There are many disadvantages of using analog CTI ( Computer Telephony Integration) cards. Apart from that, digital CTI boards offer many advantages over analog CTI boards and I would like to list three main reasons why one should upgrade to digital CTI boards from analog ones.

Even in India, E1 connectivity or PRI lines are easily available from any telecom service provider and it is much cheaper. And with, many new CTI manufacturers are offering high quality digital CTI boards which are easily available.

Here are three reasons :-

1. Dialed Number Identification ( DNI Facility)
Digital boards provide DNI ( dialed Number Identification) which is not available in analog CTI boards. DNI can be very useful. It provides options for separate CTI applications depending on the DNI detected. The same interactive voice response application could play different welcome prompts as per DNI. For example:- A digital interface with Telephone exchange may offer 30 different numbers, and one common number for all 30 lines. Now depending on caller dialing one or groups of numbers, a separate greetings, separate call flow can be implemented in the same CTI application. There would be flexibility to change, modify these numbers without having to change any physical lines.
DNI can also be used for shortcut in menu options. For example, there are 4 kinds of complaints in a company. Four separate numbers could be used for each of the complaints saving callers time to choose a complaint through menu. This can greatly increase usability of any interactive voice response system application.

2. Quick connections
Digital CTI boards uses digital protocol for quick call setup and quick information exchanges. So, any call can be connected quickly. But n analog, it order to CTI boards, one has to wait two rings before the call can be connected. Many of the times, analog CTI boards may not detect CLI at all. Any irate customer gets more irritated when her call is connected after 2/3 rings. It also saves time and handle more calls. So the throughput of digital boards is more than analog CTI boards.

3. Disconnect Problems
Analog CTI boards need to train on varius disconnect tones which may vary from one PABX to another. It takes time to setup detection of these various tones like Busy Tone, Engage Tone, Disconnect Tone, Dial Tone. Also, it takes some minimum time to detect any of these tones. So, analog CTI boards take time to dial out, disconnect.
During outbound calls, it is not easy to detect if called number has picked the call or not. Many people use here voice activity detection as ring back tone does not work with accuracy. With digital CTI boards, all these problems are removed. This not only saves time, but it increases efficiency, result in more number calls.

There is one benefit of having analog lines. out of many analog lines, if one cable is cut, remaining lines will work, in digital, it is only one wire, so one cable is cut, whole of your lines or at least minimum 30 ports would go down.

So, if you are still using analog CTI board, consider upgrading to digital CTI boards now!

CRBT (Caller Ring Back Tone) is a very popular IVR application used in Telecom Industry. It is known as “Hello Tunes”, “Caller Tunes” in India. CRBT is a fairly simple IVR system which has a smart call routing and a IVR application which plays one audio file, a music as per choice by the CRBT subscriber. CRBT is one of the highest revenue earner for Telecom companies in voice based value added service (VAS) all around the world.

CRBT can also be used as very useful, targeted advertising tools where the IVR software will play an ad jingle instead of a number for chart topper, or a old hit. The ad jingle to be played can be chosen by the following criteria:
1. Caller Id : Since IVR application will know both the caller number and called party number, it can choose ad jingle based on the caller ID. For example, if the caller id is an land-line number, a ad jingle related to land line facilities should be played. When caller ID is a Airtel land line number, why not play a internet facilities available on Airtel land-line number ?
2. Area of Caller ID : Area of caller can be decided based on the caller id. In case the caller ID is a mobile number, first 4 digits of the caller ID will determine the area of the caller. And if the caller id is a land line number, the first 3 digits which is a STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialing) code which denotes an area. So, using this information, the ad jingle can be chosen.
3. Telecom Operator Wise : From the caller id and the called party ID (DNI, Dialed Number Identification), Telecom operator can be found out. Advertisement can be targeted by Telecom Operator too. For example, all BSNL caller would be played about 3G availability on BSNL network!
4. Integration with Billing Server : If IVR Server or CRBT Server is connected to billing server, than high paying customers, prepaid customer, post paid customer can be identified and accordingly ad jingles can be targeted.

Advantages of CRBT advertisement :
Advertising on CRBT is new. But it is obvious that there are certain advantages of CRBT advertising. It can be very targeted advertising. The advertiser would know exactly how many times ad jingles has been played and to whom. He would be able calculate his conversion rates.

I think CRBT advertisement would pick up in India soon. There are people who are experimenting on it. But we are still to see wide scale adoption of this advertisement platform.

