I would like to hear opinions on the merits of implementing an IVR system using Asterisk. My initial IVR won't have a lot of traffic, so it will not need any extra hardware, but that can be added later on.
My real concern is the programmability. Can Asterisk implement a real like IVR with many options, loops (3 strikes you're out), subroutines, collecting a certain number of digits, etc.? Additionally, I will need to perform database lookups while the caller is waiting and exec some external Unix program to send a fax or e-mail.
Is Asterisk up to the task?
Thanks for sharing your insight in this matter.
-Ramon F Herrera