Telagents--The Virtual Agents

What It Is

Telagent is a Contact Center feature that allows agents to receive queued calls without signing in to the CCA. In other words, Telagents are virtual agents.

As virtual agents, Contact Center automatically logs Telagents into the system and manages their status. All interactions received by a Telagent are done on the Telagent’s cell phone or similar that has been set up for such purpose and are based on the set of skills that has been assigned to the agent turned into a Telagent.

Note: Because all interactions are done through a telephone, Telagents are limited to voice calls and do not receive emails or chat messages. If an agent is signed on as a Telagent and part of their skills includes chat and email, the system will overlook the agent for these and only allow voice calls to reach the agent. When the agent is no longer signed on as a Telagent, they will continue receiving emails and chat messages.

There are three ways in which an agent can be turned into a Telagent:

Important: You must be a supervisor to perform any of the following actions.

Important:
• Agents have no express way of knowing that they have been signed on as Telagents. Best practices is to inform agents as part of their regular schedule, or notify them when the switch is done due to unforeseen circumstances, such as an internet outage.
• You can use the Calling Name option of the Voice Queues feature to help Telagents know which queue the incoming call is originating from. This is particularly useful in situation where a Telagent might be assigned to different voice queues. (For more information, see Voice Queue Options.)

Telagent Statuses

Given that the system manages a Telagent’s status, these are limited to:

Available: This is the initial status, and it is set when the agent is first logged in as a Telagent. This is also the status set after the Telagent’s wrap-up status is completed.
Busy On Call: Set when the Telagent is occupied with an interaction (voice call only).
Wrap Up: Set when the Telagent finishes a call. The wrap-up period is set up in the agent profile. If the agent profile is not set up to change to Available automatically, the wrap-up status lasts 1 minute before switching to Available.
Not Ready: Set when the Telagent misses a call. The not-ready period is set up in the agent profile. If the agent profile is not set up to change to Available automatically, the not-ready status lasts 1 minute before switching to Available.

Use Cases

The following are examples of cases where an agent can effectively be turned into a Telagent.

Case #1: Working outside of the office

Roberta is an insurance broker and has been tasked with helping at a kiosk. Because Roberta will be away from her office for a set time, she might not have access to her computer, and thus will not be able to sign on to the CCA. For the time that Roberta will be away from her office, she can be scheduled as a Telagent so she can receive all voice calls directly to her cell phone.

Case #2: Working where there is no set desk or office (mobile employee)

John works at a restaurant and part of his tasks for the day is to take telephone orders. Because John will be busy with various other tasks, he might be given a telephone or other portable device to receive calls. Since John has been scheduled as a Telagent, all calls will be sent through to the portable device, and John will be able to momentarily interrupt his current tasks when a call comes in and attend to the telephone order.

Case #3: Working where there cannot be a dedicated person answering the phone

A local pizza place might not have dedicated employees to take telephone orders and relies on the first available employee to answer a call that comes in. Generic Telagents (such as Pizza Agent 1, Pizza Agent 2, etc.) are set up to receive calls at a specific telephone number, which corresponds to a phone installed in an area where any employee can answer and take an order.