Setting up In-Bound call centre

[223552]

Hi All,

I am hoping this is the right place to post my questions.

I have 2 questions.

1. Can this be done
2. If someone can indicate cost of the setup

I am looking to set up an inbound virtual receptionist/answering service for a couple of businesses. The calls will be coming in, distributed to receptionists/users that work from home (they should be able to login to a portal), and they can answer phones, set up appointments/schedule meetings for the business. It will need to load up that particular business schedule with the incoming call, as well as new skins for scripts. From my limited understanding, I think it can be done through Vicidial, however, I have no idea what will be involved, or the cost associated with it.

Thank you for any assistance.

Felix

[williamconley]

Moved post to "Support". Unless you intend to PAY someone for their response/assistance, you should not post in "Requests for consultation". In fact: In EVERY forum, you should read the "stickies" before you post. Stickies are the topics that have been forced to the top even though they are old. It's a common practice to put instructions for the use of each board in a sticky at the top.

Inbound-only is often best used in FreePBX. If you have NO use for autodialing outbound calls. Of course Vicidial can handle any level or type of call center, but if you're entry level Vicidial can be a bit daunting.

It will need to load up that particular business schedule with the incoming call, as well as new skins for scripts.

I'm not sure why the PBX would require a schedule. Your agents log in and are available when they are logged in, and not available when they are NOT logged in. If you refer to routing calls to agents only during certain hours, of course, then I understand the "that particular business schedule" reference.

Skins and Scripts, however, are different topics entirely. FreePBX is not good at scripts without paying money (Vicidial IS good at scripts without paying money, of course). But neither package is "skinnable" aside from perhaps showing different logos or colors in various areas of the scripts. So I'm not sure what you really think when you say "skins".

My best advice for you at this stage ... both Vicidial and FreePBX are free and open source packages. Both have Free installers that will wipe out a computer and convert it to a PBX suitable for VOIP telephone calls. Download Vicidial from Vicibox.com's site and use the PDF at that site to manage your installation, then use the Vicidial Manager's Manual (free and paid versions at EFLO.net) to configure and use the system. Starting at page one and working through until you have successful inbound calls is completely covered in the manual. Adding scripting to a successful campaign is also covered and not particularly difficult (of course, you CAN make much more complex scripts, but that's for later). FreePBX is available in many different downloads from many sites. All of them *will* try to sell you something during and after installation. They will try to convince you that you need to pay someone for all sorts of things, and even make it appear normal to do so. It's not. Don't pay anyone for anything related to Vicidial or FreePBX except (perhaps) training or installation (if you need assistance with either of those).

Best concept to remember: Screw it up. Take chances. Start over. It's free! Nobody will ever know after you wipe it clean and start over. If you have a virtualization system available (VirtualBox, VMware, vSphere, Proxmox) use it. But beware that Vicidial works well virtual for ONE user only. For an actual call center (or more than two users) you can expect to need an actual physical dedicated server.

Happy Hunting!

[223552]

Thank you for taking time to answer my question.

I have set up a server with vicidial on it, and started playing around with it. What I meant with the schedule was, when a call comes in for a particular business, that businesses schedule comes up (from an online diary for example).

My question was to see, what is possible in vicidial, and if it can do what I need. I have no doubt if I choose to use it, or any other system, i will have to pay to set it up/customise to suit my needs.

Cheers,

[williamconley]

For something to "come up" you would perform this task in your script. Vicidial can pull any web page in an iFrame inside your script (there's an example iFrame script included). Of course, this means you'll need to know how to code a php page to do what you want OR your scheduling package parameters MAY be able to just be coded into your campaign/leads to automagically bring up the proper page. But it all happens in the script. In Vicidial. In FreePBX ... different story. For FreePBX you would need a module that can bring up a page for the agent when a call arrives and I'm not sure if there's a free one. however, some soft phones used to have this feature ... bringing up a web page based on the callerid of the caller. But we never use FreePBX for anything that complex since Vicidial has those features built-in already.

Dig into the scripting documentation and see if you can have the scrip include your scheduler in an iFrame and pass the Client info for that Ingroup so you schedule the appointment with the correct client.

Note of course that if this is just a callback, it may be simpler to just schedule a callback in Vicidial and give your client a single agent login so they can log in and auto-call all their overnight missed calls without any other work involved. They'd get the notes and any client information you gathered in the client record at the moment they clicked the "call back" button.

[223552]

Sounds like vicidial can do what I want. I am less concerned about call backs, as it real time receptionist that i am doing, for bookings for appointments etc. Each business will have a specific number that they will divert their regular phones to, and that number will be linked to vicidial, which should be able to open a specific web page with inbound call. For me it important for users to be able to work from home. Example: they login in from home, and they become available for taking incoming calls. When they finish their shift, they log out., or something similar.

[williamconley]

Any VOIP system can handle that. Vicidial is used this way all the time. Noting of course that transfers and "agent availability" views don't care where the agents are at all.

If you do intend to make money with this, I strongly suggest the Vicidial Manager's Manual paid version. You may even want to consider heading to Florida for a training seminar. They can bring you up to speed pretty quickly. But in any event, start at page one of the manual. Don't skip around! Start at page one. Every. Single. Lesson. Until you have everything working you need.

And I can't stress this enough: Screw it up. Delete it. Start over. If you have not yet installed six times, you're not trying hard enough. lol. The "magic" goes away after you've installed a few times. You'll sleep better. Especially after you backup/restore the DB a couple times (after the six tries, of course, not during ... although it's never too sooon to try it).

Look in:
/usr/src/astguiclient/trunk/docs (documentation for many features)
/usr/share/astguiclient (execute these perl scripts with "--help" for basic usage, read the files to get more detail)
/srv/www/htdocs/vicidial (read the file tops for details, not all of them have made it into the docs)
/srv/www/htdocs/agc (read the file tops for details, not all of them have made it into the docs)

Happy Hunting!