How this Feature will help you

It’s like an automated receptionist that can quickly and professionally direct callers to the User or department they require, without you needing a person to do it.

The Feature greets the caller and provides them with several options to complete the directing of their call based on the settings you inputted. A Hunt Group or Call centre Feature is often behind the Auto Attendant ready to deal with the calls. 

How to set up and use this Feature – on the Business Portal

Click on the Auto Attendant settings icon on the Features page.

Then select ‘Add attendant’.

Details

Type in a name for your attendant. Doing this will automatically create an Auto Attendant ID which will appear on billing reports, you can amend this if you prefer.

Add your calling line ID first and second name. This is displayed on a User’s Device or Application when the Auto Attendant receives an incoming call.

Select a public phone number from the drop-down menu – this is the number you advertise to outside callers. There’s also the option to add an extension number for internal callers only.

Choose either ‘None’ or ‘Plus’ in the Feature pack drop-down menu if this option is provided (not yet available to all), plus provides you with advanced features – then click ‘Continue’.

Auto Attendant Plus (Not available to all)

The plus pack may be chargeable, please ensure you check with your Service Provider. 

‘Plus’ gives you greater flexibility by providing the following advanced call functionality:

• Alternate Numbers
• Call forwarding always
• Call forwarding selective
• Do not disturb
• Selective call acceptance
• Selective call rejection
• Voicemail

Dialling options

Choose if you want just ‘Name dialling’, just ‘Extension dialling’, both or neither.

Name dialling

The caller spells out the name of the User they’d like to speak to using their phone’s keypad. Once a match is found, the caller is played the name and transferred to them. If there are multiple results, the caller is played a list of options to choose from.

You can select how the caller enters the User’s name: Last name, first name – or – last name, first name, and first name, last name.

If a caller’s phone can’t supply DTMF (dial tone) or they press a non-configured digit, they’ll hear this system announcement: ‘This key is not valid, please try again’. If they do it again or don’t select an option, they’ll be transferred to the number set up as the ‘Operator’.

Extension dialling

The caller enters the extension number they require using their phone’s keypad. The caller is then played the name of the User assigned to that extension and transferred to them.

Once you’ve selected your options, simple hit ‘Continue’.

Settings

Time Schedule

You can choose a Time Schedule for when Auto Attendant is activated. For example, during your business hours.

There’s a default ‘Time Schedule’ of ‘All day, every day’. To create more Time Schedules, navigate to the Site feature ‘Schedules’.

Holiday Schedule

You can also create Holiday Schedules for when Auto Attendant is activated. For example, you could turn it off if you close for the Christmas break.

Once again, these are created in the Schedules Feature first, then they’ll appear in the drop-down menu here.  Though note, existing UK Bank holiday schedules have been pre-built.

Once you’ve added and selected your Schedules, click ‘Save’.

Customise your Auto Attendant

After creating your Auto Attendant, you’ll be redirected to the customisation page where you can manage the Feature’s settings.

There’s a navigation sidebar for the six main customisable settings, simply click on the one you’d like to manage:

• Profile
• Business hours
• After hours
• Service passcode
• Features – only available if Plus pack has been added.
• Voicemail – only available if Plus pack has been added.

You can also get to here from the Feature’s main page, where all your Auto Attendants will be listed, by clicking on the three dots (on the right-hand side of the screen) for your chosen Auto Attendant, then select ‘Manage’.

From the Auto Attendant main page, you can toggle them ‘on’ or ‘off’, delete them, manage them, and add new ones.

Profile

Displays the selected Auto Attendant’s key information. You can update this by clicking ‘Manage’ in the relevant section.

Business hours

Greeting

You can choose to have a ‘System’ or ‘Custom’ greeting during business hours – simply tick your preferred option.

If you’d like to personalise your greeting, you can upload an audio file providing it’s:

• CCITT u-Law WAV with 8kHz, 8Bit and mono attributes.
• A maximum file size of 5MB.
• A maximum of 40 characters in the file name.

