Every incoming conversation passes through the same stations: a flow receives it, the queue of a skill lines it up, an agent handles it, and wrap-up completes it. What happens along the way is determined by the settings in the Administration.
A call, step by step
- The phone system delivers the call. The customer dials a phone number that leads to myContactCenter in the phone system. The phone system delivers the call to the active Routing Service.
- The phone number determines the flow. For each phone number, there is a mapping that selects the call flow. It also determines with which skill and which language the conversation starts.
- The flow guides the caller. It plays the greeting and announcements, asks for the request by key press or speech recognition, reads data from a database if necessary and sets skill, language and VIP class. This is also where consent to recording is obtained.
- The queue takes the call. The flow places the call in the queue of the skill. If the queue does not accept it, the flow continues — see If the queue does not accept. How to design flows is described in the Flows chapter.
- The order in the queue. Who comes first is decided by the priority of the skill, then the VIP class, then the wait time. The priority can rise as the wait time increases.
- An agent is selected. Eligible are logged-in agents who are qualified for the skill in this channel and for the language and who are currently free: not in an activity, not in wrap-up and not already busy with as many conversations as their profile allows. Preferred agents and the customer’s known agent come first; among the others, the distribution strategy decides. If no sufficiently qualified agent is free, the distribution scheme gradually extends the search to less qualified agents.
- The agent is called. The Routing Service calls the agent’s extension. The softphone of the Agent program rings, as does every phone that is registered on the phone system under this extension. At the same time, the Agent program shows the signaling window. If the agent does not accept within the signaling time, the call returns to the queue. Agents who repeatedly don’t accept can be switched to an activity or logged off automatically.
- The call. Customer and agent are connected through the Routing Service. The agent can put the call on hold, transfer it, start a consultation call or conference and record it; a supervisor can listen in.
- Wrap-up and completion. After the call comes wrap-up, during which the agent receives no new conversation, and classification if required. The conversation ends up in the ticket with recording and transcription and feeds into the statistics.
If the queue does not accept
A queue does not take a conversation, or releases it again, if
- the skill is outside its business hours, has a holiday or has been closed manually,
- no agent is logged in for the skill,
- too many conversations are already waiting or the wait time is getting too long,
- the caller’s phone number is blocked.
The flow learns the reason and continues as it is designed: typical are an announcement asking the caller to leave a voicemail, the offer of a callback or a transfer to another phone number.
Email and fax
The active Routing Service fetches new messages from the configured mailboxes and checks them for spam. The address of the mailbox determines the flow. An email flow can move a message to a folder, reply automatically or wait for an answer from the customer; then it places the message in the queue, and distribution works as for a call. The Routing Service sends the agent’s reply through your mail server.
Faxes arrive as emails from a service that converts incoming faxes, and they are handled like emails.
Chat
When it starts, the chat window on your website reports which skill the customer is writing about and in which language; this determines the chat flow. The flow can answer questions automatically or guide the customer through a selection menu before the chat lands in the queue. An agent can handle several chats at the same time if their profile allows it.
Callback, dial-in and web callback
A caller does not have to wait on the line. Through the virtual queue, the flow offers them the option to hang up; their place in the queue is kept.
- With a Callback, as soon as it is the caller’s turn, myContactCenter first selects a free agent and then calls the customer.
- With Dial in, the customer calls again themselves within a set period and takes their place again.
- With the Callback scheduler, the flow suggests times for a callback to the caller.
A web callback is created on your website: the customer enters their name, phone number and preferred time. It does not need a flow but goes directly into the queue of the skill as a callback.
Voicemail
The flow records a voicemail, for example outside business hours. It is distributed like a call to a qualified agent. For listening, myContactCenter calls the agent and plays the message to them.
Outgoing conversations
Agents can call customers or write to them themselves, provided their profile allows it. They make a call either as a qualified call for a skill or as a private call, which does not belong to any skill.