Vicidial to queue call centre steps

[XanManZA]

Hey guys

So currently I'm building a sort of callback service on a website.
How the process basically works is: the user chooses out of a list of numbers that must call him and then enters his number. This user is then called by a middle-service provider that then connects the user's number and the number he chose out of the list.
The above-mentioned steps are fine because I just use a callback/click-to-call API call to connect the two numbers then the middle-service provider takes care of the rest.
However, what if the the number that the middle-service provider needs to connect to the user is an external call center(not Vicidial), where a sequence of key presses needs to be inputted to reach the extension or call center destination that you require?
My question is, is Vicidial a possible solution to my aforementioned problem? Would Vicidial be able to queue these calls to external call centers, with the steps specified, autonomously? If Vicidial is unable to, which type of solutions do I need to google from here on out? Other call center solutions or a whole other type of methodology?

Kind regards

[williamconley]

Vicidial does not ordinarily allow special characters (such as the comma) which can be used in asterisk to wait two seconds before generating more digits. However, since asterisk is running underneath Vicidial, it's certainly possible to configure Vicidial to make this work.

We have written (in the past, more than once) adaptations that allow direct dialing within corporate PBX's, usually by putting more than 10 digits in the phone_number field for the prospect and assuming any digits over 10 is the "extension" to dial after a pause to activate the corporate PBX.

The method can depend a lot on whether the party being called is a lead, vicidial phone, or remote agent.

[XanManZA]

Hi William

Thanks a million for your reply.
Excuse my ignorance, as I'm not an expert on phone-based methodologies and networks, but is that answer a yes? ^_^
What is a lead and what is Asterisk?

[williamconley]

That was a "yes, if you configure and/or customize your system slightly".

Asterisk is the telephone software. Vicidial is the Dialer software (which turns the Asterisk PBX into a Dialer, kinda like stretching a Lincoln Town Car turns it into a Limo ...).

A lead is a "Prospect" and in Vicidial these are who you would be calling or getting calls from. They may end up as Customers at some point (in a CRM such as SugarCRM or vTigerCRM) or not. In essence, they are merely the table of phone numbers (and other related information) that Vicidial tracks to identify those to whom your agents speak on the phone. The place to store that information which needs to be available on your agent's screen during the conversation.

[XanManZA]

Okay schweet!
Sorry for the 20 questions, although I do not know much about these things I do find it interesting!
Is it in any way then possible for me to setup Asterisk and Vicidial on my home computer to test my ideas/solutions or do I need some type of special hardware to set up a PBX?

[williamconley]

Better yet, for testing you can set it up in a virtual server.

Note that all "installers" for Vicidial (Vicibox.com for instance) will wipe the computer clean (repartition the HD ...) so you don't want to do this on a HD you're actually using for something.

That being said: both Virtualbox and VMWare are tested and function well for a single agent/development box. Don't try to use it in production for more than a single call, but for development that's all you need anyway. Certainly "proof of concept" to demonstrate to "boss" or "partners" that the technology works. And you can port your development configuration directly into a production server upon completion if you want to.

Any hardware will do. I've run it on a PII (not recently, mind you ... but we retired our last PIII about three years ago ... still running an old Celeron, though!).

If you have an old agent workstation without a monitor, excellent. You'll only need the monitor during buildout anyway. And that could actually be used in production for a few agents. But the best "tester/development box" is virtual. The reset button is a marvelous thing.

The demo CD is nice as well (just don't try to install from it, it's meant to be booted from not installed from!).

[XanManZA]

Okay cool thanks William! I'm gonna try it out!