Business VOIP Solution

joe2687

Hi,

We are looking for a replacement of our PBX system.

Our requirements:

50 Users

Up to 15 call centre agents

Voicemail for 50 users.

Recording for all external calls.


We are looking for full contact centre functionality in ref to 15 agents to include:

- Activity reporting
- Real time dashboard for supervisor + wall dashboard
- ACD (Active Call Distribiution)
- IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
- Recording of external calls

Support for 2 separate organizations


We need a platform that will allow our software system to integrate with it using some API ( our software is .Net)

- Call initialization from within our software
- Caller ID from our contact database (MS SQL)
- Customized Screen popup based on caller ID



We are looking for system that will be able to integrate with IM (Lync 2010, for presence information) – this is our preference but it is not necessary.


Could anyone recommend what companies in Ireland have a good reputation for this? I have heard a lot of bad news stories from companies who hired ''VOIP'' experts and got left with complete botch jobs.


Also, what kind of price range would a system like this cost?


TIA - Joe.

Mr. G

joe2687 wrote: »

Hi,

We are looking for a replacement of our PBX system.

Our requirements:

50 Users

Up to 15 call centre agents

Voicemail for 50 users.

Recording for all external calls.


We are looking for full contact centre functionality in ref to 15 agents to include:

- Activity reporting
- Real time dashboard for supervisor + wall dashboard
- ACD (Active Call Distribiution)
- IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
- Recording of external calls

Support for 2 separate organizations


We need a platform that will allow our software system to integrate with it using some API ( our software is .Net)

- Call initialization from within our software
- Caller ID from our contact database (MS SQL)
- Customized Screen popup based on caller ID



We are looking for system that will be able to integrate with IM (Lync 2010, for presence information) – this is our preference but it is not necessary.


Could anyone recommend what companies in Ireland have a good reputation for this? I have heard a lot of bad news stories from companies who hired ''VOIP'' experts and got left with complete botch jobs.


Also, what kind of price range would a system like this cost?


TIA - Joe.

Hi Joe,

I would highly recommend you look at FreePBX (http://www.freepbx.org), and Elastix. Elastix is especially designed to be used as a CRM system, and is an asterisk integrated phone system aswell. And what's more Elastix is free to install on your own system.

Asterisk allows for:
IVR
Call Recording (On certain extns, all extns, outbound, inbound, on demand etc)
Automatic Call Distribution Queues
Operator Flash Panel
Manager Panel
Ring Groups
Voicemail (Can be customised, and can be easily setup to email voicemail owner of a new voicemail to their mailbox which is handy:)
Irish ring tones (Customisation, but UK is nearly the same)

Asterisk can do anything you want it to do. There may be. customisation required, but it is the most powerful voice communication system that is used by many big companies across the globe, by Digium.

Digium have their own phone systems which they sell under the name "Switchvox" (I think). I suggest you get in touch with Digium for the SME solutions.

There is also a company called VMX Phone Systems (I think that's it!) in Limerick who manufacturer and sell phone systems. Blueface are a reseller VMX stuff aswell.

If you want a company to do it, I suggest you shop around and look for a reputable business.

But I do recommend firstly look at Elastix and at VMX. VMX would provide support and service, which is an added bonus for you.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on!

Edit: Also take a look at SugarCRM, and integration of sugarcrm with asterisk. Asterisk is able to call files when it has the correct permissions, and read and write call information. Its open source and can be customised to your requirements.

fbit_colin

Hi Joe
As MR_Grumpy noted the VMX phonesystem can perform the functionality you are looking for and it can handle up to 128 extensions and is a hardware based system running on a linux.

http://www.vmxphonesystems.com

It is built completely by a company in Limerick call Emutex.

http://www.emutex.com

I am a reseller for the company and could arrange a call with them if you are interested.

From my initial calculations the cost would be around €20,000 but this is a rough estimate.

Regards
Colin

Mr. G

fbit_colin wrote: »

Hi Joe
As MR_Grumpy noted the VMX phonesystem can perform the functionality you are looking for and it can handle up to 128 extensions and is a hardware based system running on a linux.

http://www.vmxphonesystems.com

It is built completely by a company in Limerick call Emutex.

http://www.emutex.com

I am a reseller for the company and could arrange a call with them if you are interested.

