Free: IP Telephony and Call Center Systems

Free, often does not mean absolutely free but there are several ways to get free IP telephony and call center system functionality today. Open source IP telephony software, software that supports the connection of IP phones, can be downloaded from several sources free, but you supply the hardware. Aastra OnDemand provides free call center services – really free – but you pay for some calls.

The open source movement has resulted in applications that are free and they are no longer considered marginal products. Today, some are deeply embedded in the mainstream. There are web servers running Apache software, business databases running MySQL, and operating systems using Linux all in large enterprise settings. For several years now, open source IP telephony and IP-PBX software have been available from Asterisk, SIPfoundry, FreeSwitch, YATE, OpenSer and 3CXphone System to name a few of the more robust offerings in this category. This free software is generally licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL), a widely used free software license and used for the Linux kernel. Simply, GPL grants the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software definition and uses “copyleft” to ensure the freedoms are preserved, even when the work is changed or added to.

What do you get for free?

For starters, go to these sites and download the software, load it into a server machine, add a couple of telephony boards and you have a reasonably, if not fully, complete phone system. For example, the sipX product from SIPfoundry also includes an ACD server and presence server component in the latest release. Oh yes, you must also add IP phones (some will accept legacy phones with the right telephony boards added to the server) and, if you want to be able to make and receive outside calls, an IP Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) along with outside trunks to the carrier’s network. While not absolutely free, with a little programming sweat, you can have a fully operational phone system with the majority of commonly used features for 50% to 70% less than the cost of a name-brand system. Open source software forums and communities offer extensive advice and support for such products.

Who knew?

Most of the software packages will run on a variety of operating systems including Linx, BSD/free BSD, Solaris, Widows and even MAC OS X. Some require the use of special adaptor boards, which are now readily available from several suppliers. With a talented programmer/systems administrator fluent in Linux, an organization can not only install a medium-sized system based on free software but also provide custom features and capabilities while saving lots of money with the initial purchase as well as with future maintenance. One such system installed by a California county spent $140,000 on an open source based system versus $450,000 for a name-brand vendor.

No IT staff needed

For organizations that want such savings but don’t have the talented IT staff, another widely available approach is to buy an IP telephony turn-key system from a vendor whose product is based on free open source software. The vendor can provide a package that includes additional features, easier administrative capabilities, maintenance support and appropriate hardware. This approach can save you up to 50% of the cost of a name-brand system and still get advanced telephony features, easy integration to other applications and even robust call center capabilities. See IP Telephony Vendors review for a list of these and other companies.

Free Call Center

Want a free call center? A free call center capability is available from Aastra OnDemand. They are offering a “skinny” version of their hosted call center services, which would be quite useful for small businesses that need some call center functionality to support a project or event, for a small group, or as a way to disperse incoming customer calls easily to work-at-home agents.

The diagram shows the flow of Aastra OnDemand. Customer calls come into the Aastra OnDemand hosted service and are routed to agent’s phones over the PSTN or via best-effort VOIP over the Internet. You supply the phones and the agents. For the first 90 days, PSTN calls from the Aastra hosted service to the agents are free and after 90 days a charge is incurred; however, VOIP calls remain free. Depending upon your preferences, additional charges may apply: if you want an 800 number to allow your customers to call into Aastra OnDemand toll-free or if you want better quality VOIP calls to your agents, for example.

There is no set fee for a list of standard services that include: unlimited agent and supervisor positions, one menu level with four choices, a short IVR greeting and group selection, one tune for music-on-hold, four historical reports, real-time supervisor display, reason codes, agent-to-agent transfer notes and FAQ/e-mail support. In other words, if you have a small business, need a call center capability of some sort and want to support at-home workers you can get it all for pretty much free from a reputable vendor of high-end, hosted call center services.

Who knew?

Further Training

These types of insights can be found in all training classes provided by McGuire Consulting. The high quality nature of these courses is based on the many years of work and training experience of the author, Jay D. McGuire.