Call center

Call center

Call centers automatically process incoming calls received by a single phone number by distributing them to a group of users or agents. Call centers provide an automated “answer” with customizable greetings, comfort messages, and hold music for the caller to listen to. Queued calls are routed to an available agent when he/she is no longer on an active call. The call center service includes enhanced features such as agent log-in and logout, call queuing, and overflow control.

There are three types of Call Centers (Basic, Standard and Premium). The following documentation is for premium which covers all the options available.

Modify a call center

Administrators can set up and modify call centers within the admin portal. To view and modify an call center, follow these steps:

1. From the group dashboard, select Call Center under Group Services.
2. A list of the call centers assigned to this group/location are displayed.
3. Select the call center you would like to modify. This will bring you to the call center menu where the left-hand navigation refers to the settings available to modify for this call center.

Queue statistics

On the Queue tab is a live queue statistics view on the agents assigned to this call center.

Advanced settings

On the Advanced tab, you can configure settings for the following:

• ‍Queue Status Notifications - Select the Settings icon to modify the following:
  
  
  • Queue Status Notification - Check the box to enable.‍
  • Queue Depth - Enable the queue depth threshold by checking this box and then entering the Number of Calls in Queue to set the threshold.‍
  • Waiting Time - Enable the waiting time threshold by checking this box and then entering the waiting time threshold in seconds.
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• Distinctive Ringing - Modify the distinctive ringing feature for the call center by selecting the Settings icon.
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  • Enabled - Check this box to enable.‍
  • Ring Pattern - Select a unique ring pattern from the drop-down menu.
  • Forced Deliver - Select the Forced Deliver ring pattern from the drop-down menu.
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• ‍Queue Disposition Code Settings - Modify the distribution code settings by select the Settings icon.‍
• Queue Disposition Codes - Add distribution codes by selecting the Plus icon. Enter the code, description, and select the checkbox to enable. 

Agents

On the Agents tab you can select the agents to assign to the call center. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Select the Settings icon.
2. Select the agents from the Available list to move to the Selected list and vice versa, if necessary.
3. Select Save to save your changes.

Announcements

Call center announcements are messages and music that callers hear while waiting in the queue. There are four types of announcements found and modified here:

• Entrance Message - This option plays when callers first reach the queue. For example, “Thank you for calling ABC Company. An agent will be with you shortly.” It can be set as mandatory. If the mandatory option is not selected and a caller reaches the call queue while there is an available agent, the caller will not hear this announcement and is transferred to an agent.
• Estimated Wait Message - This option notifies the caller with either their estimated wait time or position in the queue. If this option is enabled, it plays after the entrance greeting and before the comfort greeting. This greeting is only played once while the caller is waiting in queue.
• Comfort Message - This option plays after the entrance message and before music on hold. This is typically a custom announcement that plays information, such as current promotions or information about products and services.
• Music on Hold Message - This option plays after the comfort message in a repetitive loop. This announcement is typically a music file.
• Call Whisper Message - This option plays to the agent immediately before the inbound call is connected. The calling party hears ring back, announcements, or Music on Hold during the whisper message. The message typically announces which call center the call is coming from. This announcement can also be used to remind agents of current specials or promotions associated with the call center the caller is calling in on.

To modify these announcements and the settings associated with each, follow these steps:

1. Select the Settings icon. 
2. Configure the necessary settings and then select the announcement audio. Options include:
   • Default - This will play the system default announcement.
   • File - With this option, you will choose a custom file saved to the announcement repository.
   • URL - If this option is selected, then enter the URL address of the audio file to be played.

DNIS

On the DNIS tab, you can manage the Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) telephone numbers configured for the call center. The call center primary phone number is treated as the call center's primary DNIS and listed on this page but cannot be added or removed.

To modify the DNIS settings, follow these steps:

1. Select the Settings icon.
2. Check the boxes next to Display DNIS Number/Name to agent if you would like the call center DNIS number and DNIS name to display to agent devices instead of the call center 3. Calling Number and Calling Name.
3. To prevent lower priority calls from being stranded, allow lower priority calls waiting in the queue longer than the specified amount of time to be promoted to the next higher priority (configure the appropriate Automatically promote calls with priority fields).
4. Select Save.

Profile

On the Profile tab, you can modify the profile settings for the call center by selecting the Settings icon. 

Here you can modify the following settings:

• Service Name
• Calling Line ID (CLID) Last Name
• Calling Line ID (CLID) First Name
• Phone Number
• Extension
• Password
• Public Identity
• Department
• Language (for the audio announcements)
• Time Zone
• Alias

Modify and select Save to save your changes. 

Routing

On the Routing tab, you can configure the different aspects of the call center routing policy services.

• Holiday Service - This option allows an optional message to be played and a different routing treatment for special days and Holidays where workers may not be present. 
• Night Service - This option configures the announcement and treatment for calls received after normal business hours.
• Comfort Bypass - This option allows an alternate comfort message to be enabled for calls that are expected to be answered quickly instead of the usual comfort/Music-On-Hold treatments. This policy applies after the entrance message has finished playing (if applicable).
• Bounced Calls - Bounced calls are those that have been sent to an available agent, but the agent does not answer.
• Overflow - Overflow treatment is applied to calls when the Call Center reaches its size limit or when callers have been in the Call Center for a specified amount of time. For example, if the Call Center queue size limit is set to 20, the twenty-first caller will be routed to the overflow destination. Likewise, if the overflow timer is set to two minutes, after two minutes, callers will be routed to the overflow destination.
• Stranded Call - This policy allows for the configuration of the processing of stranded calls. A stranded call is a call that is being processed by a queue that has no agents currently staffed.
• Stranded Call Unavailable - This policy allows for the configuration of the processing of calls that are in a staffed queue when all agents are unavailable. A “staffed” queue has one or more agents who are both joined to and signed in to the queue.

To modify these routing settings, follow these steps:

1. Select the Settings icon. 

2. Configure the necessary settings and then select the announcement audio. Options include:
   • Default - This will play the system default announcement.
   • File - With this option, you will choose a custom file saved to the announcement repository.
   • URL - If this option is selected, then enter the URL address of the audio file to be played.

Settings

On the Settings tab, you can view and configure the main settings for the call center. To modify, select the Settings icon.

Supervisors

On the Supervisors tab, you can configure the list of users who may supervise the call center. To modify the list, select the Settings tab. Then click the user name to add/remove from the Available Supervisors list to/from the Assigned Supervisors list.

Thresholds

On the Thresholds tab, you can configure key statistical call center thresholds and set up notification emails. To modify, follow these steps:

1. Select the Settings icon.
2. To enable and expand additional settings, check the box next to Enable Thresholds. 
3. To enable a notification email, check the box next to Enable Notification Emails and then enter the email address(es) for where you would like the notifications to go.
4. Next, enter the thresholds for each category for both Yellow and Red (in seconds). Once these thresholds are met, the emails entered above will receive notifications and the statistics are recorded and available on the Thresholds tab.

Select Save.