[Don Rush]

We are looking at purchasing a web based phone system that would allow people to work from home. Being on the West Coast, we do not start answering the phone until 7:30 am PST and we would like that to change. It would be great to hire someone to answer basic questions and route calls and direct emails to our sales people in house. It would be ideal if in time, we had 3-4 people as far a way as Europe answering our phones 24 hrs per day. I am envisioning a guy (guys) aged 55-70 that KNOW Cougars well and can guide people through our site, answer basic tech questions and when necessary route the call (via the web) to us. This person would have impeccable phone skills, strong automotive vocabulary, even tempered and LIKES talking about Cougars with like minded enthusiasts. Would require high speed internet and be willing to be parked in front of a computer several hours a day 2-5 days a week for 4-8 hours per day. Pay would not be high, probably about $10-$13 per hour depending on your product knowledge level. Perfect opportunity for a retired person looking to supplement their income or a handicapped person who is wheel chair bound. Ideally we would like to find someone locally but lets face it, there are only a handful of people in the entire world that would be a perfect fit for this job.

 

[c7xr7]

What kind of VoIP system are you looking at? For the small systems you could go with a free version of trixbox and/or an Asterisk PBX running on a Linux server, that is what we're doing for our offices currently. Bandwidth is very important.

 

[Spartikus]

Listen to all us geeks pipe up now Don What c7xr7 said above is true. That being said you get what you pay for meaning although they are -very- powerful VOIP systems you need support from the community if you start running into trouble. As long as you aren't investing 10-20 grand into a crazy expensive VOiP system you should be fine. If the cost is up there you might want to see what kind of deal you could get worked out with someone to design and support a more scaled system tailored to exactly meet your needs. With all of the dang tools out there today to do VOIP I cringe when people get fleeced.

If you want to talk Don I've been in IT for over 20 years and currently manage IT infrastructure for a very large corporation. I am by no means an expert on everything VOIP but if you want a second set of eyes I'm there.

Best o luck on the expansion.

 

[Don Rush]

Listen to all us geeks pipe up now Don What c7xr7 said above is true. That being said you get what you pay for meaning although they are -very- powerful VOIP systems you need support from the community if you start running into trouble. As long as you aren't investing 10-20 grand into a crazy expensive VOiP system you should be fine. If the cost is up there you might want to see what kind of deal you could get worked out with someone to design and support a more scaled system tailored to exactly meet your needs. With all of the dang tools out there today to do VOIP I cringe when people get fleeced.

If you want to talk Don I've been in IT for over 20 years and currently manage IT infrastructure for a very large corporation. I am by no means an expert on everything VOIP but if you want a second set of eyes I'm there.

Best o luck on the expansion.

Thank you so much, I will be calling! We have been looking mostly at the Fonality System, spendy...

 

[CatsRock]

All good comments. It sounds like you have expansion thoughts in your future so just remember to get something scaleable so you dont need to buy need hardware everytime you add growth. Also there are many flavors out there as well as costs. It sounds like you want some kind of ACD (automatic call distribution) time of day routing for your different time zones, pretty basic, and possibly knowledge based routing of calls and possible emails so you can decide who in order gets what calls first. Some companies (I think verizon in the southeast) does a cloud based service, not sure of the costs. In house would probably be ok for remote service as long as its software / application support, hardware depends on your local. Also in house would require very secure network so you don't get hacked and would likely require session border controllers for your remote employees to log on and get to work. Its a huge subject and I'm just throwing some thought out there:smoke:

 

[CatsRock]

Oh and one other thing, and i'm sure its going to offend someone but i'm throwing it out there anyway. Sales People, or salesholes as I call them will tell you what you want to hear to make the sale, everything from "oh yea it will turn on your coffee pot in the morning", yes ive heard that one to "oh thats no problem we can do that at the install". get references and talk to the people that actualy have to work on or with the system, not the directors/managers, no offence again. The worker bees will tell you the pro's and cons good points and shortfalls. VOIP is just another piece of hardware on the network but the bandwidth it requires is critical.Again just throwing in my .02 :smoke:

 

[Bad69cat]

bandwidth is king - there are hosted options you could look at as well, but I agree with c7 if your looking at the least cost route. I have been in the phone biz for a very long time myself. Just finnshed a PBX to VOIP conversion for a large company with 2 call centers - holly cripes was that ton of dinero! Spent 13 years building/constructing cellular networks. But I also set up a mom and pop with Asterisk and it works quite well for the amount spent IMO. Who knows with 4G rolling out everywhere, putting sipdroid on your mobile and tie it back to your soft PBX may be the cats meow. Why stay tied to anything! Liking that idea once the coverage is there anyway.

