Building a Call Centre Using Asterisk: A High Level Overview - Jejelowo Busayo

  To most people the word “Asterisk” relates to the multiple-edged, star-shaped symbol on phones or other gadgets. So it makes one wonder how such a commonly used symbol can mean so much. Asterisk popularly known as Elastix, is an open source IP PBX Telephony handler. Unlike your everyday systems or communication gadget, it runs on a server machine which makes it a cheap-expensive option but considering its long-run effect, it is a very reliable tool as it allows you to change or modify and also build given by its open source nature.

How To Set Up A Call Center Using Asterisk

Let me use an example of the transition of Rasberry pi to Asterisk as a call center set-up in Hotels.ng. The company started out its call center operations using Raspberry pi and, few months back, transitioned to an Asterisk controlled system. Basically, all that was needed was a medium range HP proliant server machine costing about N150,000, a sim gateway that cost N80,000 and the knowledge base that would be expandable over time to allow for the endless possibilities that Asterisk offers. And, speaking of needs, there was also the requirement of a Linux based operating system which in this case “Cent OS” was recommended due to its agility, stability and versatility. Another was a suitable handler, in which Elastix was chosen because of its popularity and stability. Let's swiftly take a dive into how, when and why. In 2012 when the business started and, like every other online business, it required a customer service unit to run its inquiries and support for the first time and returning clients, we looked into what Raspberry pi had to offer which really didn't last long and it wasn't only not as flexible but had too many limitations for the Nigerian environment. Now that there was software which was better, easy, adjustable, programmable, controllable, idiot proof, dummy engaging (and the best part FREE!!!) Call center solutions like Asterisk; we decided it won't be harmful to try. A budget was drafted and approved and, in two weeks, a team of in-house developers, network specialists and advisor were able to get us up and running. The following features are why this has remained one of our most important additions to the family:

CALL RECORDING:

This is done at a speed of talk and listen, every conversation or missed call could be recorded depending on your set-up of which in our case everything is required as it gives us a large collection of users’ contacts.

EASY CONFIGURATION:

Once the hardware was gotten, all that was needed was a 2-3 lines query and a regular networking knowledge and also some patience to teach the first time users in the team.

NO INTERNET REQUIRED:

However you look at it, it is called VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) which expectedly should work with the internet but in this case, all it needed was our SIM cards provided by a GSM network and communication between the SIM-gateway and our Asterisk server over a local area network. This saves us a ton of data.

FILE SIZE:

Amazingly, a 20 minutes conversation can be as crispy clear as bottled water. This is done using its powerful file compression capabilities which in turn has helped us save, use and not have to delete our valuable data from fear of running out of space.

• Jejelowo Busayo is a Customer Support Officer for Hotels.ng