Queue

A queue is a very customer-friendly feature that ensures that you do not have to disappoint a single customer during busy moments because your capacity does not allow you to answer them immediately. With the queue you ensure that the callers are dosed to the available employees ('agents') while the customer waits after a friendly welcome with pleasant background music and is possibly informed about his/her place in the queue.

You can apply this component in your dial plan(s) and selection menus (IVR) in various ways.

Contents

1. Setting up and adding a Queue to a Dial Plan or an IVR (selection menu)

 1.1 How to setup a Queue

 1.2 Adding a Queue to a Dial Plan and/or Selection menu (RVI)

2. Applications

 2.1 Switching to a Queue in case of heavy call congestion

 2.2 Adding a Queue to a Selection menu (IVR: interactive voice response)

1. Setting up and adding a Queue to a Dial Plan or an IVR (selection menu)

You can program one or more call queues to be added later to your dial plan(s) and/or selection menus.

1.1 How to set up a Queue

1. 1. Log on as [ADMIN] on the telephone exchange.
   2. Go to [Dial Plans] in the menu on the left and select [Queues] from the dial plan menu.
   3. You will find the queues that have already been created here.
      To add a new Queue, click on [Add] in the top right corner. You then go through the Queue Wizard.
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      

      The priority level mentioned earlier (pg.3) can be indicated here for each agent. The agent can be assigned to a first, second or third level.

      Finally, you can also designate an existing user as a supervisor by clicking the slider from no to yes. To use the corresponding actions to listen in, break in or whisper in, the user needs an Operator console.

      
      

1.2  Adding a Queue to a Dial Plan and/or Selection menu (IVR)

• Simply drag and drop the queue component into the dial plan of your choice, choose the queue you created earlier and save it.

• In the start menu or another layer (=submenu/context) of your IVR or selection menu you can also build in a queue. Chapter 2 explains another interesting application step by step. (2.2)

2. Applications

Below we would like to give you some examples of scenarios that may apply to your environment.

2.1 Switching to a queue in case of heavy call congestion

You have just launched a marketing campaign and you know that afterwards there is always a rush of callers. It would be a shame to have to disappoint your customers or leave them on voicemail because your normal capacity is insufficient. In the case of an ENDED call, you can react very quickly by inserting a SOUND with greetings and an indication of the traffic and then transfer the call to the QUEUE. The customer knows that he has dialled the right number and can wait with a pleasant background tune and/or be informed of his place in the queue.

For this situation, set up the Dial plan as follows:

1. The normal call route during opening hours is a transfer to the receptionist, then a transfer to a group of two employees and finally voicemail (Mailbox).
2. A Flow control [RUSH HOUR] has been defined with a SOUND[One_moment_please.mp3] and forwarding to the QUEUE of, for example, the sales department.
3. The Flow control is placed where it would be if the diversion were always active, i.e. after the normal Transfer and before Voicemail. A call always traverses the call route from top to bottom.
4. Code 123*1 is used to activate and deactivate call forwarding. Or you can press the preset speed-dial key on your phone.
   
   

2.2 Adding a queue to a selection menu (IVR: interactive voice response)

You have a selection menu or IVR that gives you the choice of contacting your Sales or Support department.

It is always possible that your support department cannot immediately take incoming calls. In this case, the installation of a waiting queue provides a pleasant solution for both the customer and the support staff.

For this situation you can apply the following scenario:

1. In this example, the IVR contains the start menu with an additional sub-menu (context) for outside working hours. You could also build the call routes for choice 1-Support or 2-Sales in submenus (contexts) and then drag these submenus into the corresponding options.
   You could also build in some additional layers or submenus based on a language selection which would then also be provided in the start menu. (See the manual: IVR - interactive voice response)
2. At the start of the menu, you provide the time conditions within and outside working hours. You then no longer need to do this in the call plan to which you eventually add this menu. In this case, option 1 chooses Support and immediately redirects to the Support queue.