Contact centers can be expensive and time consuming to maintain. That’s where Equilibrium and its EQ Contact Center come in.
The EQ Contact Center is entirely Web-based. No software to install. No workstations to update.
“We deploy on-premise or hosted, and agents, call center supervisors, historical reporting—all the contact center core—is done through web browsers,” Equilibrium CEO Gregg Hansen told ContactCenterSolutions during ITEXPO Miami this past January.
This makes ongoing administration and maintenance extremely easy.
With traditional contact center software, each workstation must be updated when an update is rolled out, but not with EQ Contact Center.
“With our software, it actually pushes the updates through the web, and the agents just use their browser and their phones, whether it is a softphone or a hard phone,” he said.
Operations that have agents that work out of their home have been particularly well served by the software, he said.
“Because we’re web-based, all you need is for that one port to work. So VPN or remote agents work perfectly with our software.”
It also is affordable. A 10-seat call center with advanced features, cradle to grave support and graphical dial pad scripting can be purchased for less than $20,000, he noted.
“It is definitely an easy solution for people to get into where they previously wouldn’t be able to afford a call manager or other type of solution.”
Equilibrium also offers a PBX that integrates with its call center software and is based off the open source Asterisk PBX.
“We have the PBX as well,” he noted. “We don’t just add onto an existing PBX. So we provide all the functionality. And because we’re working with a specific PBX, we can add higher than normal functionality to it.”
Asterisk has made great strides in the last few years in terms of acceptance, he noted. While previous releases still had some bugs, Asterisk is now seen as a stable solution that is being adopted by call centers and companies of all types. It is no longer a gamble, whereas choosing a proprietary PBX is the iffy proposition.
“If you said you programmed a PBX, I would be hesitant,” he mused. “I would try it out, but I would be hesitant. With Asterisk it is proven. It is out there and people are using it.”
The complete interview with Equilibrium CEO Gregg Hansen can be seen above.