feat: Adding VOIP Integration/Support

[jberenback]

One of the reasons our team is hesitant to consider Chatwoot as we look for something other than Zendesk is the fact we can not support VOIP. Since we are a website that does rely on phone calls (much less than a call center), we need VOIP. If we were to migrate to a new system, all of these items (texting, voice, email, chat etc), would need to be encompassed under one umbrella so that we wouldn't have disjointed systems.

Right now we use Zendesk and Zipwhip. But Zendesk is clunky when it comes to most things and being able to have our product team integrate everything without our internal site would allow us to have a much better system overall. Just a thought as I'm sure many who are looking to move to something self hosted require VOIP (if they are using a help desk that has it), and would need it with the new system, rather than with another app.

Thanks!

[iammattmartin]

This would be good long term but I would imagine it would be very far down the list given that chatwoot is still quite a new product and some core functions still need adding in...

Even long term SaaS offerings have only just added this and they've been in dev 10 + years.

[jcmatoskx]

Would love to see VOIP support as well, being able to have on customer history whenever they contacted us or were contacted by phone would be amazing, as well as being able to know who is the customer who is calling us and immediately be able to easily look at their contact history.

[Apesy]

VoIP, Hold Music, IVR, Customer History, all encompassed under Chatwoot would make definitely make this a good alternative to Zendesk. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 having Omnichannel Support Solutions such as Zendesk, Zoho, Freshdesk, etc, have become unaffordable due to their ridiculous high prices. If Chatwoot could implement most features that these other major companies have and STILL remain open-source this would be the perfect solution that most companies would switch too. I mean for Zendesk, you're looking at roughly $4,000 a month per agent for an enterprise sized solution.

[andredanner]

I have a startup running that does chat- and voicebots for specific sme use cases. The only reason that I am currently reluctant to offer my customers chatwoot as fully flechted contact center approach including bot integration is the missing VOIP Part.

More than happy to follow the discussion and/or to start into the design discussion. As I am not really feeling familiar with the chatwoot architectur and code base, I am a bit reluctant to offer implementation support. Perhaps, if someone could guide me ....

Best Regards

Andre

[jatosmaime]

VOIP is the only missing part!

[luissakihama]

Yes we would love that! But I was thinking, that maybe a combination of API Inbox with Dashboard App could be a workaround solution for this. API Inbox could be integrated with Asterisk via REST to trigger calls and get status, and deploying an Dashboard App to receive / make calls via WebRTC. Is that make sense?

[egejo]

Agree VOIP is a missing important link...Love to see it on chatwoot

[tobsowo]

VoIP will be great feature to add to Chatwoot as it will make it stand out and more popular to enterprise grade solutions.

[clairton]

+1

[sdekna]

I think VOIP these days is becoming a must for any customer engagement app... +++1 Also, with the bursting numbers of open source voip solutions out there, it shouldn't be a big development commitment to allow it to hook up with some/any of these services. A simple in-house solution would be something like webRTC... or an integration plugin to any of the other providers out there.

[wokawoka]

+1

[eremeye]

+1

[jmelati]

+1

[luiszxcv]

+1

[Aghiles97]

This feature is definitely needed and requested a lot, I hope in the near future we will see this in action.

[caribetodoincluido]

Facebook leads + Chatwoot (Voip + Dialer + ACD + WhatsApp Api (Forms) + Catalog + Payments ) Google ADS (Call Campaign) + Chatwoot (Voip + Dialer + ACD + WhatsApp Api (Forms) + Catalog + Payments ) Click to Call (Web Widget+Social Networks) + Chatwoot (Voip + Dialer + ACD + WhatsApp Api (Forms) + Catalog + Payments )

Each Traveler needs a phone call for urgent inquiry during a trip or just for take a relax vacations knowing that your travel concierge (travel business) is so close as a call. Is a priority channel for several business.

🤑🤑🤑 🚀

[Aghiles97]

Facebook leads + Chatwoot (Voip + Dialer + ACD + WhatsApp Api (Forms) + Catalog + Payments ) Google ADS (Call Campaign) + Chatwoot (Voip + Dialer + ACD + WhatsApp Api (Forms) + Catalog + Payments ) Click to Call (Web Widget+Social Networks) + Chatwoot (Voip + Dialer + ACD + WhatsApp Api (Forms) + Catalog + Payments )

Each Traveler needs a phone call for urgent inquiry during a trip or just for take a relax vacations knowing that your travel concierge (travel business) is so close as a call. Is a priority channel for several business.

money_mouth_facemoney_mouth_facemoney_mouth_face rocket

Not only that, but Chatwoot can become a rich complete solution that can surpass popular CRM that already supports VOIP integration with popular PBX technologies like Asterisk.

[LiLiJal]

Hey @sojan-official is VOIP integration somewhere in Chatwoot roadmap based on these huge interest ?

[luiszxcv]

É realmente um recurso necessário.

