advice for BCM system - PBX Info :: Your Free PBX, PABX and Telephone Information Resource

hhknighter · 01-18-2007, 06:50 AM

Greetings to all PBX experts,

Just been authorize our company to change our existing PBX (some old Nortel PBX).

We currently have two sites VPN-ed with a H323 VOIP gateway which is also due to be replaced. Site A consist of 10 users max and site B contains a mini call center with 8-10 active agents and 10 more regular employees. Calls usually original from site A city to B agents and ends with Site B calling back to A city.

A vendor recommended BCM 50 for site A with 8 VOIP channels, 8 CO trunks. BCM 400 for site B, with CC Professional (16 seats), 20 CO trunks 8 VOIP channels.

TIA for any comments for the following Qs:
- Are configs above ok? The price seems quite hefty
- we have 20 phone lines (which we will cut a few) at Site A, what's BCM 50's max CO line capacity?
- Does BCM50 support Analog DDI, CTX and Hunting?
- We were going with all softphones to minimize cost, however, there's some hesitation in Vendor's advice, is that really not recommended?
- Heard there was a feature for BCM call center to have like a dashboard for call centers, and also have the ability for supervisors to route calls when necessary; is this only avail with BCM 400 + CC Pro?
- Any comments on Unified Messaging? Is that worth it? (we have one voice mailbox per user)
- are admins and reports web based?
- Any alternative to Nortel? We checked Avaya and found its cost even higher.

thanks in advance for any comments.

frenche · 01-18-2007, 07:24 PM

The BCM base unit supports 12 digital phones, 4 analog trunks, 4 analog stations and 32 IP phones. The BCM 50 also support two expansion modules. It sounds like one of those is being used to support a 4 port analog trunk module. The 2nd expansion module could be used to support an 8 port analog trunk module would give you a total of 16 analog trunks. If the 4 port analog trunk module were replace with an 8 port analog trunk module you would have 20 trunks.

BCM 50 Rls 2 supports same features as the BCM 200/400 units at rls 4.0.

Softphone can be used but you will not save much money. You will need a USB headset to use with the softphone. These cost about $100. Also, if PC crashes or is turned off, no phone. To save money, look at digital phones.

Real time contact center reports are availible on the BCM 50 rls 2

If your user deal with a lot of voice and email they will love UM.

Contact Center reports are web based.

frenche

gogoGophers · 01-19-2007, 08:48 AM

BCM 50 does support hunting and centrex (if that's what you mean by ctx).
BCM will support analog DDI, but it takes a somewhat unusual and specific hardware combination, make sure the vendor understands what you want.
With 15+ plus lines and DDI (DID), you should migrate to a PRI circuit regardless of the solution you go with. Admin is PC client based.
VoIP trunking works well and the technology is mature on the BCM platform.

hhknighter · 01-22-2007, 05:42 AM

Thanks a lot to frenche and gogoGophers

Since I never implemented a PBX before, it was difficult to understand how everything works right off the bat.

Apparently only 15 of 20 lines go into existing PBX, the other 5 are direct for modem purposes. We called around for T1s but found the price is pretty high compared to just 20 analog lines. Also, no one at my comp. has much experience with T1 administration (if needed).

If BCM50 contains CC with reports, I am guessing it doesn't make sense to go all out with a BCM400 for our Call Center? Our site B only has 40 total users and roughly 25-30 active in the morning and 15 at night. We would love to have skill based routing, but with analog, seems rather moot.

For Site A, the vendor proposed:
1 Base unit + 3 wall mount bracket + 2 exp. chassis
1 port exp auth code
8 port analog Trunk
DSM32 digital station

Shouldn't the based unit include 4 port analog and 32 digital stations? those were quoted as separate units

Thank you very much for helping. This is a lot tougher than I thought.

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