ACD Queues & Hunt Groups

In telephony, Hunt Group is the method of distributing phone calls from a single telephone number to a group of

several phone lines or extensions

Hunt Group

In telephony, an automatic call distributor (ACD) or Automated Call Distribution system, is a feature that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals or agents based on the customers selection, customers telephone number, selected incoming line to

the system, or time of day the call was processed.

ACD

ACD Queue

A Queue is a feature in the PBX that allows customers to be put on hold until someone, usually an agent can take their call. It's referred to as a queue because it

holds the callers' places in line, each being answered in the order they were received

How to Handle an Incoming Call

What Happens When the Call is Received

What Happens When Callers are Queued

Basic Agent Information

Agent Properties

Call Center Supervisor View

Call Center Reports

Call Center Settings

Call Center Agent View

-What number appears on caller ID when dialing from a phone that is not the main number. can the caller id show main number?

>> Caller ID shown on outbound calls can be different from one use/component to another. Example: Customer Support calls a customer and the Caller ID shown is 18666396491 but when the Sales Team Hunt Group Calls out, they will show 18666396492. In our case, Customer Support always shows the toll free number where Sales Team will show each individual's direct number.

-How do you make sure that caller ID always show main number?

>> Each user, be it an agent, advanced, basic, call center supervisor, has the option to show a specific number on Caller ID. I show my direct line but our customer support team show the toll free number

-When customer chooses the callback option in the queue, how does the next available rep receive the call or how do they call back the customer?

>> When an agent becomes available and a customer selected the Call Back option, the system calls back the customer and when the call is answered, the system routes the call to the available agent.

Q&A

-Can we show DNIS on a receptionist phone, ie in an office that answers for more than one company?

>> Yes.

-Can a customer use our system to make payment thru dialing their card info and account info?

>> No.

-I do not want customers to have 30 numbers i just want the main number to show up. Can that be done?

>> Yes, that was covered on the previous webinar. That is typical for an analog trunk where a customer is moving say 8 analog lines from at&t and each line has a 10 digit number but they have a main number. So we port all numbers in case their customers have a number that is not the main but know, all calls will only show the main number as Caller ID.

-When multiple calls are received, many calls be placed on a queue automatically until a extension is available?

>> Yes, that is the nature of a Call Queue. When all agents are busy and it has been set up to queue callers, that is exactly what happens. As soon as an agent hangs up their phone will ring in order to answer the queued call (following any wrap-up time set up for that agent.)

-What if toll free number is with another carrier but is owned by customer, can we still use it for the caller ID?

>> Yes but we need to prove the toll free number belongs to our customer.

-Can we do collect calls to queues?

>> Not at the moment.

-Can you clarify Message to Agent again - does it also let a business know which number was dialed when they receive an incoming call?

>> Message to Agent plays a short voice announcement that will let the agent (or anybody answering that call) know what number for what department was called. For example, we have a Queue for Major Accounts and the way agents recognize the call is from a customer that belongs to Major Accounts is because after they answer the call they will listen to a message that says: "Major Accounts call." The DNIS can also be showed but I prefer this method 110% because the customer can do it themselves where the DNIS as Caller ID has to be provisioned by us.

-Is there a certain number of allowed calls to be on hold or queued?

>> Yes, you can specify how many callers will be placed on the N queue. The N+1 caller will be handled following our customer specs (overflow to a voicemail, another extension, external answering service, etc.)

-Can we point multiple toll free numbers to a particular call queue?

>> Yes.

-Outgoing calls that caller ID reflects toll free number, is there a problem in an emergency that customer calls 911, will 911 see the toll free number with the actual address that we set the pre provisioner address?

>> No, caller ID is separate from 911 system. The number received by the e911 system is the one that belongs to the specific location where the caller is registered. Obviously, this would not apply to a softphone as in that case caller can call from anywhere.

-What if the client has 10 phone lines with and 10 with At&t can we include those At&t lines to the queue?

>> We cannot include the external lines from a third party provider into a queue but we can definitely "overflow" the 11th call to an external number; whatever happens after that call is forwarded we have no control of.