One of the major advantages of CTI Applications is availability of huge computation power of computer along with telecom functions. Many telephone systems like PBX or answering machines can also have some computational power using which some call routing or other smart features can be implemented. But they can not perform highly complicated logical decision which is easily possible by a CTI applications.

One such small but widely used in some specific areas function of any telephone system is Call Screening! Call screening can be defined as filtering of incoming or outgoing call based on the caller ID or dialed number.

In incoming scenario, CLI ( Caller Line Identification) can be used to either allow incoming call or block it. Apart from CLI, DNI ( Dialed Number Identification) can also be used to allow of block calls. This is very useful in PRI connectivity in India where one PRI is normally provided with 100 different numbers along with one vanity number, known as “pilot number”. This kind of DNI based call screening could be used for many purposes!

In outgoing call screening scenario, the call could be allowed using either dialed number or dialing extension or both. Very often, in a office with PBX systems, few extensions are provided with direct dial facility to dial out. This kind of system exists in hotels too where some rooms can make international calls while others not. Similar restrictions are used by telecom service providers too where some numbers do not have international calling facility!

All these are instances of “call screening” of various types. Almost all call screening facility described above can be implemented in a PBX. But CTI based call screening have advantages:-

1. It is not easy to edit or change the “call screening” condition while using PBX features.

2. Only trained PBX personal can program or make changes in “call screening” logic. Also they can only add new numbers or extensions.

3. CTI based “Call Screening” systems have simple GUI based options to edit, change in call screening logic which can be understood and operated by any one who knows how to use computer mouse and read English.

4. Complex logic or even dynamically changing parameters ( like time of the day) can be used for call blocking/unblocking function.

5. Large list of phone numbers can be used for checking call blocking/unblocking conditions. Present day NDNC ( National Do Not Call) registry is nothing but such a list.

CTI based Call Screening system can also be used to routing of calls intelligently. It can also store all records of any blocked or unblocked calls and present them in refined ways. It is easy to share such call reports and convert to different formats like Excel Sheet which is understood by all.

CTI based “Call Screening” could be used in jails too where inmates would be allowed to receive calls from specified number at specified time only. Similarly, inmate would be able to make calls to specified number once in a month. All these would happen automatically, without any human intervention with proper call report.

So, if you require any type of “call screening” system for your office, hotel or hostel, it is time to implement a CTI based call screening system!

miSystem is an IVR Toolkit developed by Mokalmat is an LLC (Limited Liablity Company) from Cairo, Egypt. We have seen many Graphical IVR Toolkit for Dialogic CTI hardware, but miSystem is the first IVR toolkit I have come across which is built around Synway, a low cost CTI hardware.

miSystem : IVR Toolkit for Synway boards

Recently, I have been able to check out this miSystem IVR toolkit through Webiner by Amr Oreaba, who is co-founder of the Company, Mokalmat LLC providing efficient voice products and target-oriented solutions for your business while being distinguished from competition by our ease of setup and use, tailored to match your needs and low cost.

miSystem is an IVR system that is designed for rapid development of IVR call flows and Call center application over Synway Cards(SHT, SHN and SHD series).

miSystem miFlow Home Screen

It consists of a core server that runs the call flows and handles the CTI boards. It comes with embedded web server where you can monitor the channels status, upload call flows & voice prompts and Deploy the call flow through the administration web interface miAdmin.

miSystem - Multiple DTMF

A free developer GUI miFlow is supplied to draw your call flow via Drag-and-Drop technique where you can build a very complex call flow in minutes. This can be downloaded from here – Download miSystem miFow

miSystem - HTTP Integration

According to Amr Oreaba, miSystem current supports Synway cards only and will support other hardware vendors in future.

miSystem is complete IVR solutions actually which can be used off-the self, draw some call flow using its miFlow and it starts working! It has some features like call transfer, fetching data from Database as well as HTTP.

It also takes care of finer details about multiple DTMF digits detection, key press through etc.

This IVR Toolkit should fulfill many IVR systems requirement with simple call flow under a tight budget.

