PLS HELP: PBX phone system integration?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MuZZy
  • Start date Start date
M

MuZZy

Hi,

We are developing a CRM (Customer Relations Management) module for our
app and my boss wants to provide integration with PBX (phone systems
used by lots of companies) so that if a user gets a call, application
pulls up caller's information from CRM database based on caller's phone
number.

I found several solutions like callerid.com which require to hookup some
hardware to your phone and computer, but we wanted to make some generic
thing, that's why we decided to look into PBX integration.

They have an open source project "Asterisk" for that but it is for UNIX
based system, which is not a case.

Any ideas where i could start?

Thank you,
MuZZy
 
Don't dismiss Asterisk out of hand. You can install it on a cheap Linux
box and it has a bunch of interfaces where you could hook into (though I
am not very knowledgable about that). They have a CLI interface (via
ssh) or SIP.
 
Frank said:
Don't dismiss Asterisk out of hand. You can install it on a cheap Linux
box and it has a bunch of interfaces where you could hook into (though I
am not very knowledgable about that). They have a CLI interface (via
ssh) or SIP.
Click to expand...

Do you know any Windows based solutions? The problem is that our clients
(or should i say - their IT stuff) will not agree with a Linux box
hanging out there - i already tried to push some Linux based solutions
in other areas and they just don't get it... :(

Anyway, thank you for the reply... if i don't find a Windows alternative
i will look at Asterisk

And if you are aware of any other solution for that caller id problem -
maybe not PBX based, i would really appreciate you r comments !!!

Thank you,
MuZZy
 
MuZZy said:
Hi,

We are developing a CRM (Customer Relations Management) module for our
app and my boss wants to provide integration with PBX (phone systems
used by lots of companies) so that if a user gets a call, application
pulls up caller's information from CRM database based on caller's phone
number.

I found several solutions like callerid.com which require to hookup some
hardware to your phone and computer, but we wanted to make some generic
thing, that's why we decided to look into PBX integration.

They have an open source project "Asterisk" for that but it is for UNIX
based system, which is not a case.

Any ideas where i could start?
Click to expand...

Hi,

Disclaimer: I work for a company that has some commercial involvement
with the information below.

There are a few good commercial alternatives. It really depends on which
way you want to go. Intel used to have a very good system called CT
Connect which gave you one API that would allow you to talk to a bunch
of different PBXes without having to know about their differences etc.
It was often used for this kind of thing. They may now have sold it off
to Envox, who also provide telephony intergration tools.

Another alternative for some customers might be to replace the PBX with
TeleVantage from Vertical. It is a PC based PBX, with good call center
functionality and amazing intergration possibilities, and the user
interface is much friendlier than Asterisk. If your customers don't want
to consider Linux options, this one might be the one. IP ready etc.

I hope it is okey to suggest commercial alternatives in here - either
way, these products are used for this kind of thing on a daily basis.

Best regards,

Rune Jacobsen
 
We are developing a CRM (Customer Relations Management) module for our
app and my boss wants to provide integration with PBX (phone systems
used by lots of companies) so that if a user gets a call, application
pulls up caller's information from CRM database based on caller's phone
number.
Click to expand...

Is this for a specific customer that already has a PBX (or an Automatic
Call Distributor which is more popular in larger call centers)? If so,
you'll want to look for support of that PBX. CT Connect does have support
for quite a number of different PBX/ACDs. I'm currently using it for a
couple of customers. Incidentally, Envox expects their product to be
purchased from one of their distributors.

Mike
 
MuZZy said:
Do you know any Windows based solutions? The problem is that our clients
(or should i say - their IT stuff) will not agree with a Linux box
hanging out there - i already tried to push some Linux based solutions
in other areas and they just don't get it... :(
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about that. There are vendors that simply provide a
thin black box with Linux and Asterisk preinstalled - it just needs a
network connection and that's it - no one will even know that it's
running Linux. It is managed via a web interface.
 
Hi MuZZy,
I just wanted to check how things are going. If there is any question,
please feel free to join the community and we are here to support you at
your convenience. Thanks again !

Best Regards,

Terry Fei[MSFT]
Microsoft Community Support
Get Secure! www.microsoft.com/security
(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
rights.)

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