Automated Communications, any suggestions

[Hostel_Takeover]

Hi All,
I am looking for a company that handles automated communications processing. You call a number, you get voice prompts, you can speak or press buttons to move forward, etc... If anyone knows of a few good companies that handle this kind of thing I will gladly reward you w/great real estate advice(my current muse).
Thanks in advance,
Hostel_Takeover
***UPDATE TO QUESTION*** to clarify, I am looking for the kind of companies that handle the pure automation side of telebanking, automated telephone processing, not so many humans. :) Hope this helps I would appreciate all and any advice.
Thanks Again,
Hostel_Takeover

[TravelDog]

Have you looked at this thread:
http://fourhourworkweek.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=155

Posts there reference page 200 in 4HWW and also the Chapter 11 material in the resources section on this site. Some of the information seems to be for automated systems. That should get you started.

Good luck!

[FrozenCanuck]

Hostel,

Depending on your specific needs you can actually do this YOURSELF for quite cheap. Here is what you need to do (and you can likely hire someone on elance to write the setup code for you).

1) get yourself a phone number from a VoIP service provider. This is typically called a DID. it will likely come with a specific calling plan such as a number of minutes of use, etc. You want this to be from a provider of SIP service (session initiation protocol, standard language of VoIP) and not from a proprietary vendor such as Vonage or a cable company. You want something where the voice traffic is IP traffic, and stays that way. The typical cost of this phone line would be at most $10-20 per month and if you only need a couple hundred minutes of use it would be $5 or so per month.

2) Build a basic private-branch-exchange (PBX) on a home computer using OPEN SOURCE programs like Asterisk. Look it up on the internet. There are people who have made nice GUIs to help set this up and it is extremely easy to setup your own IVR (interactive voice responce) or touch-tone menu system. Your cost to do this is $300 for a cheap PC and whatever you need to spend to hire somebody to set it up.

This is the MOST FLEXIBLE option available to you if you want to sound like a big business but have total control over your infrastructure. Your PC would plug into yoru internet connection, and all phone calls would simply come on that way and be handled by your PC. If you needed the PC to then connect the caller to a live person, an outbound call can be setup that hooks up to yoru home phone, cell phone, etc. ALL THRU THE INTERNET. Very easy. Very cool.

[final_id]

ALL THRU THE INTERNET. Very easy. Very cool.

Didn't sound "very easy" to me at all. Connect this, program that, MICROMANAGE THE DETAILS of the other.

Where did "outsource" get lost in all that palaver? I used to think I liked tweaking with the settings on my computer. Now I realize I've lost two decades to learning a set of skills that I'll hardly be able to sell, and that are rapidly becoming obsolete, and that by definition are time-based and non-outsource-able.

Tell me the "easy" way to do things that is easy, not the "easy" way that is computerized technical gobble-dy-gook and therefore isn't "easy" at all, unless "easy" really means ... "hard."

[FrozenCanuck]

Didn't sound "very easy" to me at all. Connect this, program that, MICROMANAGE THE DETAILS of the other.

Where did "outsource" get lost in all that palaver? I used to think I liked tweaking with the settings on my computer. Now I realize I've lost two decades to learning a set of skills that I'll hardly be able to sell, and that are rapidly becoming obsolete, and that by definition are time-based and non-outsource-able.

Tell me the "easy" way to do things that is easy, not the "easy" way that is computerized technical gobble-dy-gook and therefore isn't "easy" at all, unless "easy" really means ... "hard."

FinalID and others interested:

1) purchasing your own phone number and subscribing to a VoIP service (using SIP) is as simple as filling out an online form. Any moron could do it without any technical skill whatsoever

2) The asterisk box (PBX on a PC) that I described can be as EASY or as COMPLEX as you need, and I stated that some may prefer to hire somebody else to do their setup.

3) I was clear that if you need something SPECIAL, that this might be the way to go because it allows you to do something customized.

4) Some technically competent people who have little cash flow to spend on outsourcing from day #1 may actually want to do this. Not everyone is as scared at technology as you made yourself sound (not intended as a flame, I swear).

Therefore, thanks for your feedback and keep in mind that not everyone has the same goals as you, the same interpretation of a user's needs as you, and the same cash flow as you to get started.

Outsource when you can, otherwise find the simplest alternative to do it yourself. That's my thinking.

[mannglobal]

See www.ringcentral.com


I use them for 3 different businesses and they are amazing, simple, outsourced, cheap, fast acting, customizable, easy to use, and have never gone down in the few years I've been with them.