Microsoft Corporation, the veteran company, leader ( almost monopoly) in PC operating system has bought Skype, the voice call provider on internet ( peer to peer Skype account as well as any telephone to Skype account and vice versa ).

Microsoft Acquires Skype : New Voice Apps

If it does so, than we may experience many interesting changes the way we have been creating call flow of IVR, IVVR etc.

CTI manufacturers have been making CTI boards supporting Asterisk, the open source Telephony Software so far, but now, they may start manufacturing CTI boards in future directly supporting MSXML for building rich voice and video application eying the 170million Skype users ( growing at 40% Year over Year).

So, we hope the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft seems exciting for IVR World!

IVR Hosting is growing world-wide and many people are increasingly opting for Hosted IVR solutions. Though hosted IVR Solution may not be able to replace On-Preimse IVR solutions in some cases, but here are top five reasons why one should opt for IVR hosting :-

IVR Hosting ay be your ideal IVR solution!

1. Future Proof

With increasing number of CTI vendors as well as available CTI boards, it has not only become difficult to choose a CTI board, but it has also created a new risk, that is obsolescence! Many people may remember buying good old D/4PCI without any fear or consideration of going obsolete, but not anymore!
With recent advancement in speech recognition technologies, as well as complex IVR systems which may require data exchange between servers located at many places, one can safely say that, today’s IVR technology is going to be obsolete a lot quicker than before.

In hosted IVR solution, this is never going to be a problem for user! One can expect, the hosted IVR service provider will always be updated with latest technologies, features available in IVR technology.

2. No maintenance and no support nightmare

IVR System consists of more than one components. For example, it has telecom components which connects you to the PSTN ( Public Switch Network). Then there is a computer Server and power as well as power back up. Apart from this, there is one CTI vendor as well as IVR Software vendor!

Most of the times, you do not find one single vendor providing you all above components. So, one needs to contact all these vendors for support. One may even encounter a problem like, CTI vendor blaming the Telecom connectivity for the IVR system malfunctioning, while the computer hardware guy blaming the IVR software.

In hosted IVR solution, you have only one problem, only one support, either your IVR is working or it is not. And contact only one support for this. It will save time and resources for any company.

3. Real-time monitoring of expenses and exit route

With IVR hosting service, one can actually measure ROI ( return on Investment) quickly and in real time. From the monthly payment to the Hosted IVR service provider, one can measure exact number of calls, call abandonment, successful calls and any saving in human intervention. But one may argue, these data are available on On-Premise solution too. Yes, but when you know use of IVR is not reducing burden of human resources, you have had already invested on the IVR systems as capital expenditure!

But with Hosted IVR solution, you have quick exit route or try out different type of call flow, different features. On premise IVR, one can not expect these benefits!

4. Focus your core business, no allocate resources for IVR a business tool for you

IVR system is a business automation system to automate customer care, reduce human intervention, increase accuracy of information as well as collecting measurable information about callers and customers. Maintaining or developing IVR system may not be your core competence. So, one should devote resources in their core competence rather than devoting resources in IVR upkeep.

Hosted IVR is the perfect solution which offers complete IVR solution without having to know anything about IVR yourself.

5. Quick upgrade and expansion

Hosted IVR offers facility to upgrade capacity of calls, or any other required feature quickly. One can also opt for using different technology for different kind of calls. For example, one may opt for VOIP for outbound calls while using TDM network for incoming calls by the customers. The best part is, one can change this kind for arrangement frequently as per requirement. With On-Premise IVR, one is stuck with the CTI board purchased as well as initial SRS ( System Requirement Specification) of IVR.
These kind of flexible features are available with IVR hosting and if one requires these facility, he might have invest a lot in different hardware alone!

So, it may be time for you to think about IVR hosting seriously!

While outbound IVR systems are being widely used now a days for many promotional activities, but outbound IVR potential as smart predictive dialer is still to be tapped.

While many acknowledge that, outbound IVR has many advantages over predictive dialer, call centers still deploy predictive dialer for making outbound calls and then transferring the calls to human agents.

