BitCo, the enterprise VOIP and call centre specialist, is making waves by unseating some big names in call centre technology with the Asterisk open source platform. A case in point is Dimension Data`s recent migration to an Asterisk solution in Botswana.
Didata`s Botswana office is the hosting provider to Orinoco, a 55-seat call centre that handles directory enquiries for Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), subscriber queries for cell network Mascom (partly owned by MTN) and some outbound customer campaigns.
Having operated on an Ericsson platform with built-in call centre functionality for four years, Didata saw the need to upgrade Orinoco, and started evaluating the alternatives. "It was clear that staying with Ericsson would incur considerable expense without the benefit of voice logging - a key requirement," says Ramanan Venkatathalam, Didata Botswana`s financial director.
Scouting around for a better solution, Didata came to Johannesburg-based BitCo by way of recommendation. BitCo had done a call centre installation similar in size to Orinoco, and Didata went on a site inspection. "We were happy with their solution`s performance, functionality and benefits," says Venkatathalam.
Thus it came that the Asterisk platform was chosen for implementation in Botswana. Garth van Sittert, BitCo technical director, explains what happened next: "The call centre handles over 250 000 calls per month and operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year. To be sure of business continuity, the installation was done in a two-phased approach, with phase one being a proof of concept."
In a pilot period lasting one month, the Asterisk platform was used only for BTC`s call load. During this time it had 100% uptime, and it was decided to waste no time in moving to phase two, during which all BTC and Mascom seats were migrated to Asterisk. Van Sittert reflects that switch-over happened at midnight at the end of August this year, out of peak call times, with total downtime amounting to about 30 minutes.
Today, says Venkatathalam, BTC and Mascom enjoy advanced call centre functionality at "half the price" of the alternative. Besides the fact that an open source solution generally costs less than proprietary alternatives, Asterisk offers additional savings over the Ericsson system, which required handsets, while Asterisk saves on hardware and cabling by utilising soft-phones. Skills were another great saving. "We used to need an Ericsson support engineer on site to add or delete or edit users," says Venkatathalam.
What, other than cost, reliability and functionality, sets Asterisk apart from competitors? "We like its flexibility," says Venkatathalam. "One of the key requirements was call recording, which the other system didn`t have. Integration with the existing CRM package was another requirement."
BitCo also offers online call centre performance reports - accessible not only by Orinoco`s supervisors, but also by its clients. "It makes a big difference to a call centre`s value proposition if it can be seen to be adhering to SLAs on the fly," says van Sittert.
He adds that Asterisk is a stable and very flexible telephony platform if implemented with the right skills levels. "Not just anyone can install and configure Asterisk for mission-critical call centre applications where downtime can quickly add up to more than the cost of the original implementation."
Venkatathalam says BitCo brought credible project management and integration skills to bear on the project, to assist Dimension Data. "We will perform first-line support, with online support by them where needed. All in all, we`re happy, our client (Orinoco) is happy, and their clients (BTC and Mascom) are happy."
In future, Dimension Data and BitCo may have a much busier time of it. Botswana`s VOIP provision regulations have been relaxed, and while a new competitive landscape takes shape, attracting players like Didata, the company is anticipating heightened global interest in the country`s growing BPO sector. And when that happens, BitCo and Asterisk will be ready with the advanced and flexible call centre platforms they will be looking for.
Note to editors: Asterisk is a registered trademark of Digium Inc.
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