[PP-Contrib]

I can help on the asterisk / FreePBX part

[ekavun]

Indeed the feature would be beautiful. I would suggest to stay neutral vis-à-vis the PBX, and work on the SIP aspects only. Many WebPHones, javascript libraries and such offer WebRTC support, and that allows a vendor generic solution.

Congratulations for such high values, Chatwoot seems to be really a stand-out in Open Source offerings!

[ekavun]

There is a pretty straight forward integration I can suggest, to start with. It does not use a WebPhone, but rather provides a way to bridge caller and agent as soon as the agent gets assigned a conversation. I'm happy to provide the server-side playground for the telephony components for the integration dev.

Proposed MVP:

1. Remain vendor agnostic, and use SIP capabilities:

• The inbound call routing and logic can collect initial data from the caller, besides the Caller ID. An interactive Voice response can ask for language preference, account number, tracking number, reservation code, etc, and place the caller in the appropriate queue. This would be done per anyone's preference and tools, be it Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, Microsoft Teams, Twilio, etc.
• The values collected are carried on to Chatwoot using X-Headers in the SIP invite. (Flags such as 'X-User-Authenticated: true' can let the agent know the user has already been identified via account number and PIN, for example)

2. Chatwoot could provide dynamic API calls for the PBX to query, with parameters such as current expected hold time, choice of music on hold, custom announcements, SIP URI for the CSAT (where caller is transferred after a conversation ends), unique CallBack URL for the conversation, etc.
3. Chatwood would permit user account parameters for VoIP settings, including the extension or device the agent uses to receive calls, any necessary authentication information, etc.
4. On a live view of conversations and inbound call flows, an agent can pick a call to get assigned, which then triggers the caller to be forwarded to the agent's extension, as defined in the user's settings.
5. Thereafter, the status of agent switches to busy, until the call ends and the PBX sends a status report to the specified CallBack URL, which updates the conversation.

Going forward, additional capabilities could be added, such as skills based routing, which could already be done somewhat via the X-Headers idea. Ideally, the inbound call flows should show the Caller ID, and Called Number, at a minimum. The Caller ID is to lookup any existing contacts for the caller, and the Called Number can be used to lookup what company, department, etc, is trying to be reached.

Future implementations can include a SIP user-agent for Chatwoot that stays in the call flow at all times, as if every call was a conference call (caller, agent, Chatwoot Bot). This could permit offering benefits like agent supervision, Chatwoot side call recording and transcription, transferring calls from one agent to the other from the Chatwoot interface, and just live session handling options.

[ekavun]

If a WebPhone was required, there are plenty. I will try this one shortly: https://github.com/gmaruzz/saraphone

[kj2222]

@ekavun @PPaiva can we collaborate on this?

[ekavun]

I’m in! Let me know where we should move the conversation and get organized.

On Nov 22, 2023, at 11:48 AM, kj2222 @.***> wrote:

@ekavun https://github.com/ekavun @PPaiva https://github.com/PPaiva can we collaborate on this?

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot/issues/2898#issuecomment-1822531388, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AF7LKBOUQELM25JLIJXTOEDYFXJ63AVCNFSM5C5R4PA2U5DIOJSWCZC7NNSXTN2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQ5TCOBSGI2TGMJTHA4A. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.

[PP-Contrib]

Also in. :)

I’m in! Let me know where we should move the conversation and get organized. … On Nov 22, 2023, at 11:48 AM, kj2222 @.***> wrote: @ekavun https://github.com/ekavun @PPaiva https://github.com/PPaiva can we collaborate on this? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2898 (comment)>, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AF7LKBOUQELM25JLIJXTOEDYFXJ63AVCNFSM5C5R4PA2U5DIOJSWCZC7NNSXTN2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQ5TCOBSGI2TGMJTHA4A. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.

[kj2222]

@ekavun @PPaiva Let's move this to email. Just drop me your email address here: https://forms.gle/YjrsxLvmRJovmNkz6 and let's get started

In case @LiLiJal @jcmatoskx @andredanner @Aghiles97 or someone else wants to collaborate on this

[ekavun]

Hi!

The link gives: "This form can only be viewed by users in the owner's organization."

Can’t access it.

Cheers!

On Nov 24, 2023, at 7:27 AM, kj2222 @.***> wrote:

@ekavun https://github.com/ekavun @PPaiva https://github.com/PPaiva Let's move this to email. Just drop me your email address here: https://forms.gle/YjrsxLvmRJovmNkz6 and let's get started

In case @LiLiJal https://github.com/LiLiJal @jcmatoskx https://github.com/jcmatoskx @andredanner https://github.com/andredanner @Aghiles97 https://github.com/Aghiles97 or someone else wants to collaborate on this

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot/issues/2898#issuecomment-1825202541, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AF7LKBPC2CV35MAD7UQMR3LYGA453AVCNFSM5C5R4PA2U5DIOJSWCZC7NNSXTN2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQ5TCOBSGUZDAMRVGQYQ. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.