History of predictive dialer shows, it came to be used in call centers for increase efficiency of human agents, as well as effective monitoring by supervises. Predictive dialer increase productivity by automating the dialing, then detecting answering machine, FAX tone or human answering and then connecting to human agent. Any outbound IVR with small computation power using CPA ( Call Progress Analysis) can achieve these and much more!

Another major advantage of outbound IVR ( or any IVR for that matter) is its availability in both on-premise and hosted environment. Hosted environment provides many advantages like low initial cost as well as sudden spike in call volume! Predictive dialer are normally on premise and sudden spike of calls can only be served by increasing number of ports in it.

So, why call center owners are still having separate predictive dialer and not using their inbound IVR as predictive dialer in outbound IVR configuration ?

As I had interacted some call center owners as well as few vendors for call center industry, I think, in India, only two reasons for not using outbound IVR as predictive dialer :-

1. Lack of information
Not many people are aware that IVR can be used for making outbound calls and then transferring it to human agent along with call whispering or agent pop up with the connected call. Many call center owners include inbound IVR, but they are not aware or made aware that the same IVR could be used for making outbound calls as well as it can eliminate predictive dialer all together.
IVR being based on a PC, it has many options for monitoring, accessing data from various sources as well as present status of calls and activity of human agents.

2. Lack of confidence in IVR applications
While predictive dialer is a proven product, but many consider IVR applications to be just add-on and stand-by arrangement in India. Most probably, this has to do with technology adoption problem! Also, many people cite example of ‘hard coded’ IVR applications and lack of support and maintenance by IVR companies. Most of the IVR companies in India uses CTI boards APIs to develop IVR applications instead of open standards or tools. It may create problem in upgrading the application as well as maintenance.

So, it looks like outbound IVR will not be able to replace predictive dialer as preferred ‘smart dialer’ in call center in near future in India.

CCXML (Call Control eXtensible Markup Language) is telephone call flow language in line with VoiceXML which provides telephony control to the voice application written in VoiceXML.

CCXML is completely separate from VoiceXML and work independently from VoiceXML, though they can work together.

CCXML can be thought as an interface between telephony API and voice user interface ( VUI ) written is easy to write and understand markup languages like VoiceXML. Telephony API which comes with CTI ( Computer Telephony Integration) boards and are normally available in C, C++ or other low level languages. So, in order to make development of both call control and voice application easier, CCXML is being standardized which will be more understandable as well as easier to learn.

CCXML provides required various voice call controlling facility like call bridging, call conference, call transfer, handling and monitoring simultaneous calls which are required to develop highly intelligent voice application to cater to real world problems. Presently, only customised voice applications developed specifically for one type of CTI hardware using native API were able to control both telephony calls as well as user call flow.

Using CCXML would provide developers to develop voice application independent of CTI hardware. Using CCXML as well as VoiceXML could provide rapid prototyping and development.
(For complete CCXML specification one may visit : http://www.w3.org/TR/ccxml/)

CCXML seems to be the future of telephony API. With easy availability of manpower who could quickly learn XML than learning C++, CCXML seems to be at right direction for making voice application development easier.

VXML(Voice XML) is widely used by IVR users who prefer to host their voice applications with hosted IVR provider. Mostly, companies or organizations who want to have their complete control on the voice application and do not want to invest in CTI hardware and infrastructure of running a data center along with telephone lines.

In simple and plain language, VXML based applications remain at IVR user premise and hosted IVR system downloads VXML codes to its server and executes the codes. By this arrangement, VXML based voice applications remain at the control of the IVR user while users of that voice application call up hosted IVR number and avail the IVR service.

Payment gateway, CRM ( Customer Resource Management) are few IVR applications which are widely configured to work in the above architecture.

Though VXML is preferred tool for writing such voice applications, as it works seamlessly with any web services as well as its similarity in coding with HTML. Now a days, many hosted IVR service providers provide visual tools for developing voice applications which are faster and simpler to learn and develop any kind of voice applications.

