Web Services API for Asterisk based ACD

The dominance of Asterisk in the hybrid PBX market is unquestionable. So is the use of Asterisk as a primary telephony platform for contact centers around the world. Customer contact operations also require a powerful ACD and Dialer. Larger operations require more automation and standardized method of integration for the administration and management of the contact center software.

Well known Web Services like XML-RPC, SOAP or even XML DTD over HTTP are used commonly for tighter integration of external applications to a call center ACD. A good call center software suite should offer function and method oriented Web Services API to expose its admin functionality. These Web services can be used to feed Live Agent Stats, Live Queue Stats, Live Call Info and Call Details to external applications. Live floor information can be routed to Dashboards and Workforce Management Integration with real-time feeds.

The availability of quality call center ACD with API for CTI Integration as well as Web Services API for Admin Integration makes Asterisk telephony a compelling option for customer contact operations. The unprecedented power and flexibility of an Asterisk based contact center can be fully unleashed with the use of a contact center software suite like Q-Suite.

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.

Over and above standard features like skills based routing and queue prioritization, Q-Suite ACD offers some advanced features like superior Queue Ringall strategy, ability to monitor all channel activities as well as the capability to retain abandon calls in queues. Queue Ringall strategy provides the ability to watch and select calls from Queues at will. The monitoring of channels provides a detailed view of every call activity and call progress including Transfers and 3-Way calls with details on the channels coming in and leaving. Abandoned Call handling is a new feature allowing the ability to retain a call in the queue without the caller having to stay connected. It is possible to either retain them in the same queue or move the calls to a queue with a different priority.

Q-Suite full function ACD scales to multiple Asterisk servers and is being deployed in applications where customers require a Call Controller with complete control over Call-flow and Queue management. These advanced features provide remarkable flexibility in creating and setting up special purpose queues for unique call workflow and call handling allowing implementation of powerful agent/operator consoles through Q-Suite ACD API libraries.

Q-Suite's complementary role in providing Asterisk platform with elaborate ACD capabilities completely changes the game for IP telephony and customer contact operations.

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.

Inbound contact center service is about resolving customer service issues. Voice telephony channel and E-Mail channel are still the most effective way for problem resolution due to their inherent structure. Social Media conversations are unstructured and do not find immediate application in Inbound Customer Service channels.

In the past decade, direct telemarketing has used Predictive Dialer for mass contact on a one to one basis. This contact center channel has been used effectively for marketing and sales. We know that is possible to influence customer buying decisions through Social Media. Does this present an opportunity for marketing without the need to engage every individual potential customer one on one? If so, how is this different from the conventional marketing advertisements? Are we loosing the opportunity to engage the potential customer directly?

Contact center software can present an opportunity for organizations to observe and influence on-going discussions in Social Media but the anonymity is a double edge sword. In most social media discussions, the accuracy of information is questionable and anonymity inducts cynicism. Therefore conducting organized marketing for immediate sales is a challenge.

It is quite early to say how the social media channel will be standardized within the contact center software.

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.

Contact Centers require everything from Web and Database to VoIP enabled telephony switch capable of handling SIP. Convergence of telephone, IM, SMS, Chat and e-mail channels is driven by necessity and the need to control labor cost. The real-time ACD queuing with Skills Based Routing requirements are different for different types of channels. Everything comes down to the ability to deploy a distributed flexible architecture capable of delivering advanced functionality.

With all this in mind, we want to setup a cost effective solution that meets our contact center requirements. Open source based technology platform provides an opportunity to assemble many of the important components of the technology stack required for setting up a next generation contact center at incredible cost savings. One of the key components in this stack is Asterisk, the hybrid IP telephony switch. Asterisk for voice telephony, Apache and MySQL for Web and Database and Linux for the server operating system cover three-forth of the technology platform requirements of any contact center technology solution.

