Who answers your calls?

Twenty or thirty years ago most businesses had a receptionist who manned the door and answered all calls to a business. He or she knew who did what and which callers were welcome and which were personae non grata, wile generally acting as gatekeepers insulating senior management from unwanted calls. Those days are largely gone with key coded doors and the reception function largely consigned to history. Phone systems have evolved to offer queues and auto attendant (1 for sales, 2 for service type functions) but in many cases these are at additional charge and still do not quite do the job.

Often the person who answers the call ends up having to transfer it to someone else who may or may not be available which necessitates finding the next best person or waiting until they are free, all of which takes time. Ideally callers should be routed to the person best able to help them who is free and if no one is available they should be routed to a voicemail. Nice and effective, professional and conducive to best productivity. But historically there has been no way to tell who that best person is, until now.

Dial by voice and auto attendants can define the nature of the call as the caller routes themselves towards their required destination. Skills based routing enables every team member to be rated or scored against the appropriate set of skills and the system can then readily identify who the potential recipients are and who is available. The call can then be sent to the best available person, automatically, accurately, first time, every time.