How to Build Your Own Call Center

You can now build a customized call center for your workgroup. Ifyou have Visual Basic or PowerBuilder developers on staff, have them combine acommunications peripheral from TeleSys Technologies and the ComSense server fromMaxQ Technologies. (The peripheral should be a LAN-based unit that handlesphone, fax, voice, Internet, and video services.) MaxQ's ComSense, acommunications management system, controls all communications through theperipheral. It includes a task integration server (TIS) that resides on aWindows NT server.

ComSense provides control of communications as an NT-based service providerto client applications. The ComSense-enabled agent desktop applicationscommunicate with the ComSense TIS. ComSense manages requests much like the way adatabase management system manages requests for data services, enabling theclient/server application programmer to use a familiar tool to controlcommunications from the workgroup's desktop computers.

You can write applications with standard tools. ComSense supports Access,Microsoft SQL Server, and other ODBC-compliant databases. Communicationsperipheral information is posted to the ComSense database, giving the programmerready access to key communications information (e.g., time and duration of calland current activity). ComSense has built-in features that enable virtualextensions for voicemail, voicemail for groups, automatic routing to groups,setup of multiple work groups, and full third-party call control.

The ComSense software development kit contains source code for severalapplications, a CT server, and a voicemail application. After you add your ownworkflow steps, you have a CT-enabled workgroup.