Reject an incoming call in order to make an outbound call

[cbsc]

We are experiencing the following issue...

We have a handful of extensions in a call queue that are set with a 'ring all' polling strategy.

We need to have the ability for an agent in this call queue to be able to reject an incoming call (on their handset), and make an outbound call.

This would be required in an emergency.

Currently it is not possible to reject a call using our Snom D865 handsets. If an agent uses the "reject" button their handset picks the call up again straight away. The agent has to wait for the call to end, or for another agent to pick up the call before they can make an outbound call.

It has been suggested by someone else previously that the only way to achieve this is for the agent to either set their status to DND or to log out of the call queue - but I don't believe either is possible whilst a call is already incoming on their handset.

Is this a handset specific problem? Or is this the way call queues are designed to operate, regardless of the handset in use?

Any advice would be most welcome!

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

This is the way the call queue is designed and is specific when using the Ring All option.
In this case you can either park the call from the Web Client or Desktop App or consider using a different polling strategy.

 

[cbsc]

Thank you for getting back to me.

The agents in question only use the Snom phone handsets, and not the web client or desktop app. They are administrative staff that take calls but are also customer facing, and hence may need to make an urgent outbound call if an emergency arose.

Are there any settings we can adjust on the call queue that would enable them to make an outbound call in an emergency? Which polling strategy would you recommend, and would shortening the 'ring time' or 'maximum queue wait time' have any positive effect? We have experimented by adding additional 'line' buttons on the handset, but this also doesn't appear to help.

I guess having a 'reject' button that appears when there is an incoming call that doesn't in fact reject the call is somewhat confusing and frustrating.

If we converted the call queue to a ring group, would this solve the problem?

There must be other customers in a similar situation to us? If there was an emergency, or an urgent need to make an outbound call (to emergency services, for example), our agents would have no choice other than to answer the incoming call or wait indefinitely until the caller rings off.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

The Ring Group will reject and terminate the call.
As for the queue in case of an emergency the user needs to logout from the queue and make the call. Now depending on your company needs you may check which polling strategy is more suitable: https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/call-center-queues/

 

[AWS2P]

How many agent are in the Q ?
If you have several then try another ring strategy like "Prioritized hunt" or "Hunt Random Start" and reduce ring time to 15-20sec max.

 

[cbsc]

Thank you both for your suggestions.

It does sound like Ring Groups would be more suitable in our situation if it will allow agents to reject the calls. Assuming we do want to stick with the "ring all" strategy, are there any disadvantages of opting for a Ring Group over a Call Queue (loss of features)? Call Queues were recommended by our support partner, and if I'm not mistaken they may have suggested that Ring Groups may be phased out from 3CX eventually. Is that the case?

We have eight agents in the queue in question, and I'm pretty sure they would still want all of the extensions to ring simultaneously. However I can suggest changing the polling strategy as suggested. Presumably in this scenario only one extension would ring and after 15-20 seconds it would move onto the next extension, and so on.

 

[SweetAction]

You could use a handset that has a physical DND button. Hit the dnd button, that will stop it from ringing that phone, then make the outbound call.