pascom Netzwerktechnik, developers of the mobydick VoIP system, announced version 7.11 of the open source contact center solution.
mobydick is a modified version of the popular open source Asterisk (News - Alert) VoIP server with features designed for use in call centers.
The new version introduces some major features such as skills-based routing, or the ability to route calls to representatives who specialize in a specific area of customer service, such as retention.
“Adding advanced call routing and skill based routing to our the already numerous list of contact and call center tools that mobydick already delivers is great news for all our customers,” pascom founder and CEO Mathias Pasquay said. “Skill based routing has been an often requested development by our Call Center customers and we are pleased to be able to say we have listened and delivered and in doing so have grown our mobydick software into a very cost effective IP phone system solution for Call Centers that is also equally at home within office environments.”
The new version shows some of the advantages of using open source in business. Developers can add new features to an existing program, Asterisk in this case, without having to build a new PBX (News - Alert) system from scratch.
While mobydick itself is available as a free download, there are a couple of paid support tiers that business users can choose from based on their needs. The cost is either $6.49 per month per user or a one-time fee of $139 per user. Both plans include support and maintenance. Volume discounts are also available.
The stumbling block for acceptance of open source in the enterprise has not been the cost of software, but support. Most open source projects are developed on a volunteer basis, leaving the users themselves responsible for maintaining and troubleshooting the software. Commercial support like the kind pascom offers makes open source software like Asterisk and mobydick much more attractive to businesses without specialized IT staff.
Edited by Maurice Nagle