Queue - diverting to another destination ad hoc

[hood]

Hi,

I have scenarios with some clients that have a queue for reception, with the no answer destination going to voicemail, but need to be able to quickly and easily divert inbound calls to another location (eg another site, or mobile) during periods of events or training.

The only way I can think of resolving this is to have a dummy extension configured with call handling to divert to the queue or the alternative location. But this would require the receptionist to log into the web client under a different login and changing the status, which in my mind is really clunky.

In other PBX's I've dealt with, I've had queue configurations that support call flow for No Answer AND Logged out.

Does anyone have an alternative solution?

 

[cobaltit]

@hood It looks like you already have two alternatives, you need more?

Depending on what part of your first alternative you find clunky you could do differently (but still involving a dummy routing user:

- Use the 3CX Windows/Mac client instead of the Web client if not currently using it. If the receptionist is currently using it then you can add the dummy routing user as a second account. Receptionist would still need to switch accounts in the client but there would be no login needed.
- Get a cheap phone tied to that dummy extension and use the profile star codes
- Use a custom template or web into the phone to put the dummy routing user account on the reception phone and then put speed dial buttons on the reception phone to toggle status using the dummy account.

 

[hood]

Hi Cobaltit,

The clunky part would be having to log out of the web client and log in as another user just to change the status. The issue is I'm replacing a legacy PBX that can do this with a single push of a button.

I do like the idea of adding speed dial buttons via the web interface for the dummy extension on the reception phone. I will investigate this further.

 

[cobaltit]

@hood

Different browser or the use of a private or incognito tab would work if it's the logging out and logging in that is a problem.

 

[hood]

Easy for you and I, but not as intuitive for a busy receptionist who is technologically challenged and is used to a single button press

But I hear you.

 

[cobaltit]

@hood

Heh.. we all deal with clients. I found that most receptionists already do some aspect of their job in some obtuse fashion already so as long as it's presented well, documented, and repeatable they can adapt to most things. But yes the phone programming would be the closest to their current behavior. It's not the technology that bothers them so much as the change.

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Hello @hood

Another idea would be to use emergency codes of the PBX. This will switch the trunks to out of office and all calls will be diverted to the out of office destination. These codes can be added as custom speed dials.
One thing to note about this is that if you use the codes to switch the PBX to out of office hours you need to use the codes to switch the PBX back to default office hours. The dial code can be found under Settings / Dial codes and the default value is *64. More info here: https://www.3cx.com/docs/pbx-dial-codes/#h.665f9ex1w4m3