Exploring VitalPBX
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So lots to be thrilled about. One staggering caveat is that while it is free, VitalPBX is not open source. This is a really huge deal and something that has to be considered if you are thinking about it for production.
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@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
So lots to be thrilled about. One staggering caveat is that while it is free, VitalPBX is not open source. This is a really huge deal and something that has to be considered if you are thinking about it for production.
That is not a deal breaker, but it lowers this on my priority list.
One thing about FreePBX is that most of it is OpenSource. I don't mind some proprietary stuff that I can buy/add to make life easier, but I like that it is mostly open.
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@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
So lots to be thrilled about. One staggering caveat is that while it is free, VitalPBX is not open source. This is a really huge deal and something that has to be considered if you are thinking about it for production.
That is not a deal breaker, but it lowers this on my priority list.
One thing about FreePBX is that most of it is OpenSource. I don't mind some proprietary stuff that I can buy/add to make life easier, but I like that it is mostly open.
Yeah. Not a deal breaker for me either, because of how PBXs work there really is no way to lock us in. So I'm not worried about it. But it does mean, for example, I can't just jump in and help to develop the Endpoint Manager for models that they don't already support. Something that seemed like a realistic thing otherwise.
But on the plus side, basically all of the features I would want are built in and free. Unlike FreePBX where there are often one or two that seem like should be purchased.
One things that we normally buy with FreePBX from a third party is FOP2. VitalPBX has their own option for this, that is cheap and the only add on that looked really compelling.
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We're very fond of VitalPBX. Take this with a grain of salt - but VitalPBX generates a very low number of support requests when compared to other PBXs. We tend to view that as a good indicator of how well the system works and how easy it is to administer.
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@Skyetel said in Exploring VitalPBX:
We're very fond of VitalPBX. Take this with a grain of salt - but VitalPBX generates a very low number of support requests when compared to other PBXs. We tend to view that as a good indicator of how well the system works and how easy it is to administer.
Grain of salt indeed. How are you calculating that? This is a solution with a tiny fraction of the current market. Low number of requests are easily just because there are fewer people installing it. Also because it is typically the more technical people trialing things, they also need less help.
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@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Skyetel said in Exploring VitalPBX:
We're very fond of VitalPBX. Take this with a grain of salt - but VitalPBX generates a very low number of support requests when compared to other PBXs. We tend to view that as a good indicator of how well the system works and how easy it is to administer.
Grain of salt indeed. How are you calculating that? This is a solution with a tiny fraction of the current market. Low number of requests are easily just because there are fewer people installing it. Also because it is typically the more technical people trialing things, they also need less help.
We calculate it per capita to account for the imbalance. We don't have a ton of VitalPBXs on our network, but enough to have an opinion. Its not hard science, hence the "grain of salt," but we do keep up with what systems work better than others. (Its a big part of how our relationship pricing works)
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@Skyetel said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Skyetel said in Exploring VitalPBX:
We're very fond of VitalPBX. Take this with a grain of salt - but VitalPBX generates a very low number of support requests when compared to other PBXs. We tend to view that as a good indicator of how well the system works and how easy it is to administer.
Grain of salt indeed. How are you calculating that? This is a solution with a tiny fraction of the current market. Low number of requests are easily just because there are fewer people installing it. Also because it is typically the more technical people trialing things, they also need less help.
We calculate it per capita to account for the imbalance. We don't have a ton of VitalPBXs on our network, but enough to have an opinion. Its not hard science, hence the "grain of salt," but we do keep up with what systems work better than others. (Its a big part of how our relationship pricing works)
I should add - VitalPBX might surprise you with how popular it is. It's also growing really really fast. Vital is definitely well beyond a "tiny fraction." They're just not a major player... yet.
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@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
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@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
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@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
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@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
I know a lot of SMBs that don't have a fixed desk and are not call centers. Perfect customers for hotdesking but most of them have opted to go 100% cell phones instead and no voip.