From my initial calculations the cost would be around €20,000 but this is a rough estimate.

Regards
Colin

As a matter of interest Colin, does that include any FXO or FXS ports? Is it just a plain IP PBX?

OP, if €20,000 is too much there are definitely cheaper phones systems out there that have all if not most of the same features.

fbit_colin

No that price is for pure SIP. ISDN cards can be added if required.

Its worth noting that the rough cost i have given includes 50 handsets, installation, training, software updates and support for 1 year.

The cost just for the PBX enabled with call recording, queuing, distribution, IVR etc for 50 extensions would be around the €8000 range.

The cost is based on the number of extensions that are required to be registered on the system. All can be recorded and have access to voice mail by email its up to the administrator of the system.

MLC61

With the requirements outlined in your opening post the call centre functionality and reporting would appear to be key. In addition as the OP mentioned there are a lot of horror stories of botched installations by "specialists" who were able to download some freeware off the net.

I would steer clear of freeware systems for anything this size and complexity.

Recommended solutions (from Gartner) would include Cisco, Avaya or Alcatel-Lucent. It would be quite easy to google them and find trusted partners within the country.

fbit_colin

MLC61 wrote: »

With the requirements outlined in your opening post the call centre functionality and reporting would appear to be key. In addition as the OP mentioned there are a lot of horror stories of botched installations by "specialists" who were able to download some freeware off the net.

I would steer clear of freeware systems for anything this size and complexity.

Recommended solutions (from Gartner) would include Cisco, Avaya or Alcatel-Lucent. It would be quite easy to google them and find trusted partners within the country.

MLC61, The VMX phone system from Emutex is not free. It is however 100% Irish built, installed and support by Emutex engineers

It is used by Blueface, Ripplecom aswell as many other Irish companies

check out some of the testimonials here

http://www.vmxphonesystems.com/vmx_testimonials.php

I would agree for a system of the size required to stay away from free setups with only forum support but there are now viable more cost effective alternatives to the likes of Cisco and Avaya

ARGINITE

fbit_colin wrote: »

I would agree for a system of the size required to stay away from free setups with only forum support but there are now viable more cost effective alternatives to the likes of Cisco and Avaya

I have seen bigger systems then that run on Asterisk and supported by in house developers in there spare time. Also Digium do offer support packages for Asterisk.

fbit_colin

ARGINITE wrote: »

I have seen bigger systems then that run on Asterisk and supported by in house developers in there spare time. Also Digium do offer support packages for Asterisk.

Asterisk is fine if you have the in house expertise to look after the system and install it. However if your going to set it up for a call centre your going to have to pay for help with that and on going support therefore its stops becoming free then.

MLC61

fbit_colin wrote: »

MLC61, The VMX phone system from Emutex is not free. It is however 100% Irish built, installed and support by Emutex engineers

It is used by Blueface, Ripplecom aswell as many other Irish companies

check out some of the testimonials here

http://www.vmxphonesystems.com/vmx_testimonials.php

I would agree for a system of the size required to stay away from free setups with only forum support but there are now viable more cost effective alternatives to the likes of Cisco and Avaya

It wasn't my intention to imply that the system was free - apologies.

I hadn't factored in the Emutex as the call centre requirements outlined in the opening post wouldn't be available as far as I know on that system.

My remark was with respect to the Asterisk solution.

fbit_colin

MLC61 wrote: »

It wasn't my intention to imply that the system was free - apologies.

I hadn't factored in the Emutex as the call centre requirements outlined in the opening post wouldn't be available as far as I know on that system.

My remark was with respect to the Asterisk solution.

MLC61, thats no problem the Asterisk solution is a good one and will fit but will need a good deal of setup.

The VMX from Emutex will provide all of the features required. If there any that dont quite fit they guys in Emutex are always will to look at developing a solution to overcome specific client needs. After all they do build and write the code themselves

Tomtata

Assuming you have 2 PRI's on site (For the 2 separate organizations), you make 200+ outgoing calls per day to Local, National, International and Irish mobiles + you need to keep the budget down.

