Open Source Asterisk Predictive Dialer ? An Overview

Posted by arun on May 28th, 2014

The open source predictive dialer is a feature-packed dialer which will take care of the traditional manual dialing and the advanced power dialing and also the latest predictive dialing, using the Open Source licenses - AGPLv2 licensed (and free GPL - General Public licenses also.). Its greatest advantage is that it multiplies the productivity of a call/ contact center by not less than 300% over the manual dialing method. It can be easily installed and implemented cost effectively, without loss of quality or compromise on functionalities.

Open source predictive dialer automates the outbound calling activities in a call/ contact center. This can also be deployed as a standalone product for outbound calling solutions. It has many inbuilt comprehensive capabilities and many advanced features like voice recording, reporting, quality monitoring.web configurable voicemail boxes and IVRs.

Based upon certain predesigned algorithms, the predictive dialer predicts the idle time of the agents/ customer service representatives and feeds them with the contact number to enable them to carry out their core job of talking to the customers and addressing their problems/ offering information or solutions. The dialer altogether eliminates the unproductive time in the boring dialing. From the management angle, it generates various records for analysis and it enables online monitoring from remote places.

Asterisk Predictive Dialer is based on open source software -Asterisk and it also comes with ACD (Automatic Call Distributor). You may configure it in any way you want; it will handle some imaginable dialer situations, which may include inbound email support. There are web based agent interfaces and management interfaces for that.

Asterisk, with all the features loaded, is comparatively cheaper and highly flexible also. Using some phone cards, Asterisk can be connected to public phone lines, softphones and hardphones. It is reliable and stable, equaling a business phone system in the market. It is scalable into any higher number of seats, in tune with the business expansion.

Asterisk Predictive Dialer can handle unlimited campaigns/ sets/ lists, innumerable custom disposition codes and additional custom CSR forms and high dial levels, subject of course, to the limitations in the hardware. The other features will include call recording, unlimited DIDs, answering machine detection, alternative numbers dialing, custom dial plans, skill routing, etc.

Besides call and contact centers, it will be suitable for most of the industries like automotive, banking, financial services, fundraising, credit cards, customer service, marketing, survey and research, sales. Hosted service is an alternative option for those who do not want to own one.