Scenario - bxp and understanding phone systems
Contents
1 Introduction
A phone system is no longer just a phone system unfortunately, there are a host of choices. Most of the change is fuelled by the Internet and cheaper ways of communicating internationally.
A phone system can be broken up into general components as follows.
2 Elements
2.1 Communications Lines
The first part is how many phone lines go into the system. There are many types for different volumes.
2.1.1 PSTN
Packet Switched Telephone Network. This is a standard phone line. It uses voice tones to deliver the call. One line, one number.
2.1.2 BRI ISDN
Basic Rate Interface Integrated Services Digital Network. This is a digital line. One line one number.
It is also possible to get Dual ISDN, which gives you two lines per connection. Two lines two numbers.
2.1.3 PRI ISDN
Prime Rate Interface Integrated Services Digital Network. This is a digital line. It contains 32 "channels" on a single connection. 2 are control channels and 30 are lines which can be used for conversations. When you have these channels used for voice, that allows 30 simultaneous calls in and out.
A PRI in Ireland will come with 100 virtual numbers.
PRIs are costly. There is a slightly cheaper option. The cable into the premises is the same but the phone supplier limits the usable channels to 16 instead of 30. This is called FRA or Fractional Rate Access.
The connection in technical terms is called an E1 (in Europe) or a T1 (in America)
2.1.4 Broadband
Phone calls can also be transmitted over an Internet connection. This technology is called VoIP. Voice over Internet Protocol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x3Ie6VZ_sg
A phone call can use tiny amounts of data. A good rule of thumb is 100kb up and down. Up means going from your premises to the internet. Down means coming into your premises. Not all broadband has equal up and down. It is important to check. So a 1Mb up and 1Mb down, should theoretically hand 10 simultaneous calls (10 x 100Kb).
To convert a phone call from the traditional PSTN network to a data connection requires an interface called a SIP trunk. Session Initiation Protocol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9cT1Lq9Lg8
2.2 PBX
2.2.1 Introduction
So now we have some communication lines to bring in external conversations.
The traditional approach was to just handle phone calls. With the advent of data it has opened up the technology to also accept a number of other technologies such as email, livechat through websites and others. More on this below
When the call comes in, we need everyone in the business to be connected and ready to chat. A PBX or Public Branch Exchange is required. Previously these were called a Phone System. The new name is a Unified Communications Platform where it does more than just phone calls.
The name is an evolution from manual switching, through electronic switching to modern server computers.
| Manual | Electronic | Server |
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2.2.2 Manufacturers
There are a number of major phone system suppliers. These specialise in traditional PBX building:
- Avaya
- Nortel (bought by Avaya)
- Cisco
- Panasonic
- LG Ericsson
- Samsung
There are also now a number of software based solutions, which can be run on any server. The first free one of these is Asterix upon which many of the others are based.
- Asterix http://www.asterisk.org/
- 3CX http://www.3cx.com/
There are many other solutions
2.3 Routing
The first and primary function of the PBX is routing. This is getting an incoming contact to be connected to someone who can do something about it.
The simplest of routing can be to just ring every phone in the office till someone picks up.
More complicated routing can lead to better solutions. There are various routing options available which depend on the capability of the PBX. Examples:
http://www.3cx.com/docs/call-queues/
- Longest Waiting Time– Will forward a call to the agent who has been waiting the longest to take a call.
- Least Talk Time – Will forward the call to the agent with the least total talk time.
- Fewest Answered – Will forward the call to the agent that has answered the least number of calls.
- Hunt by threes prioritized – Will forward the call to the top 3 agents (as configured in the call queue agent section simultaneously).
- Hunt by threes random start – Will send call to 3 random agents simultaneously.
- Round Robin – Will target only active agents, that are logged into the queue, in round robin manner, i.e. first call will be sent to agent 1, the second call to agent 2 and so on.
2.4 IVR
Interactive Voice Response, is the type of system people are used to hearing in big organisations. When you ring through you get "Press 1 for X, Press 2 for Y and so on....". This added intelligence allows for even more intelligent routing strategies.
IVR has further evolved to be able to capture more and more data. This data can then used in more and more automated and intelligent ways. Some solutions can even be supplied without ever having to deliver the call to an agent. This is generally an approach used by the larger organisations with hundreds of calls to handle.
There are a host of suppliers in this arena, but most are available from the original phone supplier themselves.
2.5 Other Technologies
There are further bolt ons and add ons available which can interact with IVR. These technologies allow for complicated automation of tasks. Such as voice analytics for automatically grading and quality assuring contacts. These solutions can be very expensive to purchase but represent massive cost savings for organisations where traditionally people had to perform these tasks manually.