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Use case

Route calls between departments

Callers choose a department from a menu or dial its own number, each department answers from its own queue, and staff can pass calls on when needed.

The problem

When one person or one ring group answers every call, the receptionist becomes a switchboard. Sales enquiries wait behind invoice questions, support calls ring people who cannot help, and customers repeat themselves each time they are passed on.

Departments also have different needs: sales wants every new enquiry answered quickly, support needs calls spread evenly across the team, and billing may be one or two people who need a backup.

How phone.systems™ handles it

phone.systems™ routes calls to departments in three ways, which can be combined:

  1. A Voice Menu (IVR). The caller hears a prompt and presses a key, for example 1 for Sales, 2 for Support and 3 for Billing. Prompts can be uploaded, recorded in the browser or generated with text-to-speech.
  2. Dedicated department numbers. Each phone number can start its own call flow, so a support number can go straight to the Support queue without a menu. Numbers are available in 93 countries.
  3. Transfers between people. Staff can make a blind transfer from the phone.systems™ app, and feature codes provide attended and unattended transfer and call pickup.

Each department is a Queue with its own members and distribution strategy (round robin, ring all or random) and its own hold-message playlist. A person can belong to more than one queue, so a small billing team can have a backup from support. When a queue's timeout is reached, the call falls through to another team or a shared voicemail.

Call tags such as Support request or Billing question, and the per-queue data in Call Statistics, show how calls divide between departments.

Department routing with a voice menu

  1. Voice menuMain Menu

    Text-to-speech prompt: press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support, 3 for Billing.

    • Press 1Sales queue
    • Press 2Support queue
    • Press 3Billing queue, with a backup member from Support
  2. Call queuingDepartment queue

    Round robin distribution; each queue plays its own hold playlist.

    • AnsweredAgent can transfer to another department if needed
    • Timeout reachedTeam Voicemail
  3. Call History

    Tagged Support request, Billing question, New lead and so on.

The menu and queues in the call flow editor

Main Menu: key 1 to Sales, 2 to Support, 3 to Billing; unanswered queue calls go to Team Voicemail.

phone.systems™ call flow editor showing the Main Menu voice menu with keys 1, 2 and 3 connected to the Sales, Support and Billing queues, each falling through to Team Voicemail

What you can configure

  • Voice Menu options

    Keypress options for each department, a timeout of 1 second to 2 minutes and 1–11 prompt repeats.

  • A queue per department

    Its own members, distribution strategy, hold music and timeout.

  • Department numbers

    Local, national, mobile or toll-free numbers that route straight to one department.

  • Transfers

    Blind transfer in the app; attended and unattended transfer and call pickup with feature codes.

  • Shared directory

    Company directory and presence in the app help staff see who is available before transferring.

  • Department reporting

    Call tags, Call Statistics and User Statistics (ACD, AWT, ASR) per team.

How to set it up in phone.systems™

  1. Add users with departments in Users

    Set each person's department and job title, and invite them to the app.

  2. Create prompts in Audio Files

    Generate the menu prompt with text-to-speech and create a hold playlist per department.

  3. Build the call flow in Call Flows

    Add a Voice Menu, one Queue per department, and a Voicemail as the fallback for each queue.

  4. Point numbers at the flow in Numbers

    Assign the main number to the menu flow, and any department numbers to their own flows.

  5. Create call tags

    Add tags such as Support request and Billing question so calls can be grouped in Call History.

Capabilities used

The phone.systems™ features this relies on. Each page explains how the capability works.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use a menu or separate numbers for each department?

Either works, and many businesses use both. A Voice Menu keeps one number on your website; separate numbers let customers reach a department directly and make it easy to see volume per department.

Can staff transfer a caller to another department?

Yes. The phone.systems™ app supports blind transfer, and feature codes provide attended and unattended transfer as well as call pickup.

What happens if a department does not answer?

When the department queue's timeout is reached, the call moves to the next object, such as a shared Voicemail, another queue or Forwarding to a mobile.

Can one person be in more than one department queue?

Yes. A user can be a member of several queues, for example Support and Billing, so a small team always has a backup.

Set up a phone system that fits how you work

Configure numbers, users and call routing in one place, and change them whenever your business changes.

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