HuntGroup priority 1

[john3voltas]

I have a customer with a small call center. They're around 10-15 agents, depending on the day of the week.
They receive calls for 7 products. These 7 products are the huntgroups.
Except for a couple of exceptions, all agents are members of all huntgroups.
Each product has it's own DDI.
One of the products is now being regarded as their jewel of the crown and they need to prioritize it's incoming calls.
Will it suffice to change that incoming call route - for that DDI - with priority higher than 1?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers

 

[derfloh]

Yes. Of all calls are in queues the best priority call will be provided first to the agents.

Be aware to not announce the queue number to the callers as it can be the case that a caller is At position 1 and when calls with higher priority come in the caller will suddenly hear that he is At position 2. that will lead into a situation where you have to answer several questions

 

[sizbut]

Priority is not going to do anything, as you've setup separate routing for each product, so calls go into separate queues where every call in a queue has the same priority. And since every agent is in every group you've kind of maxed out anyway.

Priority would only really work if you had the DDI call routes all routed to the same group*. Then higher priority calls would go to the head of that group's waiting calls. You lose the advantage of the agent knowing for what product they are answering a call based on the group name, but you can use the Tag field on the incoming call routes. Ensure that Queuing is on and the Queue Type set to Assign Call on Agent Answer. (*It also means you only need to maintain one group rather than 7 identical groups - so a small work advantage for you.)

An alternative is to leave the DDI/ICR routing as it is, but to set the key product group to Collective Call Waiting. That way if all agents are busy, a waiting call for this jewel-in-the-crown product will still cause an alert on their phones (depend on the type of phones they are using - you didn't say) and they can try to finish there current call if possible.

 

[john3voltas]

Priority is not going to do anything, as you've setup separate routing for each product, so calls go into separate queues where every call in a queue has the same priority. And since every agent is in every group you've kind of maxed out anyway.

Just as I predicted...thanks for confirming my initial fears.

You lose the advantage of the agent knowing for what product they are answering a call based on the group name, but you can use the Tag field on the incoming call routes.

Interesting. Never thought of doing that.

Ensure that Queuing is on and the Queue Type set to Assign Call on Agent Answer. (*It also means you only need to maintain one group rather than 7 identical groups - so a small work advantage for you.)

The work advantage is not what is worrying me. What's worrying me is that with a single group and all agents on it I think I'll loose the separate announcements that I've set up individually for each HG. Right?
And also loose the separate MOH for each HG. right?

Could you please clarify these last two paragraphs? Because, if I can have all the agents inside the same group, and separate announcements/MOH for each DDI, then I guess that would be worth a try.

Thanks in advance.
Cheers

 

[Shaun E]

Priority is not going to do anything, as you've setup separate routing for each product, so calls go into separate queues where every call in a queue has the same priority. And since every agent is in every group you've kind of maxed out anyway.

Priority would only really work if you had the DDI call routes all routed to the same group*. Then higher priority calls would go to the head of that group's waiting calls. You lose the advantage of the agent knowing for what product they are answering a call based on the group name, but you can use the Tag field on the incoming call routes. Ensure that Queuing is on and the Queue Type set to Assign Call on Agent Answer. (*It also means you only need to maintain one group rather than 7 identical groups - so a small work advantage for you.)

That's not how it works in my experience including running a contact centre with basically what the OP is asking for.

If an agent is a member of multiple groups and calls are queued into those groups with different priorities then calls are still delivered in priority order across the groups.

I just tested it with my system and queued 4 calls across 3 groups with different priorities:

• Call A in group 1 - priority 1
• Call B in group 2 - priority 2
• Call C in group 3 - priority 3
• Call D in group 1 - priority 1

The calls were delivered to the agent in order C, B, A, D.

So to answer the OPs question - yes it should be sufficient to queue calls to different groups with a higher priority for your "jewel" product.

In my contact centre example we did exactly this where some agents handled consumer, business, and enterprise support. Enterprise support calls were always answered first followed by business and then consumer last.

 

[john3voltas]

I just tested it with my system and queued 4 calls across 3 groups with different priorities:

• Call A in group 1 - priority 1
• Call B in group 2 - priority 2
• Call C in group 3 - priority 3
• Call D in group 1 - priority 1

The calls were delivered to the agent in order C, B, A, D.

Hi there. Thanks for taking the time to test it on your end.
So, could you please clarify if you have all your agents as members of all groups 1, 2 and 3?
Thanks.

 

[Shaun E]

So, could you please clarify if you have all your agents as members of all groups 1, 2 and 3?

That is correct. The agent was a member of all 3 groups and that was the order the calls were delivered - showing priority working across the groups and not just within a single group.

 

[john3voltas]

Thanks a bunch, @Shaun E
Cheers

 

[vandaliahealth]

I have a hunt group set up with three extensions in it. Is there a way to have this hunt group overflow to the voicemail of one of the extensions in the original hunt group?

 

[vandaliahealth]

That is correct. The agent was a member of all 3 groups and that was the order the calls were delivered - showing priority working across the groups and not just within a single group.

In have a question for you,

I have a hunt group set up with three extensions in it. Is there a way to have this hunt group overflow to the voicemail of one of the extensions in the original hunt group?

 

[sizbut]

Agree. Thanks for testing @Shaun E. Useful to know - so somewhere behind the scenes the IP Office is looking at all applicable queues when deciding which call an agent gets.