Author
Shah Fahad
Founder, Yarqat
Shah Fahad helps companies launch products and businesses of their own, and is the founder of Yarqat. He builds AI agent platforms and enterprise software — most recently iAgentify, a multi-channel AI agent platform spanning WhatsApp, voice, email, web and social.
Writing by Shah Fahad
What VICIdial Actually Is, and When It Is the Right Choice
VICIdial is a genuinely capable contact centre platform with no per-seat licence. It is also four systems pretending to be one, and knowing that is what decides whether it works for you.
8 min readVICIdial or a Cloud Dialer: How the Cost Actually Compares
Per-seat pricing scales with headcount and self-hosting does not, so the two cross. The honest comparison is about where that crossover sits and what the flat line hides.
8 min readVICIdial Predictive Dialing Explained: Dial Level, Occupancy and Abandoned Calls
Predictive dialing is one trade-off wearing several names. Every point of agent occupancy you buy is paid for in abandoned calls, and regulators cap that number for you.
8 min readVICIdial Server Requirements: Sizing an Install That Survives Real Load
Most VICIdial installs are sized on agent count alone, which is the wrong number. The database gives way first, and it gives way in ways that look like telephony faults.
8 min readScaling VICIdial Past One Server: How a Cluster Really Works
A VICIdial cluster adds dialers, not databases. That single fact explains what scales easily, what does not, and where the ceiling on the whole thing sits.
7 min readVICIdial Inbound and Blended: DIDs, Call Menus and In-Groups
VICIdial has a reputation as an outbound dialer, but the inbound side is capable. The difficulty is blended, where a predictive campaign and an inbound queue both want the same agent.
7 min readCommon VICIdial Problems and What Actually Causes Them
One-way audio, calls that will not connect, agents timing out, reports that disagree. The same handful of causes explains nearly all of it, and almost none of them are the application.
8 min readSecuring a VICIdial Server: Toll Fraud and the Controls That Matter
An internet-facing dialer is scanned within hours of going live. The attack that costs you money is toll fraud, and one control caps the damage better than all the others.
7 min readWhy Most AI Projects Fail on Data, Not the Model
The model is rarely what sinks an AI project. It is data you cannot reach, evaluation nobody defined, and demos that never survive real production traffic.
7 min readRAG or Fine-Tuning: A Practical Decision Framework
RAG gives a model knowledge it can cite. Fine-tuning changes how it behaves. Confusing the two is an expensive mistake. Here is how to choose.
8 min readHow to Evaluate an LLM System You Cannot See Inside
You cannot unit test a language model. Same input, different output, no visible logic. Here is how to evaluate one with real rigour instead.
9 min readAI Agents in Production: What Actually Breaks First
A demo agent and a reliable one are different systems. Here is what breaks in production and the guardrails that keep agents from doing damage.
8 min readPrompt Engineering Is Specification, Not Magic Words
Good prompting is not about secret phrases. It is writing a precise spec: context, constraints and examples. Here is how to do it, and where it stops.
8 min readThe Hidden Cost of Running LLMs in Production
Per-token pricing hides the real bill. The true drivers are context, retries, retrieval and evaluation. Here is what costs money and how to budget.
9 min readMonolith or microservices? Count teams, not features
Microservices solve an org problem, not a technical one. Below roughly three teams a modular monolith wins. How to tell, and how to draw boundaries.
8 min readBuild vs buy: a framework that survives reality
Buy the commodity, build the differentiator, and watch the hidden costs on both sides. A practical build versus buy framework, plus the sunk-cost trap.
8 min readWhen to modernise legacy software, and when not to
The full rewrite is the most-regretted call in enterprise software. Use the strangler fig, find the seams, and know when leaving it alone is correct.
9 min readWhat Your Cloud Bill Is Really Telling You About Design
A cloud bill that grows faster than your traffic is not a pricing problem. It is your architecture speaking in the only language finance reads.
7 min readSecurity By Design Versus Bolt-On: Why Timing Decides Cost
Whether security is cheap or ruinous is mostly decided by when you do it. Design-time choices cost hours. Retrofits cost quarters and a rewrite.
8 min readCloud Migration Risk Lives In The Cutover, Not The Platform
The destination platform is rarely what breaks a migration. The danger is in the cutover, the undocumented dependencies, and subtly wrong data.
8 min readThe Real Cost of Custom Software, Beyond the Quote
The build quote is usually the smallest number you will pay. Here is how to think about the total cost of owning custom software, honestly.
7 min readDigital Transformation Is Not Just a New Website
Real transformation changes how work happens, not just how it looks. Why most projects fail, and how to sequence one that actually delivers.
8 min readTechnical Due Diligence: What to Look For Before You Buy
Before you invest in or acquire a company, its software is an asset or a liability. Here is what a real technical due diligence actually examines.
8 min read
Tell us what cannot fail.
A technical conversation with the engineers who would do the work. If we are not the right fit, we will say so on the call.
- 01A senior engineer reads it. Not a form queue, and not an account manager.
- 02We reply either with questions or with a straight answer that we are not the right fit.
- 03If it looks like a fit, a technical call with the person who would actually run the delivery.
- 04Then scope, effort and risk in writing, before anyone signs anything.