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