1. Introduction to Telecommunication
Equipment: PBX, ACD, IVR, CMS, CAS and
Workforce Management
or
How to Select Telephone Systems & Services
to Fit Your Needs
www.thecorporateservices.com
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2. •Telephone Services
•Dial Tone
•Long Distance
•Networking
•Telephone Systems
•Centrex with Single Line Phones
•Software as a Service with Single Line Phones
•Switches
•Digital Switch
•VoIP Switch
•PBX
•Optional Special Features
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3. Telephone Services
– Dial Tone - POTS Lines
POTS = “Plain old telephone line”
POTS lines are the simplest telephone line you can buy.
They are often referred to as “business lines”. Even in complex
applications POTS lines have their place. They provide backup
lines, fax lines, and other simple applications. They are usually
delivered as analog lines.
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4. Telephone Services
– Dial Tone – T Carrier Lines
T1 means any data circuit (including voice packets) that runs at
the 1.544 Mb/second line rate. T-1’s are point-to-point
digital lines that can have multiple unique numbers (DIDs)
assigned. Each T-1 is a dedicated leased digital line that is
connected to a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) from the
central office (CO). Features are provided by your telephone
system.
T2 and T3 circuit channels carry multiple T1 channels
multiplexed, resulting in transmission rates of 6.312 and
44.736 Mbit/sec, respectively.
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5. • Telephone Services
– Dial Tone – T Carrier Lines
• T1s come in a couple of versions
– T1, which has 24 paths for incoming and/or outgoing traffic.
– T1 PRI, which in North American includes 23 voice channels
+ 1 data channel. The D channel carries control and
signaling information, including caller ID.
– Fractional T1 - 256, 348, 512, 768 Kbps services providing
less than 23 voice channels.
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6. • Telephone Services
– Long Distance Services – 3 Classes
In the United States, long distance can refer to three different classes of calls
that are not local toll-free calls. The most common class of long-distance
is often called interstate long-distance, though the more accurate term is
inter-LATA interstate long distance.
Another form of long-distance, increasingly relevant to more U.S. states, is
known as inter-LATA intrastate long distance. This refers to a calling area
outside of the customer’s LATA but within the customer's state.
Often, in large LATAs, there is also a class known by the oxymoronic name
local long distance, which refers to calls within the customer's LATA but
outside of their local calling area. This is sometimes also referred to as
intra-LATA long distance.
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7. • Telephone Services
– Long Distance Services – Purchasing
Before buying any long distance services make sure you know what rate will
be charged for each of these three categories. Intra-LATA calls can legally
be billed at a much higher rate than are Inter-LATA calls, and often are.
This may be a point of negotiation.
It is also very important to know the approximate minutes of each of these
categories of calls that your agency makes, so that you can evaluate the
financial impact of a long distance proposal on your agency specifically.
You can buy long distance services from your dial tone provider, or anyone
else you want to do business with. You will need to tell your dial tone
provider which long distance carrier you are going with, because they
need to program that into their systems.
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8. • Telephone Services
– Long Distance Services – Slamming and PIC Freezes
“Slamming” is the illegal practice of changing a consumer's telephone service
—local (intra-LATA), toll (inter-LATA intrastate), long distance (inter-
LATA inter-state), or international—without permission.
To prevent slamming you can arrange in advance with the local exchange
carrier (local telephone company) to initiate a “PIC Freeze” to prevent
unauthorized changing of the long distance telephone carrier. It stipulates
that your carrier may not be changed without your written consent. This
feature is free of charge. If in the future you want to change carriers,
remember to submit a written request to remove the PIC Freeze before
placing your change order.
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9. • Telephone Services
– Networking
If you plan on tying together multiple locations into a common telephone
and/or data system, you will need to design a networking system.
Your specific telephone system may dictate the options that you have
available to you. Some systems won’t work well with DSL networks, for
example. Some work very well with them.
Networking is a very technical area, and your IT staff or consultant should
help you make this choice. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of “dumb”
questions. This is complicated stuff, and each option comes with good
and bad features, security considerations, installation and operational
costs, maintenance and support issues, and more.
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10. • Telephone Services
– Networking
• Here are some, but not all, of the many items to consider:
– Is your telephone system VoIP capable or not?
– Size of the data packets that your VoIP telephone system sends across the network.
– The reliability of each type of networking service.
– Is the proposed network “point-to-point”, “cloud”, or some other design?
– Who manages the maintenance, security, and upgrades?
– Do you need to purchase the routers, or are they provided as part of the service?
– Does your telephone system have the capacity to add the networking service, and
if not, what will it cost to add that capacity?
– How long of a contract must you sign in order to get a reasonable price?
– Is the provider using “compression”, and if so, how much?
– Can the vendor give you access to existing customers who are using the proposed
system in a similar way to what you are proposing?
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11. Centrex lines are analog lines provided by the local telephone service provider that provide
programmable features on the line. The cost is based on usage and features programmed for
each line and monthly service fee. Hardware and software maintenance is included in the
monthly costs. No technical staff is required to operate such a system. Agents can easily be set
up to work from home.