As I wrote once about making money with IVR Software, I have finally decided to write what IVR applications can be used to generate monthly revenue. Till recently, IVR Application or IVR Software was thought to be used only for increase in efficiency, reduce cost, automatic complaint management etc. Not any more! There are now IVR applications which are mostly used to generating revenue!

There are many IVR Applications in many industries, but the use of IVR Software in Telecom Industries is quite interesting! And this is where you make regular money. The most widely deployed IVRS Software for making money are :

1. Voice Portal
2. CRBT or PRBT

1. Voice Portal
Voice portals started as a premium service for quick access of information. According to various sources, it first appeared in 1999 in line with internet web portal.
With the advent of mobile phone, there was surge in value added service. This is when Voice Portals also got a push by telecom service providers.
Normally, voice portals are operated by a value added service provider (VAS) companies like Niche Tech Services (P) Ltd, or OnMobile in collaboration with a telecom service provider on revenue sharing basis. Normally, any call made to voice portal is charged premium. Voice portals provides various information, news, entertainment etc. The revenue model goes like this :
1. Per call is charged premium at Rs. 6 per minute of usage
2. Revenue is shared between telecom services provider and the VAS service provider. Revenue sharing is heavily tilted towards telecom service provider in India while it is opposite in some countries like China.
3. Billing is done monthly by the VAS Operator to telecom service provider.Telecom service provider charges mobile user in their telephone bills.

One telecom service provider can have many voice portals catering to many niche markets. The voice portal market is still growing and there are scopes for new players!

2. CRBT or PRBT
CRBT ( Caller Ringback Tone) is also known as PRBT( Personalised ring back tone.). This is nothing but an IVR Application as I explained earlier too. It also started quite recently in 2000 only! The increase in usage and popularity of CRBT is largely due to increase in Mobile Telephony and marketing by Mobile telephony provider.
CRBT has been very popular all over the world. Specially in South Korea, China and India. The revenue model is little different than voice portal. CRBT is again provide normally by a VAS operator to a telecom service provider. Here is the revenue model:

1. A subscriber is charged a monthly rental for using the CRBT service. Normally it is small amount like Rs. 30/- a month.
2. Subscriber can change CRBT tone by calling up a Voice Portal Number, add specific ring tone or song for a specific caller according to caller id. Each change is charged Rs. 15.
3. It does not charge for playing the ring tone for every call.
4. Revenue is shared between VAS operator and telecom service provider.
5. Since it uses songs, there may be a revenue sharing with music producers too.

Normally, one telecom service provider can not have more than one VAS operator for CRBT due to its technical setup. The market is still growing and big. There are still scope for new players, specially in India.

Apart from these two IVR Applications, I believe both Voice SMS, Outbound IVRS and UMS(Unified Messaging Service) are other IVR application which can be used commercially to make money. I will write more about them in future.

Special Disclaimer : The prices given above are just a number to give an idea of charging subscribers. It should not be taken as absolute fact.

High-End digital CTI boards for a voice portal is not cheap! In fact some of them cost as much as a Honda Civic car in India. So, choosing a right CTI Board for your Voice Portal may not be easy, that is until you read this article .

So, how to choose a CTI Board for your voice portal application ? There are few parameters using which one should choose CTI Board for Voice Portal:-

1. Number of Expected Simultaneous Calls
Most important factor to consider! If you expect simultaneous calls to be not more than four, buy any four channel analog card. But than, most probably it will not remain a voice portal! Ideally, if one should choose a CTI board with 50% more capacity than the expected number of glutenous calls. if some one expects 10-15 calls, he should choose one 30 port Digital CTI board.

2. Time to connect a call
Time taken for connecting a call when an user call is important! It depends of the interface the CTI board supports. For example, CAS R2MF connects much slower than SS7 or ISDN PRI. One will hear “teent teent teent” sound after dialing the Voice Portal before connection. Normally quick and instant connection to Voice Portal is desired.

3. Interface With Switch Support
The type of interfacing with switch of Telecom Provider is important parameter to consider. Many Telecom Service Provider may not have CAS or ISDN protocols on their switch or they may not be willing to provide that connectivity to Voice Portal operators. So, one must consider about available protocol with Telecom Provider before deciding on a CTI board. Interfacing with various protocols is responsible time to connect of calls. SS7 cards are costlier than ISDN PRI or CAS R2MF boards, connects calls almost instantly. And some CTI Manufacturer like Dialogic does not have a combined board which has both Voice Processing and SS7 Signaling so far! This kind of arrangement has its own advantage over combined CTI boards. For example, one can have add more Media Processing (Voice Processing) Boards while keeping one signaling board in one system. Also combined (Signaling and Media Processing) CTI boards do not come in low density configuration, they normally have 8 E1 or more. 4E1 meaning at least 120 simultaneous calls!