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@Pete-S said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
I know a lot of SMBs that don't have a fixed desk and are not call centers. Perfect customers for hotdesking but most of them have opted to go 100% cell phones instead and no voip.
Why are they changing desks so frequently? Are they like silicon valley and just wasting time?
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@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Pete-S said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
I know a lot of SMBs that don't have a fixed desk and are not call centers. Perfect customers for hotdesking but most of them have opted to go 100% cell phones instead and no voip.
Why are they changing desks so frequently? Are they like silicon valley and just wasting time?
Because they are like doctors, perhaps?
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@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Pete-S said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
I know a lot of SMBs that don't have a fixed desk and are not call centers. Perfect customers for hotdesking but most of them have opted to go 100% cell phones instead and no voip.
Why are they changing desks so frequently? Are they like silicon valley and just wasting time?
Because they are like doctors, perhaps?
I don't have any idea what that means?
My docs aren't tied to any phone but their cell. It would be impractical to assign them a deskphone, I suppose we could give them a WiFi/DECT phone, but they would hate that too. -
Our sales team of about 35-40 corporate wide use hot desking but we are not SMB. In SMB I've only seen one instance: Small insurance firm that wanted it and as @JaredBusch said it was an inbound call /call center type environment for about 5-10 agents
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@jt1001001 said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Our sales team of about 35-40 corporate wide use hot desking but we are not SMB. In SMB I've only seen one instance: Small insurance firm that wanted it and as @JaredBusch said it was an inbound call /call center type environment for about 5-10 agents
Even there with so few employees you could easily give everyone their own desk.
So hot desking isn't really required, just a nice to have. If you have 200 agents working 24/7 out of a 50 desk office, then it would make sense.
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@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Pete-S said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
I know a lot of SMBs that don't have a fixed desk and are not call centers. Perfect customers for hotdesking but most of them have opted to go 100% cell phones instead and no voip.
Why are they changing desks so frequently? Are they like silicon valley and just wasting time?
Because they are like doctors, perhaps?
I don't have any idea what that means?
My docs aren't tied to any phone but their cell. It would be impractical to assign them a deskphone, I suppose we could give them a WiFi/DECT phone, but they would hate that too.Why impractical? With hot desking, it is pretty practical.
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Any time you have hotel space it is nice. If you have a shared office of any type.
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@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Pete-S said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
I know a lot of SMBs that don't have a fixed desk and are not call centers. Perfect customers for hotdesking but most of them have opted to go 100% cell phones instead and no voip.
Why are they changing desks so frequently? Are they like silicon valley and just wasting time?
Because they are like doctors, perhaps?
I don't have any idea what that means?
My docs aren't tied to any phone but their cell. It would be impractical to assign them a deskphone, I suppose we could give them a WiFi/DECT phone, but they would hate that too.Why impractical? With hot desking, it is pretty practical.
Well no, you are talking about doctors.....
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@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Dashrender said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@Pete-S said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@JaredBusch said in Exploring VitalPBX:
@scottalanmiller said in Exploring VitalPBX:
Hot Desking
This is an over wanted feature. SMB Clients always say they want it, but never actually use it. I mean it is solid in a Call Center, but SMB? Nope.
We have a fifteen person office that has 20 users and no stable desks. They cycle in people from home and treat the office like a sales call center.
Call Center. The use case I specified. Most SMB don't do Call Center. I never said none do.
I know a lot of SMBs that don't have a fixed desk and are not call centers. Perfect customers for hotdesking but most of them have opted to go 100% cell phones instead and no voip.
Why are they changing desks so frequently? Are they like silicon valley and just wasting time?
Because they are like doctors, perhaps?
I don't have any idea what that means?
My docs aren't tied to any phone but their cell. It would be impractical to assign them a deskphone, I suppose we could give them a WiFi/DECT phone, but they would hate that too.Why impractical? With hot desking, it is pretty practical.
Because they don't work at a desk. They walk around entirely to much. They don't answer the phone - someone else answers the phones for them, then they physically find the doc in question, and transfer the call to the nearest phone, and hold that phone until the doctor takes the phone from them.