I would recommend the following,

2x Dell R310 servers (Intel Xeon X3430, 8GB RAID, RAID 5 + 4x 1TB drivers) - 3TB storage for call recording
€2,600

1x Power Connect 3548P POE Switch
€1000

2x PRI Cards
€760

50x Cisco SPA504G IP Phone, 4 Lines
€4000

1x PORTech MV-374 - 4 channel GSM Gateway
€850

Total Hardware: €9,210

Software:

Linux + Asterisk + Openfire

All your requirements are covered,

- Activity reporting - Yes, use http://www.asternic.biz
- Real time dashboard for supervisor + wall dashboard - Yes Use http://www.asternic.biz
- ACD (Active Call Distribution) - Yes no problem
- IVR (Interactive Voice Response) - Yes no problem
- Recording of external calls - Yes No problem
- Support for 2 separate organizations (Multi Tenant Asterisk does exist but depending on your internal setup then use 2 separate servers.

The best thing about this you will get an open door into your phone system for the developers.

It really is a great solution and zero maintenance costs, very little management once its setup.
I have this setup running in 5 of my locations, some with 1 year+ uptime without any issues.

Let me know if you have any questions.

domeld

@joe2687 did You choose phone system for You?
if not let me know, maybe i will have offer for you.

seanoriain

Frees is not free unless you are an engineering company who can afford the time and has the expertise. The players are Avaya, Mitel and Emutex and so on. You should get a quote from these and for 50 users there will be a deal to be done. You will at least get some advice.
In terms of cost you have the handsets which will be about half the price of a professional system's total cost.
I am involved with Emutex so I would advise you to research with 2 or 3 professional companies. Please note that if your broadband is suitable quality using VoIP will save you a lot on the costs of a using traditional telephony and ends up paying for the system over a couple of years. It also has mobility and can grow as you wish with remote options and a versatility that's not there for traditional telephone systems. The Emutex VMX comes with integrated call recording for example.
VoIP can go wrong if you don't have specialist equipment, service etc so ensure if you go this route that you engage the major players.
I recommend you research by contacting the key players and ensuring your requirements are met and that you get a competitive price.

MLC61

I agree with this, however you are being a little parochial with your chose of systems. I don't think that Mitel has a partner network within the country? In addition whereas it is laudable that the Emutex is built within the country, to put it in the same bracket as Avaya or Mitel is a little aspirational. I see it offered as part of the package with Blueface - that would appear to be the level rather than a 50 seat call center.

Cisco, Avaya, Alcatel, Siemens, NEC, Toshiba, Panasonic, - tried and trusted with support mechanisms.

seanoriain

Yes, I suppose it is a little parochial. You are right those are the key global competitors. However the VMX is a proven and trusted solution throughout Ireland with countless testimonials to back this up. No, Emutex is not a Cisco and most of these global brands offer a range of features that Emutex cannot quite match. You also pay for them.
The Emutex VMX is designed as a VoIP PBX, offers enough features for most customers including integrated call recording. It would also be cost competitive against the global brands which is why I suggest that any potential customer should check out at least a few of these options. Emutex offers a service in Ireland that no other global brand can match, in my opinion. For example each morning Emutex runs a remote health diagnostic on every VMX in the field, about 90 in Ireland alone, and can advise a client if his broadband (or other such network issues) is down before he knows it. I would wager that no global brand offers the same level of service. The VMX may also be used as a hybrid ISDN/VoIP PBX if a customer doesn't want only VoIP.
The VMX is designed to work with any SIP Trunk carrier,not just Blueface. Blueface happens to be the most prominent in Ireland.Blueface obviously believe the VMX the best solution but the VMX operates across various carriers in Ireland and the UK.The customer chooses the carrier.
Anyone looking for a business PBX should check out the key players in the market here on price, functionality, features, service and check the references or testimonials.

MLC61

I am not trying to belittle the Emutex in any way - I felt is was fairer to the original poster to point out that there are a number of options out there. He seems to have gone quiet on the issue - maybe he got sorted out anyway.

On the Emutex - is it based on one of the free applications with your own customisation? There are a lot of very good customisations of the original Digium solution.

fbit_colin

No the Emutex system isnt based on any free software it is a completely built and ready to go product that has features unlocked like call recording via licenses. Out of the box it has all the standard features you would expect from a VoIP pbx.

