Idea

adam1 avatar image
adam1 suggested Robert Gordon commented

Company Call Handling: Need Ext to ring first and then auto-receptionist?

Is it possible to have the system ring an extension first, and if that person DOES NOT pick up for whatever reason, it goes directly to the Auto-Receptionist?
reroute calls back to the auto-receptionistring an extension directly
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robert1234567 avatar image
robert1234567 commented

Our old phone system had the ability to ring our receptionist first and if she was away from her desk it would go to the IVR which I would think would be a standard option for Ringcentral as well but alas, its not. Anyway I was able to create a work-around in Ringcentral and wanted to share my configuration to help others out. Like others have proposed, this method uses a voicemail message for the initial greeting.

 

  1. Create and record your voice prompts and save in the prompts library. I have an intro that says: Thank you for calling company name. If you know your parties extension you may dial it at any time. For the employee directory, press one. For our office hours and location, press two. To hear these options again, press pound. As well as an hours and location prompt, an employee directory prompt, and an after-hours intro prompt. You will also need to create an intro2 prompt that has the same information as intro but says something like: Otherwise stay on the line to leave a message in our general mailbox at the end. IMPORTANT: Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end of this intro2 prompt. As an alternative you could cut the otherwise sentence and have several minutes of silence at the end of the intro2 prompt then most callers wont wait around to hear the beep and leave a message, especially when theyre not prompted to.
  2. Next, create your IVR menu. I used the visual IVR editor and created an IVR with a menu prompt with the intro then a branch to employee directory and a branch for hours and location. I gave the employee directory an extension number of 1 and the hours and location an extension of 2. Make sure to set your voice prompts for each under settings for each menu. I also created another IVR with the same options as the first but the intro was changed to the office closed voice prompt.
  3. Create a call queue with your receptionist as the only member. Under Call Handling turn on audio while connecting (I used ring tones) and under the member availability and hold times section I set all three sections to 15 seconds. In the after-hours tab change it to connect to extension and select your intro IVR. Under Messages & Notifications I set the message recipient to my call queue extension and changed the voicemail greeting to custom and used intro2 as the voicemail greeting.
  4. Under Auto-Receptionist/IVR settings, set your company greeting for both hours and after-hours to bypass greeting to go to extension and use your call queue as that extension.

 

That should do it. How this works is if the receptionist doesnt answer the phone during business hours the caller gets the voicemail box of the call queue which is your intro2. When a voicemail is playing any extension can be dialed so when they press 1 or 2 it connects to the IVR extensions we created and they can now navigate those menus (this is also the reason for the 5 seconds of silence at the end so they have time to press the extension. After-hours calls will also now get forwarded to the regular IVR intro menu. This also allows for the receptionist to have a voicemail box of their own.

 

The only downside with this is you need to have a general mailbox voicemail, one you either check or not. The other problem I have discovered is if the caller tries to go back to the root menu after hitting 1 or 2 during business hours it will just replay that extension and not go back. To fix this you would need to give the main menu a one digit extension number and instead of using star to return, you would say to return to the main menu press 3 using 3 as the example extension number.

 

Anyway, hope this helps. I also hope Ringcentral adds the ability soon to include an IVR in a call queue which would solve this functionality problem the right way.
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massiel-guillen avatar image
massiel-guillen commented
Robert - We've been trying to set up our system the way you suggested, and really appreciate your guidance, but for some reason, we aren't able to replicate your achievements. 

First, when the call rolls over after 15 seconds to the receptionists call queue, no matter which keypad numbers are pressed, there is no response, including pressing 9 even though we have the dial-by-name function enabled.

Next, when we have an IVR selected, we cannot turn it off under "IVR Settings" during business hours. It automatically goes to the IVR. The only way we can get the phone to ring first and then go to the call queue voicemail it to set the system to after-hours.

So, basically, we are really frustrated after spending 6 hours on a Saturday trying to figure this out. Anything you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
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robert7536 avatar image robert7536 commented ·
Sorry, just saw your message. Weird my setup is working great. After the 15 seconds it should start playing the voicemail greeting intro message (number 3 above). When a voicemail is playing it should allow you to enter extensions. Make sure you have the 2 minutes of silence if not using a general vm inbox and make sure your IVR has an extension number and it has to be a custom recorded VM greeting, not the automated vm. I just double checked and when I press 1  during the silence after the custom greeting it goes to my ivr directory extension. Yeah if you have the IVR on it won't ring the reception it needs to be a separate extension. Try dialing any extension number when a vm greeting is playing that is basic functionality that doesn't require additional settings. If you can't dial an extension during a custom VM greeting, call Ringcentral support, they are extremely helpful, almost too helpful. LOL, anyway hope this helps, reply back if you need any more help from me otherwise, good luck! P.S. I agree this functionality should not be this difficult!
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philipdenton13606 avatar image
philipdenton13606 commented
I have a client who desperately requires this feature also.  Why is this so difficult to add?  I would not consider this an "advanced feature" that a company should pay more for!
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craig-lohman8067 avatar image
craig-lohman8067 commented
We are a new RingCentral business customer and have been trying to figure this out as well.  Based on this thread and others, it seems that there is no option for a call to be first routed to an extension and hopefully to be answered by a live person.  If that person is unable to answer the call, then the IVR functionality would kick in with a message allowing a person to dial by name or leave a message in the general mailbox.  Seems simple enough, yet based on all the threads I have found, it is not an option.  Disappointing. 
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craig-lohman8067 avatar image craig-lohman8067 commented ·
I guess we must be crazy to think that customers would actually prefer to have a live person answer the phone during business hours.  For our business, this is something that we believe in.  It would be nice to have this ability along with the IVR when someone cannot answer timely.  I can see how your procedure might work, but like I have seen elsewhere, it is a workaround.  Maybe RingCentral will one day add this functionality into their system. 
1 Like 1 ·
robert7536 avatar image robert7536 commented ·
Yeah, It's not built into Ringcentral. I have this setup for my company using the above procedure though.  If you have any problems, let me know or you can always call RC support.
0 Likes 0 ·
cheri-hughes avatar image cheri-hughes commented ·
I cant understand how this is not an option to turn on or off.  This should be simple not a work around, turn off the auto answering. 
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Robert Gordon avatar image Robert Gordon commented ·
Yeah, I absolutely agree. An easy fix Ringcentral could implement would be to allow you to add an IVR extension to a call queue.
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