without our help).
For example, add more phones to remote sites: warehouses, points of sale. Or add a voice menu with the ability to record conversations of operators. And there are always several options for solving the problem: use the native equipment of the manufacturer of the customer’s PBX or Asterisk.
The first option is quite expensive - you can check with Avaya equipment distributors how much CallCenter costs for 10 operators for Definity and even with digital telephones and CRM integration (moreover, Avaya involves equipment upgrade with serious additional investments). A similar situation was repeated more than once, because Definiti sold out enough. Yes, and Panasonic TDA series with streaming boards is full.
The most suitable solution for such clients was a VoIP gateway, assembled on the basis of a server with a Digium board installed on 2 E1 ports, Asterisk software. This gateway is installed "in the gap" of the existing stream E1, i.e. it becomes a bridge between the telephone network and the telephone exchange available to the client.
Thus, the necessary numbers can be hung voice menu with all the attendant features. In this way, additional remote locations can be connected via SIP. Thus, you can realize the potential of Asterisk without breaking the existing infrastructure of the client and without investing money in upgrading the equipment of an outdated exchange. 2. Another part of customers has 2 or more E1 streams from various operators. Office PBX capabilities to manage calls are often limited. For example, it’s difficult to make it possible for Avaya Definity on Avaya Definity to call with a certain caller ID through a certain operator. And for some customers, MP-8 digital switches were previously purchased
- A relatively inexpensive solution for many tasks related to the possibility of more competent traffic resolution on corporate telephone networks. And they also made decent CDRs for call detailing.
Now there is an asterisk. You can do the same for less money. With all the attendant features.
For example, in addition to traditional local operators connected via E1, you can connect a SIP-operator and merge all long-distance traffic onto it. That pretty much saves corporate customers the cost of communication, and the return on investment becomes obvious quite quickly. How much does this introduction for money come out? To do this, it is worth assessing the amount of equipment required and the cost of installation time. Server - approximately $ 1000-1500
Digium 2xE1 board - about $ 1,500, Digium 4xE1 board - about $ 2,500
It is advisable to provide an uninterruptible power supply for this case more powerful, but to put all the equipment in a rack or wall cabinet away from inquisitive hands. Then correctly configure the Asterisk, and it remains only to make rationalization proposals to the heads of the business units of the company:)
In general, for about 3-4 thousand cu you can achieve more functionality than sweep tens of thousands of dollars in solutions from Avaya, Nortel, Cisco and plunge into their world with licensing problems, support contracts, multi-position accounts, etc.
A short summary. What gives the introduction of Asterisk to a corporate client? This gives the development of the company, an evolutionary approach: new features can be added as needed. You can try to make some changes to the call service without purchasing paid licenses (i.e. right away, today, and not after paying the bills for the vendor’s license). And if you don’t like something, you can return to the previous communication scheme.