Adapting to the new economy:
How Asterisk contact centers fit the bill
Matthew NickaschIP Communications Consultant
& Industry Analyst CONSIDERING CONVERGENCE
Presentation Outcomes• Identify and illustrate the modern contact
center• Discuss the major obstacles affecting
enterprise and corporate telecommunications– Economic Focus– Cost / Feature Concerns– Apply to Contact-Center Environments
• Advocate why Asterisk is a revolutionary driver and platform for contact center environments
A “Telephony Revolution”• Growth, peak, and decline of traditional PBX
design & implementations
• Convergence, UC, Cloud Telephony
• Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC)
• Intelligent Contact Centers
• Standards-Based Interoperability
• Overall Integration
Contact Centers... Re-defined!
• Not a “boxed” solution… always changing– Many uses, implementations, strategies
– Integration, flow of
information,
and mobility!
- Tie to Business
Processes & Logic
INFLUENCE
Contact Centers... Re-defined!
• Unconfined “Global” Resources– Geographically distributed workforce and agents– Maintaining Customer / End User Experience
Contact Centers... Re-defined!
• Overall Focus?– Advances in technology and effectiveness are
demanded – Obstacles are presented in traditional contact center
implementations
–A balancing act!
Modern Contact Ctr Obstacles
• Cost– Per user / feature / trunk ratio– Custom integration: ERP, CRM, critical systems
Legacy?
Modern Contact Ctr Obstacles
• Solution / provider “lock-in”– Proprietary systems -> core to client– Standards-based interconnectivity– Contact Centers no longer limited to geography
• Same solution at each site? = $ (legacy hardware)• Inter-system connections = $ (licensing)• Remote users / telework = $ (licensing)
Modern Contact Ctr Obstacles
• End user / customer experience• Bad experience?
– Frustrated employees– Frustrated customers
• Technology complements not supplements– Important in contact center environments– Invisibility
IP Communications & The Economy• Limited capital budgeting
– Proprietary Hardware (core to client)
– Licensing (per site, seat, feature, port)– Single-solution & single-vendor
centralization concerns
– Costly support contracts, training
IP Communications & The Economy (2)
• Staffing / Development
– System Management
– New, ongoing training (on traditional systems)• Proprietary protocol support• Closed-loop development
IP Communications & The Economy (3)• Interoperability
– Core-level • Multi-site interop• External trunking and dialtone
– Client-level• Cost per endpoint / user / feature• Proprietary vs. Standards-based
Welcome Asterisk!
• Endless Possibilities
• Open Development– Q&A: Frustrations with closed logic?– Community-Powered– 3rd Party Solutions & Integration
• Blurring PBX vs. Contact Center lines– One environment, many solutions
Asterisk – “Circle of Strengths”
Interoperability
• Core / Carrier / ITSP– Historically proprietary– Asterisk:
• Modular use of channels• “Talks” to many networks and environments
– Ex. SS7
• Open development encourages diverse technology
• Adaptability and Future-Proof
Interoperability
• Client– Standards-based
• SIP, IAX…• Open development encouraged
– Even support for closed technologies!• UNISTIM, SCCP drivers in development
– Presence• Busy/free status, “global presence” across
systems and geographic barriers
Scalability
• Large to small…Asterisk does it all!
• Switchvox• Leading integration and scalability
– (10 users to 100s)
• Contact center features built in!
• Similarity• Very similar foundation, code, fundamentals from
SMB to Large Enterprise• Simple to deploy and maintain
External Integration
• Lots of important enterprise applications• ERP, CRM, Order Management, etc…• Business Intelligence
– Asterisk prevents data silos!
• Accomplishing Integration– Availability of the Asterisk Community– “Ideas… to Implementation”
• Focus on Modularity
Asterisk Community
• Wide-reaching support network• Forums• Digium Support• Independent Consultants, Developers
• Community-driven development
• http://www.asterisk.org
Asterisk – TCO Comparison
Legacy Standards
AsteriskTraditional
Simplicity
Revisit: IP Communications & The Economy
• Limited capital budgeting
– Proprietary Hardware (core to client)
– Licensing (per site, seat, feature, port)– Single-solution & single-vendor
centralization concerns
– Costly support contracts, training
IP Communications & The Economy (2)
• Staffing / Development
– System Management
– New, ongoing training (on traditional systems)• Proprietary protocol support• Closed-loop development
IP Communications & The Economy (3)• Interoperability
– Core-level • Multi-site interop• External trunking and dialtone
– Client-level• Cost per endpoint / user / feature• Proprietary vs. Standards-based
Strategic Enterprise Alignment• Legacy Systems Dictating Overall
Communications Strategy– Technology as a tool
• Asterisk – Conforms / Revolutionizes– Molds, shapes, enhances strategic plans– Goal of revolutionizing traditional
communications solutions
Q/A