The VMX system is configured via a web browser so its quite easy to configure. No messing about trying to edit linux files as with free based systems.

It is a hardware based pbx running linux with the VMX software sitting on top. You will never need to go near the linux side of it and as seanoriain has pointed out Emutex will even notify you that your system is down or even that the sip trunks are not registering.

MLC61

Outside of Blueface do you have any other partners installing and maintaining the system? I have googled and had a look at you website but cannot see any reference.

fbit_colin

There are a number of partners that install and maintain the VMX system and have direct access to Emutex support

A list of them can be found here

http://www.vmxphonesystems.com/vmx_partners.php

You can check out customer testimonials on the site also.

matt-dublin

@tomtata, where did you get that pricing? those cisco handsets retail at about €150 each which is about 7500 just for handsets?

Tomtata

I always get them from here

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?ProductID=8324

At todays rate there €85 but ordering 50 there is a deal to be had.

Ex VAT of course.

MLC61

If you are going with the freeware solution why would you spend the money on Cisco handsets? Why not use one of the generic SIP handsets that would be significantly cheaper?

Tomtata

MLC61 wrote: »

If you are going with the freeware solution why would you spend the money on Cisco handsets? Why not use one of the generic SIP handsets that would be significantly cheaper?

Like most things you get what you pay for.

OP here are the only SIP phones you should be comparing / looking at.

Polycom VoIP Phones
Cisco IP Phones
Snom VoIP Phones
Digium IP Phones

All have outstanding build & voice quality.
Don’t even consider the cheaper alternatives like Grandstream or Atcom, there pure crap in a business environment.
Also have you considered softphones + headsets for the call centre staff?

I am installing an asterisk server + 10 Cisco 504G & 2x Cordless Siemens phones next week. Replacing an old Toshiba PBX.
The office has 3 ISDN lines.

Here is a rough break down to explain the benefits / Savings,

Current Call spend €350pm (Mobiles & Landlines)

Phones: €1000
2x Channel GSM Gateway: €400
BRI Card: €330
Server: €369

Total: €2099

They will be getting unlimited outgoing Local National calls to UK/IRE with Blueface for €35pm
They will be getting unlimited Mobile calls to any network for €40pm (Using the GSM gateway)

Savings per month: €275
Savings First year: €1201
Savings Second Year: €3300

Return on Investment is less than 8 months.

Mr. G

Tomtata wrote: »

MLC61 wrote: »

If you are going with the freeware solution why would you spend the money on Cisco handsets? Why not use one of the generic SIP handsets that would be significantly cheaper?

Like most things you get what you pay for.

OP here are the only SIP phones you should be comparing / looking at.

Polycom VoIP Phones
Cisco IP Phones
Snom VoIP Phones
Digium IP Phones

All have outstanding build & voice quality.
Don’t even consider the cheaper alternatives like Grandstream or Atcom, there pure crap in a business environment.
Also have you considered softphones + headsets for the call centre staff?

I am installing an asterisk server + 10 Cisco 504G & 2x Cordless Siemens phones next week. Replacing an old Toshiba PBX.
The office has 3 ISDN lines.

Here is a rough break down to explain the benefits / Savings,

Current Call spend €350pm (Mobiles & Landlines)

Phones: €1000
2x Channel GSM Gateway: €400
BRI Card: €330
Server: €369

Total: €2099

They will be getting unlimited outgoing Local National calls to UK/IRE with Blueface for €35pm
They will be getting unlimited Mobile calls to any network for €40pm (Using the GSM gateway)

Savings per month: €275
Savings First year: €1201
Savings Second Year: €3300

Return on Investment is less than 8 months.

Where do you get the servers from?

Contact digiweb business, they give free numbers and all you pay for is the calls. The calls are terminated with local CLI, and I've found with blueface that the caller id is in international form and customers give out about it.

We've left blueface due to the down time we get from them, if it is a business, think twice!

witnessmenow

Tomtata wrote: »

Like most things you get what you pay for.

OP here are the only SIP phones you should be comparing / looking at.

Polycom VoIP Phones
Cisco IP Phones
Snom VoIP Phones
Digium IP Phones

All have outstanding build & voice quality.
Don’t even consider the cheaper alternatives like Grandstream or Atcom, there pure crap in a business environment.
Also have you considered softphones + headsets for the call centre staff?

