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[javickers at solutione...]

Hi folks,

If you are running a call centre (large or small) using Asterisk, I'd be
interested to know how you log your agents in & out:

E.g.

- Do you use AgentLogin (to force calls onto the agents, perhaps)?
- Do you still use AgentCallbackLogin?
- If you use AddQueueMember, are you
- running it through the agent's phones (i.e. in the dialplan)?
- through a manager interface & some software (homebrew or otherwise)?
- Do you allow agent hot-desking?
- if so, how do you determine which agent is logged in at which desk at
what time?
- how do you deal with authentication, or don't you bother?

It'd also be useful if you could tell me what version of Asterisk you're
using.

And, finally, a pure fishing expedition:

- What kind of reporting (if any) do you currently get out of the Asterisk,
and are you happy with it?

The reason I'm asking this stuff is because since 2003 I've been working on
an ACD reporting product for Nortel Meridians (and, more recently, Avaya and
Cisco systems, although that's all early days); and I'm thinking that as
Asterisk gains a toe-hold in the call centre market, there maybe a market
for this reporting tool for Asterisk users too. The only downside is I just
know that my client (who owns the IPR) will never allow the s/w to be
opensourced, or even available for free But I guess I shouldn't be too
unhappy, as it puts the bread & butter on my table too...

All the above said - I should add that I'm a complete convert to Asterisk, &
use it daily (albeit at a fairly low & simplistic level), e.g. I've only
just got around to using a queue on my main POTS line, so I can login at any
of the 4 Asterisk boxes I use around Europe, without having horridly
complicated dialplans...

Many thanks in advance for any responses,
Ade.

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.4/1312 - Release Date: 04/03/2008
21:46

[kev at mailcall.com.au]

I was going to ask the same thing today as i am looking for better and more
efficient ways to run a call centre using asterisk!

Look forward to some responses.

Kev

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Ade Vickers
Sent: Thursday, 6 March 2008 8:27 AM
To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion'
Subject: [asterisk-users] Asterisk in the call center - how do you do it?

Hi folks,

If you are running a call centre (large or small) using Asterisk, I'd be
interested to know how you log your agents in & out:

E.g.

- Do you use AgentLogin (to force calls onto the agents, perhaps)?
- Do you still use AgentCallbackLogin?
- If you use AddQueueMember, are you
- running it through the agent's phones (i.e. in the dialplan)?
- through a manager interface & some software (homebrew or otherwise)?
- Do you allow agent hot-desking?
- if so, how do you determine which agent is logged in at which desk at
what time?
- how do you deal with authentication, or don't you bother?

It'd also be useful if you could tell me what version of Asterisk you're
using.

And, finally, a pure fishing expedition:

- What kind of reporting (if any) do you currently get out of the Asterisk,
and are you happy with it?

The reason I'm asking this stuff is because since 2003 I've been working on
an ACD reporting product for Nortel Meridians (and, more recently, Avaya and
Cisco systems, although that's all early days); and I'm thinking that as
Asterisk gains a toe-hold in the call centre market, there maybe a market
for this reporting tool for Asterisk users too. The only downside is I just
know that my client (who owns the IPR) will never allow the s/w to be
opensourced, or even available for free But I guess I shouldn't be too
unhappy, as it puts the bread & butter on my table too...

All the above said - I should add that I'm a complete convert to Asterisk, &
use it daily (albeit at a fairly low & simplistic level), e.g. I've only
just got around to using a queue on my main POTS line, so I can login at any
of the 4 Asterisk boxes I use around Europe, without having horridly
complicated dialplans...

Many thanks in advance for any responses,
Ade.

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.4/1312 - Release Date: 04/03/2008
21:46


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[astmattf at gmail.com]

Hello,

I have many clients(from 10 to 300 seats) running VICIDIAL for call
centers, both inbound and outbound(and blended).

I also have acouple clients that have over 100 agents using Asterisk
Queues for inbound only. One of them wrote a little web page that
integrated with their timeclock application that logs the agents in on
Asterisk when they clock into the system.

MATT---

On 3/5/08, Kev S <kev at mailcall.com.au> wrote:

[pdhales at optusnet.co...]

And we found (recently) that if you send the right http packet to a snom
phone you can make the screen say "Agent 155" rather than the extension
number.

PaulH
On Wed, 2008-03-05 at 17:27 -0500, Matt Florell wrote:

[astmattf at gmail.com]

I have done integrations with sipsak to do this with Snom phones as well:
http://sipsak.org/

MATT---

On 3/5/08, Paul Hales <pdhales at optusnet.com.au> wrote:

[pdhales at optusnet.co...]

Sipsak is a lot of fun...

PaulH
On Wed, 2008-03-05 at 19:18 -0500, Matt Florell wrote:

[rob at hillis.dyndns.org]

Interesting. Which type of SIP packet did you send?

The method Paul is referring to below is a page you get GET with certain
parameters to reconfigure the phone via HTTP...
Matt Florell wrote:

[astmattf at gmail.com]

Here is the sipsak string I use:
/usr/local/bin/sipsak -M -O desktop -B "MESSAGE HERE" -r 5060 -s
sip:phone at 192.168.1.10


Where "MESSAGE HERE" shows up on the Snom phone display after this is sent.

Of course this is just an example, in the application messages are
posted on the phone display dynamically by the server depending on
agent status.

MATT---


On 3/5/08, Rob Hillis <rob at hillis.dyndns.org> wrote:

[rob at hillis.dyndns.org]

Ahh... our method actually set an alias on the phone for the first
identity rather than simply sending a message to the phone. This means
that whenever the phone would have displayed it's extension number or
name, it would display the string we'd set instead. We used this for
roaming extensions rather than agents, but the principle would still hold.
Matt Florell wrote:

[astmattf at gmail.com]

That sounds great, could you post an example?

MATT---

On 3/5/08, Rob Hillis <rob at hillis.dyndns.org> wrote:

[rob at hillis.dyndns.org]

exten => s,n,TrySystem(wget -qb -O /dev/null -o /dev/null
"http://${new_ipaddr}/dummy.htm?settings=save&user_idle_text1=${ARG1}+(Roam)")

This is a clip from the macro in question. How you obtain the IP
address of the phone very much depends on your own install - be it via
sip.conf or RealTime.
Matt Florell wrote:

[norman at myasd.com]

On Mar 5, 2008, at 5:46 PM, asterisk-users-request at lists.digium.com
wrote:

[jra at baylink.com]

On Thu, Mar 06, 2008 at 11:02:50AM +1100, Paul Hales wrote: