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Queues allow more callers than available destinations. Callers hear music on hold until a destination is free to take their call.
How Queues work?
- Caller makes a call to the company number
- (Optional) a message to the callers e.g. “Thank you for calling the ABC Company sales, please hold or press * to leave a voicemail” . The ‘*’ can be directed towards more options, for example to an operator or information IVR, e.t.c.
- The caller position is announced, this information is repeated every ‘X’ minutes as specified
- Caller will hear music/ringing depending on the setup
- If no one is available after a certain number of attempts the caller will then be prompted to leave a voicemail or callback.
Priority
Queues can be assigned priority based on the requirement. For example prioritize a sales call over general enquiries. The priority for the queue can be from 1 through 10 lowest to highest. Preference is given to calls on high priority queues, thus get delivered first. Calls on queues of the same priority are delivered on a first come, first serve basis.
Selecting destination
Destination – where the calls ends up i.e. any telephone that is part of the queue, can also be an external number (cell phone, home phone)
The order to try queue destinations can be linear or circular. Smart options are also available where the system attempts to call the last answered from the list of destinations prior to following the behavior selected. A single priority level can contain multiple destinations i.e. a single call will ring on multiple phones and depending on who answers first the call will be disconnected for the others.
Since the numbers of rings are specified in seconds each level is attempted at different intervals based on the prior level result. If there is no answer when calling destination at the first level the call returns to the queue and attempts the next levels.
Call screening
Queues can be configured so that destination has the choice whether to accept or reject calls even when part of the queue. For instance, when in the middle of another task the user at the destination can hang up or press ‘1’ to accept the call. The Queue administrator can enable this feature so that system will announce caller ID or caller name to user at destination.
Call recording
Queued calls can be recorded for quality assurance or verification purposes. The recordings will be available for download via the telephony portal
Music on hold
Music is played to callers while they wait to be answered. This music could be customized to include promotional material.
Custom Message
This custom recording, if uploaded is repeated at specified intervals to the caller. For instance “Thank you for your patience, please wait while your call is held in sequence”. It is optional.
Multi-queue with varying priorities could be used to escalate callers to reduce wait times.
Caller position
(Optional) Feature when enabled will announce position of caller in current queue. Based on the convenience that caller can then choose to remain in queue or opt to leave a message for callback with the ‘*’ exit option.
The administrator has the ability to control the intervals of playing the message and position stating from every minute.
Wrap up time
In the event user has to report with closing remarks after every call it is necessary to allocate enough time to complete such tasks. Optional feature that becomes useful in a call center environment.
Setting parameters for callers to exit queue
Several system max parameters allow for system to clear queues:
- Number of callers in queue.
- Hold time
- If no destinations are available upon callers entering queue
Call statistics
Duration of wait times and talk times are logged for creating plans to better handle call volumes. Based on the report the administrator can schedule more staff to cut down on wait times
Each destination will only be sent one call at a time.
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