New BCM50 Question

[sk391]

I am planning to have a bcm 50 installed on one of our sites and would like some information about the functionility and maintaince of the product. I would like to go for the IP starter pack- what phones would you recommed? I would like the ability to be able to queue customer when the agents are all taking calls and if needed then transfer the call to mail if the time of queuing calls is greater than say 30 mins etc. At the moment the site has 4 agents and one anologue fax. The site has 4 standard anologue BT ports. Is this suitable for a bcm 50 installation? To have the IP starter pack installed what hardware would I need other than the bcm itself and the phones? what switch would you recommed?

I have hear that the auto-attendent will handle to call queuing side of the bcm, but that can I use for reporting? I have heard that the bcm has 20 or so pre-built report about call times for each agent, number of calls waiting, number of calls handled by agents and number of missed calls is this correct or is this a keycode extra? if so that is this package called?

As you can probadly tell I need some general but ACCURATE information about the bcm 50.

from what I can gather from my limited knowledge, I will be able to connect my 4 exisiting anologue lines to the bcm 50, then connect a switch to the bcm using its rj45 port. After this I will be able to connect my IP phones to the switch. does this sound correct?

what happenes to the calls if the bcm was to fail for some reason? can then old anologue phones be kept in a corner of the office and then plugged directly into the wall socket? I know that I will at this point lose all the bcm functionality but at least the agent will be able to answer the customers queries .

how easy/difficult is the admin side of the bcm 50. I have some working knowledge of a nortel Meridian option 11c. the the admin side a GUI interface or is it load based like the meridian option 11c.

Many thanks for any useful advise.

 

[bluemr2]

You would need the bcm 50 itself, and all the keycodes for the lines, phones, and applications you would be using. It sounds like you would need a 4 port analog line keycode (kc), an IP client for each IP phone you were connecting, Call center kc's for the number of active agents you would want to answer que'd calls, a kc for each call center skillset (a different skillset is a different que), and a reporting for call center kc. You would also need a kc for each voicemail box you need. I would suggest a baystack switch with Power over Ethernet for all your phones. The 50 is all gui based and I think its very easy to program. Not sure about the analog line failover as I always connect PRI's to them.

 

[countrytime]

You will be able to use the analog phones plugged into the outlets where the BCM sets are, but you would need to disconnect them from the BCM and patch them directly to the incoming analog lines first. Then you would have each line ringing on one set. Also, if you purchase the starter package, it comes with some basic keycodes that bluemr2 described but not any of the call center codes. Just have your vendor or distributor explain it. I find the BCM easy to administer and it can even be programmed remotely.