• Telephone Systems
–Centrex with Single Line Phones
Local Central Office (CO)
Call Center or Agency
Switching Software is
Located Here
Agent at Home
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12. “Software as a Service” rides on analog or digital lines provided by the local telephone service provider. It
includes additional routing, call center management, voice mail, etc. provided by a different provider than
your local telephone company. The cost is based on usage and features programmed for each line and a
monthly or per-call service fee. Hardware and software maintenance and upgrades are included in the
monthly costs. There may be an initial setup fee. No technical staff is required to operate such a system.
Agents can easily work from home, and center can easily be relocated during emergencies and disasters.
• Telephone Systems
–Software as a Service with Single Line
Phones or Telephone Systems
SAAS Provider Switch (s)
Call Center or Agency
Switching Software is
Located Here
Agent at Home
Local Central Office (CO)
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13. •Telephone Systems
–Switches
A telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone
calls. It is hardware that is controlled by software in modern telephone systems.
In the past switching was often done manually.
A switch can be located in a local or long distance telephone company’s office or
on your premises. Telephone switches are a small part of the large telephone
network. When a switch is in-house, it is often referred to as the telephone
system or PBX (Private Branch Exchange). In-house switches require you to pay
for maintenance and hardware and software upgrades as needed. They are more
challenging to set up for at-home agents, and are not as easily relocated during
emergencies or disasters. They usually need you to hire technical staff or to
contract with a maintenance provider to make changes, upgrades, or
maintenance. In large agencies, where IT staff is already available, they may
provide a lower cost solution.
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14. • Telephone Systems
– Digital Switch
A digital switch is a type of switch that connects two or more digital
circuits together. It is a type of switch that has been used by
telephone companies, agencies, and businesses for a long time.
They operate on time tested and reliable telephone engineering.
If you have a switch that is five or more years old, you probably
have a digital switch.
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15. • Telephone Systems
– VoIP Switch
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) refers to communications
services—voice, facsimile, and/or voice-messaging
applications—that are transported via the Internet, rather
than the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The
basic steps involved in originating an Internet telephone call
are conversion of the analog voice signal to digital format and
compression/translation of the signal into Internet protocol
(IP) packets for transmission over the Internet; the process is
reversed at the receiving end.
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16. • Telephone Systems
– VoIP Switch
Other terms frequently encountered and synonymous with
VoIP are IP telephony, Internet telephony, voice over broadband
(VoBB), broadband telephony, and broadband phone.
Because these systems connect telephones and switches by way
of the Internet, they are typically easier for IT staff to deal
with than digital switches. They do require firewall security
systems, as do computer networks.
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17. • Telephone Systems
– VoIP Switch – Quality of Service Considerations
The underlying IP network is inherently unreliable, in contrast
to the circuit-switched public telephone network. It does not
inherently provide a mechanism to ensure that data packets
are delivered in sequential order or provide Quality of Service
(QoS) guarantees. Because of this VoIP implementations face
problems mitigating latency and jitter.
The receiving node must restructure IP packets that may be out
of order, delayed or missing, while ensuring that the audio
stream maintains a proper time consistency. Variation in
delay is called jitter.
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18. • Telephone Systems
– VoIP Switch – Power Considerations
Traditional residential and business analog POTS line
services are usually connected directly to telephone
company phone lines. They provide direct current to
power most the basic analog handsets independently of
locally available power.
In a VoIP installation you must plan for power and power
backups, since the phones, servers, and switches will not
work without local power being supplied.
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19. • Telephone Systems
– VoIP Switch – 911 Considerations
A fixed line phone has a direct relationship between a telephone number and
a physical location. If an emergency call comes to 911 from that number,
then the physical location is known.
In the IP world it is not so simple. A broadband provider may know the
location where the wires terminate, but this does not necessarily allow the
mapping of an IP address to that location.
• IP addresses are often dynamically assigned, so the ISP may allocate an
address for online access, or at the time a broadband router is engaged. The
ISP recognizes individual IP addresses, but does not necessarily know what
physical location to which it corresponds.
• The broadband service provider knows the physical location, but is not
necessarily tracking the IP addresses in use.
• Since IP is portable, the location may be a moving target. 911 calls will often
mis-locate the caller. This has resulted in known deaths because of
responders being directed to an old or incorrect address. It is critical that you
maintain tables in your VoIP phone system to locate all extensions.
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20. • Telephone Systems
– VoIP Switch
With all of these considerations VoIP has still become the
standard. Why?
– Low cost, especially when combined with Internet, cable TV,
and computer data networking.
– Easily transportable. Software can be placed on a laptop to
mimic a telephone set. This is called a softphone.
– VoIP service is nearly indistinguishable from the PSTN.
– VoIP phones allow VoIP calls without the use of a computer.
Of course, Internet connectivity is still required.
– VoIP allows for more flexibility and interchangeability of
software and hardware in many cases.
