Call queues in Microsoft Teams provides a method of routing callers to people in your organization who can help with a particular issue or question. Those incoming calls will be distributed one at a time to agents in the queue.
Call queues in Microsoft Teams features
- A greeting message.
- Music while people are waiting on hold in a queue.
- Call routing – in First In, First Out (FIFO) order – to agents.
- Handling options for queue overflow and timeout.
Setting up a Call queue in Teams
To set up a call queue, open the Teams admin center and expand Voice, click Call queues, click Add, and type a name for the call queue.
1. Set Resource accounts
Click Add accounts, search for the resource account that you want to use with this call queue and click Add.
To learn how to manage Resource accounts read this.
2. Assign calling ID
You can assign an outbound caller ID number for the agents by specifying one or more resource accounts with a phone number.
Click Add, search for the resource accounts that you want to allow agents to for calling ID purposes when making outbound calls, click Add, and then click Add.
3. Language
Choose a supported language. This language will be used for system-generated voice prompts and voicemail transcription.
4. Greetings and music on hold in queue
Specify if you want to play a greeting to callers when they arrive in the queue. You must upload an MP3, WAV, or WMA file containing the greeting that you want to play. The uploaded recording can be no larger than 5 MB.
Teams provides default music to callers while they are on hold in a queue. The default music supplied in Teams call queues is free of any royalties payable by your organization.
5. Call routing
For call routing, you will have two options on Teams:
Conference mode
This option significantly reduces the amount of time it takes for a caller to be connected to an agent, after the agent accepts the call.
Routing method
Routing method determines the order in which agents receive calls from the queue. Choose from these options:
- Attendant routing rings all agents in the queue at the same time. The first call agent to pick up the call gets the call.
- Serial routing rings all call agents one by one in the order specified in the Call agents list. If an agent dismisses or does not pick up a call, the call will ring the next agent and will try all agents until it is picked up or times out.
- Round robin balances the routing of incoming calls so that each call agent gets the same number of calls from the queue. This may be desirable in an inbound sales environment to assure equal opportunity among all the call agents.
- Longest idle routes each call to the agent who has been idle the longest time. An agent is considered idle if their presence state is Available. Agents whose presence state is not Available will not be eligible to receive calls until they change their presence to Available.
6. Call overflow handling
Maximum calls in the queue specifies the maximum number of calls that can wait in the queue at any given time. The default is 50, but it can range from 0 to 200. When this limit is reached, the call is handled as specified by the When the maximum number of calls is reached setting.
7. Call timeout handling
Call Timeout: maximum wait time specifies the maximum time a call can be on hold in the queue before it is redirected or disconnected. You can specify a value from 0 seconds to 45 minutes.
Through these steps you can easily take control over your call flows and route callers to the appropriate person in your organization to offer a better service. If you are looking to extend your Microsoft Teams Phone capabilities, please reach out. Our UC specialists can help you plan and deploy enterprise-class Voice features such as: call analytics, call recording, and contact center.
