Purchasing Help

[philipi]

Hi, I am about to purchase a new phone system and I am leaning toward a CICS system with 4 lines, 16 ext and CallPilot 100 but I have a few quick questions I was hoping someone could help me with.

1) What is the main differencies between CICS 4.1 and CICS 6.1?

2) Can it handle multiple phone numbers going to different operators? Example would be line 1 - 3 is a local number that has a greeting and one set of questions and line 4 would be an 800 number that would have a different operator greeting and different set of questions.

3) I beleive that CCR trees and levels are standard but I need one clarification on them. An example would be you call in and get Welcome to ABC company please choose option 1 - 4 (this would start the 4 different trees), after that you have 10 sublevels to each tree that the user could be prompted to go through. Is this correct or is it the user calls in and starts one of the four trees and then has 10 options (0-9) and no subquestions to go through?

4) Could someone give me a quick description of the optional call center of the CallPilot 100? Would this mainly only be used in a somewhat larger company that fields a lot of questions? When would it be better to use this then just have the phone system forward the calls to a person's extension?

5) What do you think of that system? Would you recommend it or have any others that you think I should look at before purchasing this one? Company currently has about 10 people, each needs their own ext; but company could double in about the next year so should be easy to go into the 20-30 extension range.

I know that is a lot of questions so I greatly appreciate any help that I receive. Thank you in advance.

Thanks,
Phil

 

[ThePhoneGURU]

Hey Philpi,
I'll do my best to try to cover the most of your questions to the best of my ability without going extreme.
1.Software wise I'm not sure if there was a lot of changes between 4.1 to 6.1..rule of thumb is to go with the most recent..it usually works that way when you buy new anyway.
2. Yes, the CP100/150 can be configured to answer and distribute different lines and answer lines differently (ie line 1 and 2 answer company abc...Line 3 and 4 answer company def) and route them the corresponding extensions.
3. Each tree created would consist of a greeting/then home node, which consist of 4 choices plus a 0(operator). ie..Place an order press 1..Add name to mailing list prss 2..Sales prss 3...tech support 4. You can then create sub menus that get more specific for the customer..ie if cx press 3 for sales..you can have a sub menu with more options for the customer regarding sales specifics. You can create up to 11 levels.
4. Call centre for CP100 is and add on Keycode that acts like a que or as it states Call Centre enviornment. It consists of having staff log into the system with an ID and they become an available agent to answer calls that are waiting in that que. With the proper software and tools Management can have live stats on a PC that shows who is logged in..how many calls have been taken by the Agent, how long a customer has been waiting etc. This feature all depends on your line of buisness. I've set up a Call Centre enviornment with the CP150 in a training lab..but haven't actually deployed one. I've heard that the CP100/150 is a basic Call Centre and it gets the job done..but if your sole buisness relies on this type of enviornment..there are bigger and better out their.
5. As many on this site can attest..Norstar CICS is a pretty tough little system. Its robust and acts like a big player. If installed right the only time that you should call your vendor is for Moves Adds or Changes. As far as what you should buy..if your pradiction is right it sounds like you'll be outgrowing the CICS by next year. It maxes out at 8 lines by 24 Extensions 2 of which get eaten up by the CP100/4 of which get eaten by the 150. If you have a lot of users accessing VM and doing a lot of outbound transfers through VM..or External Messaging..you might want to consider the CP150 as only 4 users/callers can be accessing VM at one time w/the CP100..where as 8 can be in the 150.
If I were putting in a system I'd go with Norstar..however that might be a biast vote seeing as you have jumped into a Norstar Forum...and all of us in here live and breathe Norstar (not to say we know nothing else mind you ;-)) hope no one else responded as this might have been all to waste...
Regards,

 

[telemarv]

I'd have to agree with phoneguru CICS is too small for your projected needs. Had you said growth potential was over 5 years then yes buy a CICS now and upgrade when you outgrow it. Go with MICS now. With a Call Pilot 100 attached you can have upto a max of 22 phones CICS.

I also have to correct one thing he said: "You can create up to 11 levels" Call Pilot 100 can only go 3 levels deep in the CCR tree.

If you are serious about Call Center... go with the Call Pilot 150 The 100 has only basic Call Center capability.

Marv
TeleMarv Services

http://www.telemarv.ca

 

[ThePhoneGURU]

thanks for the correction Telemarv...I just referred to the docs I had..they were probably referring to the CP150?

 

[hawks]

Agree with above, MICS with CP/150