IVR and incoming phone number

Posted on April 13, 2009 | By Voicent

I went through your website i really like your IVR studio software which cost 499. After going through your samples, i found out that you people did not include how to get a phone number to attach to the IVR studio. I need to know how i can attached a number that customers would call if a toll free number or local number. also i want to know if i can subscripb to any virtual number to attach to the IVR studio to receive inbound calls. Also i want the IVR hosted, how can i do that if there is any special hosting for IVR, please dont hesitate to bring it to my knowledge.

You have a wonderful IVR studio software

Thanks for feedback.

The incoming phone number is not attached to the IVR Studio software. The phone number is “attached” to the phone line.

If you use Voicent software with an analog telephone line, the phone number is the number for that line. If you use VOIP service, such as Skype, the SkypeIn number is the number for the line. So once you setup Voicent software and deployed the IVR application, your customer can call in and your IVR application will answer the call.

For toll free number, you need to find a toll free number service provider. You can setup to transfer the toll free calls to a regular phone number.

We do not offer IVR hosting. With IVR Studio, you can simply run your IVR service in house. All you need is a computer that runs Windows. If you use Skype for your phone service, then you need internet connection for that computer also. But if you do want to find a hosting company for your IVR application, please find a hosting company that supports Windows.

Posted in IVR Usage |

Integrate with Java or PHP

Posted on April 1, 2009 | By Voicent

Can you please advise on whether or not voicent is right for me and if so, which product I need? It would need to do the following:

Need to be able to initiate a pre-recorded phone call that is triggered by a java or php process. The message should be customizable to a given user (i.e., contains user name – user name being provided by the java or php process). Message also needs to provide the user with an option to press a button which will in turn kick off another java or php process.

Needs to accept incoming calls and kick off a java or php process based on user input (same process kicked off from user input above).

Both incoming and outgoing calls need to provide option to transfer to operator.

Am looking forward to hearing back from you…..THANKS

Yes, you should be able to accomplish what you need to do with Voicent products.

First, for the incoming calls, you need Voicent IVR Studio. With IVR Studio, you can design your call flow any way you want, such as press a key for operator or trigger an external program. Actually, calling a Java program is built-in, i.e., all you need to do is specify the Java methods and its arguments, Voicent program can automatically load your jar file and dynamically invoke the specified Java method.

For outbound calls, you can also use Voicent BroadcastByPhone program. Since you already have Voicent IVR Studio, you can use it to design call flow for your outbound calls the same way as for inbound calls. Voicent BroadcastByPhone program has command line interface so you can launch it from your Java or PHP program.

You can download and try these programs. There is no time limit. After installing the software, the best place to start for IVR Studio is the IVR Tutorial.

Thanks for your reply. I also forgot to ask…how are these products installed and what are the system requirements? Do we need our own dedicated server? We’re planning on using godaddy.com to host our site.

The software needs to be installed on a Windows system. For shared hosting plan, you might not be able to install any software other than those provided by your hosting company. So most likely you will need dedicated server.

If you use Skype for your phone service, you have to make sure the server has a sound card. Otherwise, Skype won’t work. If you use traditional analog phone lines, you need to install voice modems on the server and connect them to the phone lines.

Some of our customers host their websites but run Voicent software within the company. Since Voicent software products have web interface (HTTP), you can easily sets up communications between your web site and Voicent programs over the internet.

And finally….are these one-time costs or recurring? If one time, do we need to allow for maintenance/updates? If recurring, how often?

Voicent software is one-time purchase. Optional yearly support and maintenance contract is normally 10-20% of the total original purchase price.

There is no other charges except you have to pay for your phone service.

Posted in IVR Developer, Outbound IVR |

PBX for multiple incoming calls

Posted on March 26, 2009 | By Voicent

Hi there. I have a very small business and I only have one telephone line. Currently I have multiple calls coming through at the same time and I miss them when I am on the phone. If I had a voicenet call attendant which takes incoming calls would it allow more than 1 caller to be going through the menu at a time or would i need multiple lines which of course is expensive to have. I am trying to make the business seem more professional and look like a bigger organisation than it currently is.I look forward to hearing any advice you may have. Thanks

Yes, Voicent Flex PBX can definitely help your business look more professional and appear like a big organization.

When a customer calls you, PBX auto attendant (virtual receptionist) will answer the call for you first. It can answer some common questions like office hours, driving direction automatically. You can also have the system to use different auto attendant for evening and weekend.

To not miss a call, the trick is to have the incoming call transferred to another phone number, thus free the incoming line. For example, you can have the auto attendant transfer the call to your cell phone after the caller presses 1. Once the a call is transferred to your cell phone, the incoming line is freed and can be used to answer another call. If the second caller presses 1 also, the system knows that you are busy and will put the second caller on hold. During the time it is on hold, the system will play the on hold music you set for the Flex PBX system. While the second incoming call is on hold, the incoming phone line is not freed, and will not be able to answer another call during that time. Then the only way to increase capacity is to add more phone lines. But at least for 1 incoming line, you can handle 2 incoming calls.

In your situation, it is worth looking into using Skype as your incoming phone line. As long as you have broadband internet connection, all you need is to pay for the SkypeIn number (about $20 a year). It will be much cheaper to add another SkypeIn number than to add a physical phone line.

You can download the PBX software. The best place to start is to select Help > Product Walkthrough… from the Flex PBX program main menu.

Posted in PBX |