Forwarding "no answer" calls to different numbers

[RobColver]

Hi

I have a department where different members of staff work from home on different days. If an inbound call to that department is not answered with, say, 20 seconds by the office based staff, I want the call to be forwarded to the mobile number of whoever is working from home that day. I need the department manager to be able to set this "no answer" call destination.

I was thinking of forwarding to a dummy extension and using the status of that extension to route the call to the appropriate person but this would be limited to 4 destinations and would require the department manager to use the voicemail IVR menu to change status or use the Team view in the web client. I would prefer not to use the web client as it would expose additional functionality that I don't want the department manager to have access to.

Are there any simpler solutions - perhaps using BLF keys?

 

[BrunoI_3CX]

In the mentioned scenario, using a Queue would be a more reliable approach.

You can configure the department's inbound calls to route to a Queue and set a No Answer timeout. If no user answers within that time, the call can then be forwarded to a designated destination.

For the user working from home, instead of relying on extension status, you can have them log in/out of the queue depending on their availability.

However, since you mentioned that having 4 destinations is limiting, could you please clarify how many options you would like to have available to switch between?

 

[VoIPTools]

The suggestion offered by Brunol_3CX seems like the logical approach. It requires managers to do nothing (other than provide basic instructions to employees). Is there something more complicated about how calls need to be routed?

 

[RobColver]

The problem is that the people working from home don't have 3CX accounts - just personal cell phones each of which, of course, is a different number.

 

[paulodagraca]

Hello RobColver,

You could consider the use of the CFD (Call Flow Designer).
As example you can setup a few flows like:

x900 Dial this number to listen to the active person being set
x901 Set extension A to be saved as overflow contact.
x902 Set extension B to be saved as overflow contact.
...
x907 Set extension G to be saved as overflow contact.
You could also just use x910 to be a CFD to have the manager enter the extension, rather than using fixed extensions.
x950 Set this as overflow number to be transferred to the saved extention (A..G).

So the manager can dial x900 to listen to the extension number, to confirm what extention has been set active.
By dialing the pre set x901.. CFD the manger can set the fixed extension to be active, or you can use some input x910 to enter the extension numnber, so it is flexible to use any number.

The overflow can be set to always use the x950, where it will transfer to the saved extension number.
Not sure it is something you can use, but wanted to mention it anyway.

Paulo

 

[RobColver]

Many thanks for your suggestions guys - much appreciated.

 

[VoIPTools]

Create an extension for them in 3CX and configure the extension to "ring my mobile". Add these extensions to the queue. That will make this straightforward.