How Do Auto Attendants Work?
You’ve probably heard about auto-attendants before, but do you know how they work? If not, read on for some tips. These devices can play your recorded greeting messages, which should be no bigger than five megabytes (MB) and typed messages of up to 1,000 characters. Auto attendants can also redirect or disconnect calls. Listed below are some of the most popular.
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How Do Auto Attendants Work: Call Queues
Auto attendants can be configured to route calls to an operator for support or sales purposes. The call agent can then answer the call by pressing one (1) key, which redirects the call to the team assigned to the sales team. Call queues can also be configured to handle multiple calls from one phone number. This way, agents can receive calls from a single phone line and forward them to different departments.
- They can also be configured to accept customer calls on off-hours or holidays.
- When calling an auto-attendant, you can set up a menu of options that guide the caller to their desired destination.
- Auto attendants are a great choice if you avoid hiring a human operator to take incoming calls.
- Call queues are waiting for callers’ areas and connecting them to specific agents with specific specialities.
- Essentially, the caller is put on hold until a live agent can take the call.
- In addition to voicemail transcriptions, auto-attendants allow callers to dial a name or phone number.
- Using these options, callers can be directed to an operator by name or extension, or they can choose an auto attendant and hang up the phone.
- Call queues for auto attendants are especially useful if your auto attendant supports multiple dials by methods.
- They can also route callers to a live person in the organisation, an online user or an on-premises Skype for Business Server.
- Call queues are not compatible with Microsoft Teams.
- If you’re using a virtual phone system, you need a license.
How Do Auto Attendants Work: Dial-by-name Mode
You may be familiar with auto attendants that allow callers to look up people by name. A dial-by-name directory allows callers to look up names by name if they do not know an extension number. It works by using recording or text-to-speech to verify the name. When enabled, an auto-attendant connects people to the appropriate person. In some ways, this mode may even be seen as a status symbol, allowing people to feel like they are dealing with someone from their personal life—auto-attendants with Dial-by-name support unlimited users on Active Directory.
In addition, callers can use either their full or partial names to select the appropriate user. Dial-by-name auto attendants support up to 80,000 users. By configuring the settings, you can change the number of users supported by an auto-attendant. A unique Auto Attendant can support up to nine custom menus for each user. Auto attendants that support dial-by-name can handle multiple languages. You can also assign alternate phone numbers to a single auto attendant.
- When a caller presses the corresponding key, the auto-attendant will search the company directory and transfer the caller to the appropriate person.
- If your auto attendant doesn’t support a specific language, you can still use text-to-speech or speech recognition.
- When an auto attendant can understand a name or extension, a caller can dial that by name without the need to type the number.
- Then, the auto-attendant can continue the conversation by performing follow-up actions based on that information.
- If the caller does not like the greeting, they can change it with the same language settings on their FortiVoice units.
- To activate dial-by-name mode on your auto attendant, you need to give permissions to users on sipX.
- Permissions are defined for users individually and in groups. By default, Attendant Directory permissions are disabled.
- Once this permission is granted, when someone places a call to a company number, it is routed to the auto-attendant.
- The caller can choose to speak directly to an operator or an extension by dialling their name.
How Do Auto Attendants Work: Routing Options
With auto attendants, you have various options when it comes to how you route calls. You can direct calls to voicemail, transfer to specific teams, or record custom greetings. The main difference between auto attendants and other call-handling technologies is the ability to customise call routing. Here’s a quick look at how auto-attendants work. Auto attendants allow you to set menu options for callers, which guide them to the correct department or associate.
You can customise the menu options with ease and make changes online. This will allow you to project a professional image for your company to callers. You can even route calls to mobile employees without a fixed-line. Regardless of your company’s needs, Auto Attendant will help you meet these requirements while requiring minimal capital investment.
The auto-attendant designer allows you to configure the DTMF settings. You can also set the timeout before the first, last, and number of digits you accept. You can also set the maximum number of digits you want an Auto Attendant to accept before routing it to a person. These settings are handy if you want your Auto Attendants to play messages. Using the auto attendant’s menu, you can configure specific business hours for each call.
The hours that are not marked as business hours are categorised as after-hours. You can also set different greetings and incoming call-handling options for these hours. The latter option is typically necessary for auto attendants that handle incoming calls with a direct phone number. Once you’ve configured your auto attendant’s settings, you’ll be able to create custom call routing options for your company.
How Do Auto Attendants Work: Creating an Auto-attendant
If you need to create auto attendants for multiple departments in your company, you can set up multiple call queues with your phone system. You can also configure these queues with voice or dialling input. You can have separate call routing with auto attendants during off-hours or holidays. If you have multiple departments that need to answer calls daily, you should use auto attendants for these departments.
They can help your business improve customer service while reducing call-handling costs. In the admin centre of Microsoft Teams, go to “Resource accounts.” Select the account “Reception” as an assigned number. Once you have selected this account, you can set up your auto attendant by selecting it under the “Assigned to” option. You will see that the number has been populated, the operator is “Voice App”, and your auto attendant is configured.
If you do not want your callers to be able to select an option, choose “Nothing” from the menu options. When you have set up your auto-attendant, you need to determine its business hours. You can set business hours during the day, but these hours can be flexible, such as after-hours. You can also configure your auto attendant to accept calls in different languages or time zones. When you choose the language and time zone, the system will determine the hours of operation for each language.
You can also set up an operator for each auto attendant if you want your callers to talk to a specific person. After setting up your auto-attendant, you can choose what type of announcement to play on your phone. You can also add aliases for your auto attendants, such as Day Auto Attendant and Night Auto Attendant.
Moreover, you can set the gap time between audio options. You can control whether your auto-attendant should play music when a caller doesn’t press the appropriate option. The second tab in your auto attendant has settings related to audio behaviour.
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Customer Rating |
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£19 per user, per month |
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Small businesses with big growth plans
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Small businesses looking for a cheap and easy solution
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£12 per user, per month (billed annually)
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Telesales teams and small businesses with high turnover
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Companies that need to communicate remotely
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£7.99 per user, per month (billed annually)
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4 |
Small businesses with varied departments
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£14.99 per user, per month
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3.9 |
Small companies that are based online
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Other Useful links about phone systems
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5 Services Offered by Voxox
Zoom Review
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