Hi all,

Here to get the best exposure.
At work we are about to have the need for some sort of system that can monitor calls and forward them on to specific team members and it would be helpful if the call could be recorded. It must use the normal phone network so that anyone from the train company can contact us.
The situation that I've been given is thus:
Train company have a problem during the night (where there is no on-site support)
Train company rings a given number (always the same, never changes)
System would record that there was a call, what time and what number called it
System would forward the call onto the team member currently on call (it would be good if this could be scheduled to switch automagically at given times)
System would record the conversation between the train company and the on call support member
On a weekly basis be able to supply a report (probably stating where calls came from, when, how long calls were, how quickly the on call support responded, etc.)

Now, I've got no idea about this, but seeing as I've been waiting for French IT to set up an email address for the last 8 months and there is no UK IT, I'm left to do my best...

Can anyone recommend anything? I've got no idea on budgets, so I'm interested in a whole range of products.

Many thanks for any ideas,
Ben

Don't know about the forwarding aspect, but we've recently had an upgrade to our telephone system which includes the ability to log and record all calls. It consists of a standalone PC (the recording device) that links into our Ethernet network - they've then installed some software on the boss' PC to snoop, sorry, monitor (!) the calls. Recordings can be saved as audio files to be attached to emails or for archiving, etc. I'm sure that software is capable of much more than that though - my boss doesn't have any need for more than that though.

Think it was 4Com that installed it for us as part of our maintenance contract. I could find out more details if you think it's worth what you're after, then it might be worth contacting them?

Thanks Steve, one to check out

Here's the website:
http://www.4com.co.uk/

PM me if you need to know anything more specific and I'll ask the boss.

What phone system do you have in your office? Do you know what kind of voicemail it has? Do you know the passwords? There's a good chance you can just use that to do something that would work.

I can probably set up something by Monday for a monthly subscription. I'd have to ask the boss how much we'd charge, but we're talking around £5 to £20 depending on complexity. Does the on-call number change often, or is it a set rota? Would you need a web portal to control it? Do you want pie charts in the reports? Obviously the more complicated it gets, the longer it would take me.

I'm feeling slightly nostalgic. One of my customers years ago near Waterloo had a phone system that was linked to the French railway phone network. I think it was before IP. I think was an old analogue AC15 link </feeling old>

At the minute we have a single land line with a couple of "BT Featureline" phones. There is no voicemail or anything...



The on-call number would change twice a day (two 12 hour shifts most likely), the day number would usually be the same (possibly 1 day in 60 where it might need to be different), the night number would change on a weekly basis but would cycle over three weeks.
Web portal access would be good. Reports would probably consist of a log of each call with a summary somewhere.

A quote would be fantastic JJ. The contracts guy is here today so I can discuss budgets and things today.

PM sent.