Auto Attendant/Digital Receptionist config

[simonhc]

Hello,

I am currently using 3cx v10.0.2408.2322 SP6 in a windows server 2003 environment.

Having recently been asked to expand the phone system I have encountered a road block and was hoping somebody could help me find a work around.

The scenario is as follows:

A team of field based engineers are responsible for 2 completely different projects in separate locations (say project Alpha and project Charlie). The engineers are all contactable via cell phones.
When a customer calls in wanting to speak to an engineer from project Charlie they dial a central number for the company. Currently this line is answered by a secretary who identifies that the customer wishes to speak to an engineer from the Charlie project. She then calls the cell number for the engineer and explains to the engineer that the customer wishes to speak to somebody from project Charlie and transfers the call. The engineer would then say to the customer something like: "Hello, project Charlie, how can I help you?"
And vice-versa if they asked for project Alpha.....

I have setup the Auto Attendant/Digital Receptionist to provide the options to the customer dialing into the main line but I cant find a way to prompt the engineer which option the customer had chosen to begin with..

Ideally I would like the following to happen:

Customer calls main line, it is picked up by the Auto Attendant/Digital Receptionist which prompts the following:
"Welcome to to company ABC... Please choose from the following options:..... For project Alpha press 1..... For project Charlie press 2.... etc....."

The customer presses 2

The Auto Attendant/Digital Receptionist dials the engineer and plays a message that says "A customer of company ABC is calling to speak to you about project Charlie, transferring you now"

Is this possible with 3cx?

Thanks in advance

Simon

 

[lneblett]

There is no functionality that supports your desire in the 3CX phone system itself. There are a couple of issues with your scenario:

1. You assume that the calling client will always be using a number that is associated to the company and that 3CX will be able to use the caller-id to make the association. What if they don't use a previously known caller-id.

2. You also want the association to a specific project and given the nature of the request, there will only be one engineer that can/will be associated to the project as the DR will only know to dial one number. The need also does not express if the forwarded call will be to an internal or external extension and if internal will that extension will also be using the status indicators with possible forwarding to outside numbers such as a mobile?

You might look at the VAD module. While I have no personal experience with it, from what I understand it is a rather robust application developer that allows for certain integration with 3CX so that similar needs such as yours might be accommodated.
https://www.3cx.com/phone-system/call-flow-designer/

I am uncertain however if it will generate a voice prompt to a call that has been forwarded. Nevertheless, it may be worth a look.

 

[simonhc]

Hi lneblett,

I'm sorry if I didn't make my scenario clear. I will try and clarify what I want to happen.

A customer calls the phone number for my company. They will then hear a series of options from the digital receptionist. When they choose an option the digital receptionist will forward them to the appropriate external number. However before the call is transferred I want 3CX to play a brief recorded message (to the person receiving the call) saying something like "this caller is being forwarded by company ABC" and then connect the call.

I hope that makes more sense

Thanks again

Simon

 

[ian.watts]

Right.. a call screen.. almost to call confirmation. Think Google Voice.
That's not in this system.
If the calls were internal, you could leverage a ring group to send the call to, and handsets to show that ring group name.. but external, no dice.

 

[simonhc]

Thanks Ian,

I really appreciate your help..
Just out of interest does the newer versions of 3cx have this facility?

Thanks again

Simon

 

[lneblett]

Unfortunately no, the functionality pretty much remains the same.

I understood the gist, but the issues remain the same. The biggest problem is the "announce feature" you seek and assuming it did have this, it still does not preclude the caller from dialing in using a caller-id number that is unknown to 3CX. Caller_Name would not help either unless all the phones that might be used in the scenario are owned and registered with the company name rather than the owner or user name. This may be making mountains out of molehills, but I get calls from (existing) clients all the time where they use a phone that is not familiar to me.

So what would happen is that the caller would push the appropriate DR button for Alpha or Charlie, but if the number is not able to be resolved to a client company the announce would lack the details you seek.

 

[simonhc]

Thanks for explaining that...

Would it be possible to display the company phone number on the caller id on the phone that the system is transferring the call to?

For example:

Caller dials company phone number, auto attendant answers and gives various options. Caller chooses appropriate option.
The auto attendant forwards the call to the appropriate external cell phone but displays the phone number for the company (which would be stored in the phone directory of the external cell phone). That way the person answering the external cell phone would see that it is a call coming from the company and could answer it appropriately.
Basically can I set the company number as the outgoing caller id?

Would this be possible?

Thanks again

Simon