Main advantages of use of VXML for voice application to be hosted are :-

1. VXML is standard adopted by W3C and now supported by all hosted IVR providers. It provides flexibility to change its call flow locally without having to depend on hosted IVR provider.

2. Many high end PABX systems supports VXML now a days. There are large community who are actively developing VXML based voice applications.

3. VXML offers very high flexibility in terms of distributed computing as VXML codes may reside in many web servers which would be fetched by hosted IVR server. New VXML voice applications could be stored in different server anytime without any changes in hosted IVR platform.

4. Adopting new technologies like automatic speech recognition (ASR), text to speech conversion ( TTS) and other CTI technologies are easy for VXML based voice applications.

Though VXML provides many advantages, it has some disadvantages too:-

1. VXML interpreter introduces new cost of total IVR system which may increase cost of the IVR system.

2. It is not that easy to write voice applications using VXML and to maintain it, trained VXML coders are required full time.

3. There are many hosted IVR service providers who do not support VXML due to cost component. Other alternatives to VXML, visual tools like INVOX come with free for hosted IVR subscriber and much easier to develop voice applications.

So, for voice applications which need to be tightly integrated with other web services, VXML seems to a good choice while quick changes in call flow, visual tool for designing call flow seems better choice.

Dialogic, the name that goes almost synonymous with IVR, has announced availability of the DiaStar™ Server, Release 2.0, as per their press release, Parsippany, NJ , USA.

Dialogic Diastar Release 2.0 Available now

• Call Progress Analysis (CPA) Enhancements -User-Defined Tone Detection with detection results available in both Asterisk Dialplan and the Asterisk Manager Interface (AMI)
• Robust support of SIP Video from the Asterisk Dialplan, including:
o Play and Record Audio and Video
o H.263 Support
o MPEG4 Support
• Video Transcoding between H.263 and MPEG-4
• Video Transrating
• Video scaling to enable playback of video on different sized video screens
• SIGTRAN signaling support
• Native media bridging

These new features and enhancements continue to expand Asterisk developers’ ability to utilize the DiaStar Server to create applications such as IVVR systems, Video Surveillance Systems, Video Gateways, Mobile Advertising and Banking, Multimedia Social Networking and basic Video Call Completion.

For complete Press Release : Diastar 2.0

What is VXML ?
VXML, also known as Voice XML is W3C(World Wide Consortium) standard for specifying voice interaction between human and a computer. So, it essentially is a ‘tool’ or high level level language for scripting an IVR ( Interactive Voice response) application. It can take input from human in the from of DTMF digits, automatic speech recognition (ASR) etc. Like standard XML, it consists of many ‘tags’ specific to voice applications which are accepted as standards by W3C.
Voice XML or VXML can be used to specify a call flow in an IVR application without having to learn about CTI boards, its integration with switches, PABX systems etc.

What is VoicePHP ?
VoicePHP is another “tool” for developing voice applications which mainly integrates IVR applications to web. It can be thought of an extension of widely popular PHP language to build voice specific same way as any web application is built!
VoicePHP is tool which seems to be in direct competition with VXML for specifying voice applications on web. VoicePHP is a product from tringme.

Both these tools provide ‘tools’ or ‘convention’ to specify or write voice applications or IVR applications, they differ from other RAD tools like Pronexus VBVoice, Envox CT AD in their intended usage. Most probably, these two “voice application” tools are aimed at developing or integrating IVR with many web applications. With recent growth in usage of outbound IVR application, these two tools may prove to be very useful for many people to integrate voice mail box in their blogs, websites which would be streamed live or delivered instantly to concerned person.
With this kind of tools in place, website visitor could get a call on his telephone by call center to learn more about products, service on the website as well as discuss specific requirements instantly.

While VXML is be endorsed by W3C, but writing complex voice application with dynamic content would not be too easy, it seems. But, it would be easy to build any interpreter which would actually implement the voice application as per the specification written in XML.

