Overview of auto attendants and call queues
Auto attendants and call queues are additional features of Microsoft Teams Phone. They help organizations manage incoming calls more efficiently and provide a better caller experience. By automating call routing and providing customized options, organizations can increase efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
Call queues
Call queues enable callers to be placed in a queue when all agents are busy or unavailable. They can be customized to meet the needs of your organization and can include options such as custom greetings, music on hold, and estimated waiting times.
Call queues are often used by businesses to manage high volumes of incoming calls and ensure that callers receive a professional and efficient experience. They can be configured to route calls to the next available agent or to a specific group of agents, and can be monitored for performance metrics such as the number of calls in the queue, average wait time, and number of missed calls.
Queues app
The Queues app is a Teams-native solution designed to empower organizations to manage customer engagements efficiently, unlocking a set of advanced call functionalities for Teams Phone Call queues and Auto attendants, such as:
Call queue management: Admins can now delegate authorized users, also known as leads or supervisors, to manage and configure Call queues and Auto attendants directly from the Teams client. Authorized users can configure Call queues and Auto attendants from Call settings, and they can opt agents into and out of the queue from Queues app.
Real-time metrics: The number of waiting calls, average wait time, longest call waiting time metrics, and more are included in real-time metrics within the Queues app. The analytics report shows activity made in the queue from 12:00 AM local time of the signed in user.
Historical reporting: View historical metrics for call queues, and auto attendants, and agent queue actions. Historical metrics report up to the past 27 days.
Note
Users must have a Teams Phone and a Teams Premium license to use Queues app. Once a user is licensed for Teams Premium, it can take up to 48 hours for Queues app to be available in the Teams client. Queues app is enabled by default for all Teams users in your organization who are assigned both a Teams Premium and Teams Phone license and who are voice enabled.
Auto attendants
Auto attendant is a feature of Microsoft Teams Phone that provides an automated menu system for managing incoming calls. An auto attendant greets callers with a recorded message and offers them options to route their call, such as dial-by-name, dial-by-extension, or to be transferred to a specific department or person.
They can be customized to match your organization's branding and provide a professional and efficient way of managing incoming calls. They can also be configured to provide different options depending on the time of day or day of the week. For example, you could set up a different greeting or call routing option for after-hours or weekends.
Auto attendants can also be used to provide information to callers, such as directions, office hours, or frequently asked questions. This can help to reduce the workload of live operators and provide a better caller experience.
Requirements
If you want to use auto attendants or Call queues, you should consider the following requirements:
Microsoft 365 subscription: You must have a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes Microsoft Teams Phone System add-on licenses.
Teams Phone license: You need to assign the Phone System license to the user or service account that will be used to manage call queues and auto attendants.
Phone numbers: You need to have phone numbers available to use for the call queues and auto attendants. These can be new phone numbers purchased through Microsoft or ported from an existing provider.
Audio files: You need to have recorded audio files for greetings, menus, and prompts used in the call queues and auto attendants. These can be recorded using the built-in recording feature in Microsoft Teams or uploaded from an external source.
Resource accounts: You need to have user accounts set up for the agents who will be handling calls in the call queues. These accounts need to have the appropriate licenses and permissions to use Microsoft Teams Phone.
Admin permissions: You need to have administrative permissions to access and configure the call queues and auto attendants in the Microsoft Teams admin center.
It's important to note that the prerequisites may vary depending on your specific needs and the size of your organization.
To set up call queues and auto attendants in Microsoft Teams Phone, you need to have the appropriate licenses and administrative permission. You can configure call queues and auto attendants within the Teams admin center or by using the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module.
Plan for Shared Calling for Teams Phone
If you have users who aren't heavy users of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), they might not need a dedicated assigned phone number. Instead, for these users, you should consider Shared Calling as a simpler, easier-to-implement phone solution for your organization. Shared Calling greatly simplifies phone number management for some users. Shared Calling also reduces costs for your organization because you don't need a dedicated phone number for every user.
With Shared Calling, instead of assigning a phone number to every user, you use the phone number of a resource account associated with an Auto attendant for inbound and outbound PSTN calls. The Shared Calling policy configures the resource account used for outbound calls and emergency numbers that are used as emergency callback numbers.
For more information on Shared Calling for Teams, read Plan for Shared Calling.