Now, all we need on top of this is a feature-rich contact center software suite that can cope with all the demands of modern day customer interaction. The availability of Contact Center ACD with advanced features including Skills Based Routing, Predictive Dialer, sophisticated Script building, Call routing IVR Tools and Reporting tools make this a compelling option. This technology stack for contact center will exceed expectations in features, performance and flexibility and is a must to consider and evaluate.

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:

During peak call volumes, the contact center should have the ability to allow callers to drop out of a waiting Queue and have the ability to call them back as soon as a customer service representative becomes available. Depending on the business rule, the caller could either retain their priority in the Queue or they be called when the call volume comes down.

There should be multiple ways to manage Queue overflow. Indicators like Queue wait-time and number of callers waiting in a particular Queue point to large call volume. This requires some form of process driven intervention so that the prescribed service level in the SLA is maintained. A good ACD with skills based routing and queue prioritization should also have mechanisms to route calls to other Queues or other locations so that the response time can be managed. In the case of longer than prescribed wait-time, the call can be moved to a higher priority queue or a queue where Supervisors can login and handle calls. When the number of callers exceed what can be handled, overflow call centers can be brought in to take the extra load.

Customer contact centers require advanced ACD software to increase efficiency of their operation.

ACD behavior with Skills based Routing and Queues

ACD (Automatic Call Distributor) is a software designed specifically to deliver efficient Queue management within most customer contact centers. When migrating to Asterisk, people are seeking to unleash the full potential of this dominant IP and Hybrid telephony and take advantage of its many intrinsic benefits. Q-Suite is a scalable ACD software designed to work with Asterisk, delivering and exceeding industry standard features and functionality for the customer contact domain.

One of the main features of an ACD is Skills Based Routing. Call routing based on Skills is an essential requirement for customer contact Queues to improve Service Level (SLA) efficiency. Typically, handling calls from any Queue would require one or more Skills. Every employee (customer contact rep) will have a set of Skills with Skill levels. Queues should also have priority to provide one more degree of control over call routing.

The actual working of call distribution using skills based routing is not that complex. There are two distinct cases, 1) Calls are waiting for a Customer Contact Representative to become available or 2) Customer Contact Representatives (agents) are waiting for calls. When calls are waiting and an agent becomes available, the agent can answer calls only from the Queues for which they have the required skills. Here, Queue priority should be used to differentiate between high and low priority calls. When Queue priorities are identical, skill level of the agent should dictate the call handling. When queue priority and skill levels are identical, the longest waiting call should be handled. This allows for call distribution in queues with priority levels, balanced with skills based routing enforcement where necessary. If agents are waiting and a call comes into one of the Queues, Skill level and waiting time of the agents dictate the call distribution and handling.

Indosoft’s Q-Suite 5.5 is an advanced ACD with Skills based routing that utilizes Asterisk, the leading hybrid VoIP/TDM telephony platform, to deliver power, innovation and flexibility to handle the ever increasing demands of complex customer interactions. Q-Suite ACD is geared towards providing superior performance to the call center software while dramatically reducing the costs of owning and operating a powerful Contact Center ACD.

Reporting Real-time and Historical Contact Center performance for Workforce Management

Larger contact center operations require statistics and reports from the floor to determine productivity, staffing and performance. Modern Contact Center ACD and Dialers are software driven and should be capable of feeding real-time and historical data and reports to the Dashboards as well as Workforce Management (WFM) Solutions. Workforce Management software applications use real-time and historical contact center report data to optimize performance and increase productivity of the call center operations. This provides control over labor cost, increase the level and consistency of customer service, optimize employee utilization and maximize revenue generation. Management can make informed decisions by looking at key performance indicators generated from different real-time reporting sources within the contact center software.

Asterisk based contact centers can be scaled to accommodate large call centers and grow to hundreds of seats. This would necessitate the use of WFM solutions to properly manage the operations and ensure productivity. The software driving the ACD and the Dialer should provide a WFM integration module and feed detailed granular contact center performance data to eliminate countless hours of data entry.