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21. • Telephone Systems
– VoIP Switch
384k committed rate
256k committed rate
Remote
Agent
Call
Center
Full T1
1.544m
Fractional T1
512k
Call
Center
Call
CenterCentral
Office
Central
Office
Central
Office
Internet Cloud
VoIP – Hardware and software that allows
people to use Internet protocols to make
telephone calls.
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22. • Telephone Systems
– PBX
A private branch exchange (PBX) is a telephone switch that serves a
particular business or office, as opposed to one that a telephone company
operates for many businesses or for the general public.
PBXs make connections among the internal telephones of a private
organization and also connect them to the public switched telephone
network (PSTN) via trunk lines like T1s.
PBXs are differentiated from “key systems" in that users of key systems
manually select their own outgoing lines, while PBXs select the outgoing
line automatically. Hybrid systems combine features of both.
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23. • Telephone Systems
– Optional Special Features
• Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
– Skills Based Routing
– Voice, Email, Fax, Chat
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
– Speech recognition
• Call Center Software
• Call Recording
• Call Accounting
• Voice Mail
• Workforce Management (WFM)
• Online Hiring Software
• Integrated Training Tools
• Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
• Work at Home or Remote Agents
• Contact Management System (CMS)
• And more….
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24. • Telephone Systems
– Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD system. ACD
systems are often found in call centers or offices that handle
large volumes of incoming phone calls from callers who have
no need to talk to a specific person but who require assistance
from any of multiple persons (e.g., customer service
representatives) at the earliest opportunity. The routing
strategy is a rule-based set of instructions that tells the ACD
how calls are handled inside the system. This capability may
include e-mail, fax, and/or chat as well as voice.
Many switches already include an ACD in their software.
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25. • Telephone Systems
– Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
• Skills Based Routing
Call routing can send calls to the agent best suited to handle
that call. For example, Spanish speaking callers can be routed
to agents who speak Spanish if they are available. A person
with disabilities can be routed to an agent who specializes in
services and resources for persons with diabilities.
Call routing can also be based on other factors such as the caller
ID of the caller, the number that was dialed by the caller, a
database that establishes priority of certain callers, etc.
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26. • Telephone Systems
– Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
IVR is an interactive technology that allows a computer to detect voice
(speech recognition) and keypad inputs.
IVR allows customers to access a company’s database via a telephone
touchtone keypad or by speech recognition, after which they can service
their own inquiries by following the instructions.
IVR systems can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio
to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR systems can be used to
control almost any function where the interface can be broken down into
a series of simple menu choices.
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27. • Telephone Systems
– Call Center Software
Many telephones systems come with ACD built in, but if you want more
than just call distribution, you will need to add call center software, and
possibly a server, to your telephone system. These usually provide a better
agent interface through their computer screen, a customizable real-time
supervisor screen, statistical reports, and more.
– Call Recording
Call recording software or call logging software allows a party to record a
telephone conversation to a digital file, usually in .wav or mp3 format.
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28. • Telephone Systems
– Call Accounting
A Call Accounting System is a software or hardware application
that captures, records, and costs telephone usage events. Call
accounting systems detect outbound and inbound calls, call
ring outs, call routings, abandoned calls, and other activities.
– Voice Mail
Voice Mail is a centralized system of managing telephone
messages for a large group of people.
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29. • Telephone Systems
– Workforce Management (WFM)
Workforce management software provides a tool to manage scheduling needs
for the agency. WFM collects information on the number, length and
time of day of calls and calculates the number staff needed for each shift.
It also provides trends from historical data with a variety of reports.
Managers use Workforce software for planning meetings, time off or
vacation time for staffing based on service levels.
– Online Hiring Software
– Some systems offer optional hiring management software that pre-screens
candidates, introduces the applicants to your company, gives online tests,
and introduces the candidates to the position that is being offered.
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30. • Telephone Systems
– Integrated Training Tools
Call centers often have slow times. Integrated Training Tools can observe slow
periods and feed short training modules to idle agents to make the best use of the
time. These trainings can be linked to assessment tools in some systems so that
the training modules are the ones that will be most helpful to that specific agent.
– Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
CTI enriches your caller’s experience by retrieving caller-specific information and
matching it with the best agent to help them. Also, the screen pop feature saves
both the caller’s and the agent’s time by automatically opening the right screen
directly to the agent's desktop. Finally, CTI lets a caller utilize self-service by
getting or setting his own account information over the phone without talking to
a live agent.
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31. • Telephone Systems
– Work at Home or remote Agents
Functionality in your telephone system or services that allow agents to work from
home, relocate to another location, or to work in a mobile environment. Check
with your vendors to see what you need to do to add this functionality.
– Contact Management System (CMS)
A Contact Management System (CMS) is an integrated solution that allows
organizations to record relationships and interactions with their callers.
This information includes all emails, documents, jobs, faxes, calendar and
more.
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32. • And more…..
If you can think of it, a telephone systems
manufacturer has probably already developed
a system to handle it. Ask your vendors.
Questions???
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