Outlook integration

jimbojr

I'm considering switching to Express Talk, but need to know it's level of integration with MS Outlook. I've searched all the forum boards and can't find solid answers to these questions:

1. Can express talk dial outlook contacts? (or is there a TAPI driver for Express Talk that I can select from the built-in Outlook dialer, under Dialer Options | Line Properties)?

2. Does ET have the ability to do a Screen Pop of an Outlook contact based on the phone number of the incoming call? And, if the contact doesn't exist, it can create a new Outlook contact (and optionally a journal entry) for the new caller.

There are 3rd party programs out there to do it. However, I'm trying to avoid installing a bunch of widgets to add bits of functionality. It makes scaling a solution to many users a PITA. I'd rather find a soft phone that already has this functionality built in.

Your responses are appreciated

Jimbo

jimbojr

No response yet?

I found Vonalink ScreenPop ($30) a 3rd party tool that gets the job done. It will open an existing Outlook contact based on the caller ID number. If the contact doesn't already exist, you can optionally configure ScreenPop to create a new contact. The reason I chose this 3rd party tool over others is that it's not TAPI dependent. Rather than relying on TAPI to monitor the soft phone, it monitors the phone's ports and intercepts SIP messages to trigger the screen pop.

While this is a nice solution. I really wish this was a built-in feature of a business level soft phone. CTI is an important feature for business. I'm not a big fan of spending an extra $30 for this feature, considering the price of the phone itself.

Jimbo