To make things easier, especially if you don’t have access to professional recording tools, you can download an Application called ‘Broadsoft Recorder’ from the App stores. It allows you to record a greeting, and then email it as an attachment, ready to upload to the Business Portal. 

Settings

To make it easier for callers who already know the extension number they need, simply tick the box: ‘Allow callers to dial extension immediately after greeting’. They’ll get the chance to input the number at the start, before having to listen to all the options available to them.

Dialling menu

You can assign a number of pre-selected options to each number key, as well as the asterisk (*) and hashtag (#) keys.

Click the ‘Manage menu’ button.

Manage dialling menu

First select a ‘key’ from the drop-down menu. There are up to 12 key options (numbers 0–9 and ‘*’ and ‘#’). Three options are shown, but you can add up to nine more or remove these ones. 

Then add the ‘menu option’ for each key from the next drop-down menu. Depending on what you select, add a phone number if required.  

• Transfer with prompt – type the number the caller will be transferred to when they hear this system announcement: ‘Please wait while your call is transferred’. This can be a User, a Hunt Group, a call centre, another Auto Attendant or any valid number.
• Transfer without prompt – type the number the caller will be transferred to with normal ring back. This can be a User, a Hunt Group, a call centre, another Auto Attendant or any valid number. 
• Operator – type the number the caller will be transferred to when they hear this system announcement: ‘Please wait while your call is transferred to the operator’. This happens when a caller doesn’t press an option, or they press a non-configured option twice. If they do this and the option isn’t selected, the call will be disconnected.
• Dial by name – the caller will be asked to enter the person’s name using their phone’s keypad.
• Dial by extension – the caller will be asked to enter their desired extension number.
• Repeat menu – the greeting menu options will be repeated for the caller.
• Exit menu – ends the call.

Once you’ve chosen all your options, simple hit ‘Submit’.

After hours

If you’ve created an after-hours Time Schedule, you can customise that too. Simply follow the same steps shown above in the ‘business hours’ section.

Service passcode

If you need to make settings updates to an Auto Attendant using the voice portal from a non-registered Device, such as your mobile phone when away from the office, you can set a service passcode to give you access.

Click the ‘Change passcode’ button.

Type in the passcode, which must:

• Be 4–8 digits long.
• · Not use repeating patterns, such as: 1212, 123123.
• Not be the Auto Attendant’s own number or extension, forwards or backwards.

Then simply hit ‘Save’.

Features

From here you can view and manage the other Features that complement Auto Attendant to make it even more effective and tailored to your needs.

To manage any of the listed Features, simply click on the settings icon. You can find out more about each Feature by reading the relevant help article.

Voicemail

When in the selected group, click the ‘Voicemail’ tab, followed by the 'Configure voicemail' button.

If you’re received any Voicemails, they’ll be listed here under the following headings:

• Calling number – the number from the person that left the Voicemail.
• Type – either a Voicemail or a fax message.
• Message – the function that allows you to play, pause, stop, fast forward and rewind the Voicemail.
• Time – the date and time the Voicemail was received.
• Duration – how long the Voicemail lasts in seconds.

To ‘delete’ a Voicemail, tick the box next to the ‘Calling number’, followed by the ‘Delete’ button.

Accessing Voicemails from email

If you’ve selected Voicemails to be sent via email, the recipient of the email has the following options:

• Listen to the message.
• Repeat the message.
• Delete the message. This will only delete it from their email account.
• Store the message locally or upload it to a CRM system.
• Forward the message to another email recipient.

Additional information

If required, you can use multiple Auto Attendants for a single Site or combine them to create a seamless, multi-level call distribution platform.

The following features are often used in conjunction with this feature and ready to deal with the calls as they are distributed

• Hunt Group – this works best if you don’t get many calls and have staff available to quickly answer calls. Incoming callers will just hear ringing until its answered.
• Call Centre ACD – if you receive lots of calls and need to queue people while playing hold music, this would be a better option.