I was just wondering:-
1. What is the best way to specify a voice application ?
2. Do we need voice application to be modeled as any Web Applications ?
3. Could we model voice application to be embedded system with real time data exchange with many other applications as well as controlling of call flow ?
4. How would these “voice application tools” would keep up with CTI boards which are being upgraded constantly ?

Most probably, the most dreaded and time consuming part of deployment of IVR system is the integration of CTI board with the telecom switch or EPABX. And if EPABX or switch is of lower end or from smaller EPABX manufacturer ( there are few in India), it may become really a nightmare for IVRS integrator or IVR Software provider.

While integrating IVR System with big Telecom operator, the blame of technical incompetence always fall on IVR software provider, specially in India. And if it is a government agency or PSU (Public Sector Undertaking), it is a real pain (anyone can guess where it is)! One needs real talent for handling those people. I have seen technical support engineer from CTI vendor spending months trying to integrate high end CTI board with certain Indian PSU! Once it took me almost 2 months of cajoling certain Indian PSU official to explain and make them understand them they are not sending DNI(Dialed Number Identification) due to which my Dialogic Board is not detecting any DNI.

Here is a list of problems IVR System integrators face with EPABX supplier or Switch People:-

1. Interfacing protocol
Most of the time, switch people or EPABX support people do not provide proper and complete information interfacing protocol to be used. Most commonly used interfacing protocols are SS7, ISDN PRI, R2MF or analog. One may say, analog interfacing is the easiest as it requires the least interaction with switch guys or EPABX supplier for integrating with CTI boards.

2. Lack of experimentation support
It is really pain to ask them for minor parameter change like CRC ON or OFF, which is a major problem in interfacing digital CTI boards with switch/EPABX. Many switch guys or EPABX people just do not want to change those parameter even for 5 minutes or so for testing purpose. Also worst part is, they do not inform accurately about the CRC status at their switch end. To be fair to switch guys, I think they do so because they can not afford to change those parameter as they may effect their existing working connections! But than there are various options, right ?

3. Lack of common jargon
EPABX or switch people seem to be using a lot jargon which is not easily understandable to CTI Board support team or IVR developers. With lack of proper communication, normally by the switch or EPABX manufacturer, things get worse. E1 lines are known as PCM lines by many Telecom engineers. In SS7 protocol, time slot number for signaling and voice differ from one Telecom operator to another and this is normally not communicated properly. In ISDN protocol, many EPABX manufacturer use Trunk Mode or User mode while CTI manufacturer use jargon like Terminal Mode and Network mode. It is not easy to relate those and poor IVR system developers suffer in between.

4. Lack of Communication between Switch team and CTI Technical Support
Generally during IVR system deployment, IVR software provider supplies the CTI board as well as the IVR software. In that scenario, most of the time, CTI technical support engineers do not interact with switch team or EPABX supplier and every communication go through the IVR software provider. This also add to the problems of IVR Software provider as he gets to hear complaints ( taunts) form both sides that the hardware from other side is not working properly. IVR software provider may experience really hard time providing logs from both sides to each other and explaining the significance to both sides.

Well, many IVR engineers, consultants must be facing these kind of problems or many more all the time and somehow managing to solve them. But this kind of avoidable problems really is painful to third party IVR developers.

One thing I keep asking myself is, EPABX manufacturer does not support IVR application developers while that is in their interest ? IVR developers or third party CTI developers can surely help EPABX manufacturer by helping developing many value added services for their switches PBXs.

My personal experience has been that CTI manufacturer provide very good support and assistance to IVR developers while EPABX manufacturers or switch guys do not provide much help to IVR software providers. I have been quite happy with supports from CTI manufacturer like Dialogic, Donjin, Synway. They have been helping me quite out of the way to integrate their boards with various switches/EPABX. Sadly, I can not say same thing with switch guys or EPABX manufacturers.

Most probably, the time has come to form an association of IVR suppliers in the world to demand and protect their rights by IVR professionals where they get legitimate and necessary support from switch/EPABX manufacturer for smooth deployment of IVR systems.