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3. Scalability and IVR Software
This is another aspect one should not ignore. If the Voice Portal becomes popular, which is the main aim by any Voice Portal Operator, so the CTI Boards should have scalability feature where increasing number of simultaneous calls should not make existing hardware redundant, or make IVR Software obsolete. Separate boards for signaling and media processing is recommended for scalability. IVR Software should be designed such a way that, it can handle more voice resources without having to re-develop the IVR Software.

4. Support for the CTI Board
Availability of development support as well as quick 24 hours support for any problem in the CTI hardware is a must! Every minutes of downtime of Voice Portal, the operator loses revenue! So, one should choose a CTI vendor which can provide quick support or quick replacement of CTI hardware in case of CTI board failure! Also, CTI Vendor should have active forum to discuss various issues and should have good number of third party developers!

5. Cost
Cost is very important, well for everybody! But, one should not compromise of quality of CTI cards for cost.

My Favourite and Recommended CTI hardware:

1. For 30 to 120 simultaneous Calls.
Start with Dialogic D/300 JCT or DMV1200 card. They have ISDN, R2MF protocol, good support, quite tested CTI board. Many developers have written IVR Software on them! Dialogic has good support, active forum, large number of developers. But since they are the biggest CTI vendor, they may not provide you with a demo card for development of your Voice Portal!
These boards can be even used with Dialogic SS7 Signaling boards.

2. For 240 or more simultaneous calls
1. Synway SHD-240D-CT/PCI
Good Value for money, good support. Built in Signaling and media processing. Cheaper than Dialogic equivalent.
2. Dialogic SPCI4/SPCI2 and DNI2410
Awesome combination, great scalability, very good support and large number of developers as well as very active forum. Cost is almost double that Synway though!

I keep getting requirement from many customers to deploy IVR in 2 days time after they have bought the CTI card.

Is it possible to deploy IVR in 2 days ? According to me, Impossible unless you have the following assets in place:

1. Voice Artist both male and female and for at least three language if the IVR is to be deployed in India. ( In India, normally IVR has to be in three languages, 1. English 2. Hindi and 3. Any one of the 17 Languages called MIL ( Modern Indian Language)

2. A Studio with sound recordists available 24 hours.

3. Script Writer.

4. Call Flow designer.

5. Coder who uses either C++ or Any third Party development tools.

For deploying IVR, one should not keep only 2 days! That is the bottom line. IVR may be really a complicated system which may require proper planning. There are then unknown problems like integration of switch! I have a experience with IRIS IVDX switch. We had to literally strugle to implement Call Transfer using a D300 card with ISDN PRI-E .

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Here are few checklist one must complete before they proceed to deploy a IVR system

1. Complete or at least 90% Call Flow in proper Flow Chart.

2. Complete script as per the flow chart.

3. Successful database integration if any.

4. Successful Integration with Switch and CTI Hardware. Or at least keep support from Switch End ready.

5. Make test calls available. Many a times I have found sites where you can not make call to the IVR number or no extension or phone number to make an Outgoign call. Also, when you are implementing features like, play IVR options when all agents extesnions are busy, play “All our customer care exceutves are busy, please wait or press 1 to lodge your complaint”, then you need at least 3 extensions.

6. Normally Switch has many features! If those features are propelry exploited, IVR can be really intelligent. For example, Automatic Change Number announcement.

1. Caller Dials a number say 2345. 2345 was changed to say, 3345.Now SWITCH will capture the DNI 2345, and transfer the the call to IVR number, say, 1200, sending 2345 as CLI.
2. IVR will receive the call, announce that the number 2345 ( captured by IVR as CLI), is changed to 3345, press 1 if you want to listen to the changed number again,  if you want us to transfer the your call to new number 3345, press 2 or disconenct.
3. IVR will transfer the call to 3345.

To achieve the above, SWITCH  has to capture the DNI of the caller and convert it to its CLI, before call is sent IVR. IVRS, being Analog, it can detect only CLI.

It might be little technical, but your SWITCH support will understand them!

7. Recording of all scripts as well as in all languages.

8. Availability of Sound Editing Software as well as Sound Editor.

I hope, I have argued successfully that deployment of IVRS is not a 2day job!