I am installing an asterisk server + 10 Cisco 504G & 2x Cordless Siemens phones next week. Replacing an old Toshiba PBX.
The office has 3 ISDN lines.

Here is a rough break down to explain the benefits / Savings,

Current Call spend €350pm (Mobiles & Landlines)

Phones: €1000
2x Channel GSM Gateway: €400
BRI Card: €330
Server: €369

Total: €2099

They will be getting unlimited outgoing Local National calls to UK/IRE with Blueface for €35pm
They will be getting unlimited Mobile calls to any network for €40pm (Using the GSM gateway)

Savings per month: €275
Savings First year: €1201
Savings Second Year: €3300

Return on Investment is less than 8 months.

I cant really comment on digium because i dont really have any experience with them but I would certainly add yealink to that list. They are easier to setup than any of the other ones (imo) and are much cheaper. In comparison to the snoms they have much better screens (for basic models). I found people found them easier to use too.


To answer the ops question, I would definitely give Emutex a shout to discuss the VMX as an option. My knowledge of it is a little dated but it does do most of what you ask for. The things I would not be sure about are:

• ACD (Active Call Distribiution) - I'm not sure what this is. It has ring groups and call queueing if thats what it refers to
• The integration with your software stuff, you would need to discuss that with them

fbit_colin

I would agree with witnessmenow that the yealink phones are good. Good sound, easy to configure and the T22 upwards have good bright screens.

The VMX does call distribution (call queues, rings groups and call routing)

The integration with software can be supplied but isnt a standard feature out of the box.

witnessmenow

One thing im not sure if anyone has mentioned so far, What kind of Broadband can you get op?
And how many concurrent calls do you want to make?

Assuming you have 16 call center staff , you would want all them busy, plus you would want that again for people in a queue.

So you would need 30-40 external calls.

Even using a compressed codec like g729 would require almost a 1.5mb upload connection, with not much room for doing much else on the line. It would also need to be uncontended as your margins are tight so any dip in performance could effect call quality.

Mr. G

witnessmenow wrote: »

I cant really comment on digium because i dont really have any experience with them but I would certainly add yealink to that list. They are easier to setup than any of the other ones (imo) and are much cheaper. In comparison to the snoms they have much better screens (for basic models). I found people found them easier to use too.

I have to agree, the yealink phones are neat and look very good and easy to use, mind you I haven't installed them or used them before.

Yealink runs on Linux where as Cisco runs on their own software.

In a business environment where you have staff that don't know how to install an ip phone, and don't have any IT people around you have to make sure they don't break down, especially in my experience.

With Cisco, if a phone fails at least a secretary can ring cisco who can guide them through the process to fix it. With yealink, I don't know but Cisco are a much larger company that are known by everybody.

I find the cisco ip range very solid, powerful phones. The call quality is excellent and the cost is not a lot especially if you get some bargains on ebay. Once they are setup, you don't have to configure them again- that's what you want.

I've used those grandstream phones but they are a pain, and I end up re booting it a load. Mind you I have a feeling that the router is the problem for it de registering. The grandstream phones work but I think they are not as solid as the cisco phones.

At the end of the day you want a:
Reliable
Solid
Affordable
Low-maintenance
Easy to use phone.

Cisco ticks all those boxes, and the new SPA 303 is a very slick phone, looks solid and slick.

As for the digium phones, I know they are very easy to provision but again, I haven't tried them. I think they are made by polycom, or else they look the same but digium is the owner of asterisk, the free telephony software so it wouldn't be any harm to support them.

fbit_colin

The Yealink phones can be auto provisioned and configured manually via a web interface so if a replacement does get sent out you can just have it plugged in and configured remotely via the webpage if you dont have auto provisioning. They are about half the price of Cisco so great for small business plus you can configure the screen saver with your own business contact details/logo. Great for free advertising.

The polycom phones can be a pain as they pull the config from a tftp server and have limited web config functionality

witnessmenow

Limited isnt the word!

They should actually just remove it! The heartache i went through trying to set up their conference room phone through the web interface! They are a good quality phone once set up though.