 

[Don Rush]

bandwidth is king - there are hosted options you could look at as well, but I agree with c7 if your looking at the least cost route. I have been in the phone biz for a very long time myself. Just finished a PBX to VOIP conversion for a large company with 2 call centers - holly cripes was that ton of dinero! Spent 13 years building/constructing cellular networks. But I also set up a mom and pop with Asterisk and it works quite well for the amount spent IMO. Who knows with 4G rolling out everywhere, putting sipdroid on your mobile and tie it back to your soft PBX may be the cats meow. Why stay tied to anything! Liking that idea once the coverage is there anyway.

Well I now know who to call before we pull the trigger! We currently have 2 T-1 Lines but yes, anyone that is going to help us would need the Hi-Po Internet connection as well. Anyone know of a cougar specialist in Australia that is web savvy and wants to work from home? Would be great to have these phones covered 24/7!

 

[Bad69cat]

I wonder if Leon knows someone ?

 

[SwamperJr]

Don,
I would like to speak to you more about the positions available. I have a strong auto recycling background, with reverences, and a passion for cougars and other ford/mercury products.

Kaley

 

[leonbray]

Well I now know who to call before we pull the trigger! We currently have 2 T-1 Lines but yes, anyone that is going to help us would need the Hi-Po Internet connection as well. Anyone know of a cougar specialist in Australia that is web savvy and wants to work from home? Would be great to have these phones covered 24/7!

You mean - some old fart who is probably about to become redundant and has been working in the IT industry since 1967 - the specialist bit cuts me out

 

[SwamperJr]

You mean - some old fart who is probably about to become redundant and has been working in the IT industry since 1967 - the specialist bit cuts me out

Can't think of a better person in the IT industry in Australia that is a fan of cougars.... wait, you are the only one. Sounds like you got the job Leon

 

[1969XR7Vert]

Don,
I would like to speak to you more about the positions available. I have a strong auto recycling background, with reverences, and a passion for cougars and other ford/mercury products.

Kaley

Has "reverences"... :buck:

And, would work for a poop box Eliminator!

 

[SwamperJr]

That's right, I have reverences for WCCC... and have references to prove it hahaha

 

[CougarCJ]

You mean - some old fart who is probably about to become redundant and has been working in the IT industry since 1967 - the specialist bit cuts me out

You were working in IT before Al Gore invented the internet? IBM punch card technology?

 

[Don Rush]

Leon may not have realized it yet but this entire post was written just to lure him in, LOL!

 

[leonbray]

yep. IBM 1401 with 32k memory. Took up a 20 x 50 room and was only connected to a printer and some tape drives. Programs where on punch cards

now typing from HP touchpad with 32Gbyte memory that takes up less room than my A4 notebook
and is connected to the world, currently from burger king free wifi

You were working in IT before Al Gore invented the internet? IBM punch card technology?

 

[leonbray]

Leon may not have realized it yet but this entire post was written just to lure him in, LOL!

at least I could hang WCCC signs on the wagon and claim it as an advertising deduction. Need to get those CAT5 cables connected into the shed

 

[68XR-7Cat]

yep. IBM 1401 with 32k memory. Took up a 20 x 50 room and was only connected to a printer and some tape drives. Programs where on punch cards

now typing from HP touchpad with 32Gbyte memory that takes up less room than my A4 notebook
and is connected to the world, currently from burger king free wifi

Sorry, Leon, but I have you beat. My first computer was electro-mechanical, with manual inputs and gears and everything! I even worked with vacuum tubes and it wasn't for audio.

 

[leonbray]

I actually started on power Samos units where you programmed them with jumper leads between the circuits on the frame. I thought if I mentioned it people might thing I have a loose circuit somewhere