By using the latest stable technology, Opinion-8 is able to integrate with practically all current and legacy telephone infrastructures. Using Open Source technology enables Opinion-8 to support comfortably future telephony environments as well.
Opinion-8′s hosted service
The Opinion-8 telephony system was designed as a carrier grade solution. As such Opinion-8 is now operated as a service on the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) as well as being deployed locally at customer sites. The Opinion-8 hosted platform has inter-connect agreements with third party carriers and is hosted securely in multiple data centres in Maidenhead and Bristol.
This flexibility and reliability enable Opinion-8 to provide high volume international surveying across multiple contact channels (e.g. telephone, web and email). The carrier grade solution provided by Opinion-8 and the inter-connect agreements with third party carriers enable Opinion-8 to be an integrated part of customers call handling.
As well as providing full UK telecommunications services, Opinion-8 can provide international calling, international numbering and call routing. Opinion-8 surveys and management interface are intrinsically multi-lingual, therefore customers can deploy surveys (whether telephone, web or email based) to customers in any location in the world and allow them to participate in a of their choosing.
Opinion-8′s on-premise solution
We can provide equipment for use in customer premises as an alternative to our hosted service. If your organisation operates security policies that preclude the use of a hosted service, Opinion-8’s on-premise solution could be the answer for your surveying needs. In addition, if you are committing to a long-term project, you may find it more cost-effective to outlay an initial capital investment rather than incurring the ongoing costs of a hosted option.
Telephony interfaces
The following are compatible with Opinion-8’s on-premise solution:
- ISDN E1, ISDN T1, Analogue, ISDN2, DPNSS, DASS2, PCM30/PCM32, Qsig
- SIP, IAX, IAX2, H323, CISCO Skinny (SCCP)
Technical data
- Power supply: 115 / 230 V AC
- Temperature range: +5 … +35 °C
- Dimensions (rack mounted): 1U (Depth: 550 mm)
- Maximum start-up power: 260W
- Steady-state power requirement: 120W*
- Heat dissipation: 520 BTU/h*
* Based on average CPU and disk use.
Integration
As Opinion-8 is built using Open Source technology and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers, it integrates seamlessly with any existing infrastructure, is easy to maintain and caters for future expansion.
It also integrates easily with all common, traditional and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony solutions.
Opinion-8 IVR survey requirements
Opinion-8 is operated as a SaaS platform. No specific infrastructure, software or technology is required to use Opinion-8, just standard IT equipment commonly found in every organisation’s offices. A PC with Internet access is all that is needed for accessing Opinion-8′s management information portal. All reporting tools are browser-based and work in any recent browser. To listen to audio comments, a PC with sound card and speakers is required. The soundcard should support eight KHz Wav files.
Contact centre IVR platform
To enable call centre customers to participate in the survey, agents must have telephones that can transfer calls to an outside line. If contact centre data is to be attached to the survey, the agent’s PC needs to have Internet access.
Technical architecture of Opinion-8 IVR telephone surveys
Opinion-8 is a distributed system with different components of the system running on different computers which may be in different locations. An Opinion-8 telephone survey is handled as follows:
- The call arrives on the Opinion-8 voice server.
- The voice server makes a request to the controlling web server to run a survey, saying it has a call from a given telephone number.
- The Opinion-8 web server sends the appropriate survey to the voice server.
- The voice processing equipment in the voice server runs the survey.
- At the end of the call the voice equipment sends the survey results and any verbatim comments back to the web server.
- Calls to Opinion-8 can be transferred via the agent, automatically, or you can use call-back.