Channels
Voice: transfers, callbacks and overflow
How the agent passes a call to your team with a brief, books a call back at a time the customer chooses, and takes calls when your queue is full.
On this page
When a call needs a person, the agent passes it to your team with a written brief, so the caller does not repeat themselves and your colleague starts informed. The same connection lets the agent offer to call a customer back at a time they choose, and take the calls your team cannot reach when your queue is full. Together, these decide how the agent and your team share the phone lines. This page explains each one and how it works with your phone system.
Transfers, callbacks and overflow at a glance
| What happens for the caller | How it works | How it is set up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfer to your team | The caller is connected to the right person, who already has a brief | The agent hands the call to your phone system, or connects the caller itself after speaking the brief to your colleague | You set a destination for each situation |
| Scheduled callback | The caller chooses a time, ends the call, and is called back then | The agent books the callback, and places the call at the agreed time | Configured during implementation for the lines that need it |
| Overflow | A caller who would have waited in your queue is answered by the agent | Your phone system routes calls to the agent when the queue passes a threshold you set | Configured during implementation, with the threshold set on your side |
When the agent transfers a call
The agent transfers a call when the caller asks for a person, or when the conversation reaches a trigger you have set: a customer in distress, a legal question, a request outside the agent's limits, or a decision that belongs to your team. It also transfers when it is not confident enough in a consequential answer. That decision combines rules you set for each type of question with a confidence threshold measured before deployment. See Escalation rules.
Each situation has its own destination: a number, an extension or a queue. A request to restructure a payment plan can go to collections, and a complaint about a stay can go to the duty manager. The caller hears the agent explain who it is passing them to.
What your colleague receives
The person taking the call receives a written brief as the call arrives: who the caller is, what they asked, what has been established, what is outstanding, and why the call was transferred. Identity checks already passed, and records already found, are in the brief, so your colleague does not repeat them.
The brief is delivered into the system your team works in: your contact centre platform (the software that queues and routes calls to your team), your CRM (the system that holds your customer records) or the Telonic console (the web application your team uses to see conversations and records). The call itself carries a conversation reference in a SIP header. SIP is the standard protocol phone systems use to set up and connect calls, and a header is a labelled item of information sent with the call, so your platform can match the incoming call to its brief and to the full conversation.
Two ways to transfer a call
By default, the agent hands the call back to your phone system, which connects the caller to your colleague. Telonic then leaves the call, and your colleague reads the brief on screen as they answer. This suits most transfers, and it keeps the call on your side from the moment it is connected.
Where your colleague must hear the brief before the caller is connected, the agent uses a bridged transfer. It calls your colleague, speaks the brief, and then joins the caller to the call. Because the call stays connected through Telonic, it uses a second channel on your SIP trunk (the virtual phone line between your phone system and Telonic) for as long as the call lasts. This suits teams that do not work at a screen, such as a night manager or an on-call engineer.
The technical detail
| SIP REFER (default) | Bridged transfer | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | The agent sends a SIP REFER (a standard SIP instruction asking the phone system to connect the call elsewhere) to your phone system | The agent places a second call to your colleague and connects the two calls through Telonic |
| How the brief arrives | In writing, in your contact centre platform, CRM or the Telonic console | Spoken to your colleague first, and in writing as well |
| After the transfer | The call runs on your phone system; Telonic is no longer in the call | The call stays connected through Telonic until it ends |
| Trunk capacity | One trunk channel (one of the simultaneous call paths your trunk carries), released at transfer | A second trunk channel for the length of the call |
When you plan trunk capacity with your carrier, allow for bridged transfers holding two channels each. Your telephony team and ours confirm the transfer method for each destination during implementation. See Voice: connecting your telephony over SIP.
Scheduled callbacks
Some callers would rather not finish the conversation now. They are driving, they need a document in front of them, or they want to speak at a time that suits them. With scheduled callbacks, the agent offers a call back at a time the caller chooses, books it, and places the call at that time with the full history of the first conversation.
Scheduled callbacks are configured during implementation for the lines that need them. A callback is an outbound call, so the same checks apply before it is placed: the customer's contact preferences and the calling hours you have set. If the callback needs a person, the agent transfers it with a brief in the usual way. See Voice: inbound and outbound calls.
Overflow: when your queue is full
Overflow lets you keep your team on your main lines and bring the agent in only when the queue passes a threshold you set, such as a number of callers waiting or a waiting time. Callers who would otherwise have waited are answered by the agent. It is a useful way to start, because it adds capacity without handing over a whole line.
Overflow is configured during implementation. The threshold lives in your phone system or contact centre platform, such as Genesys, NICE, Five9 or Amazon Connect, so your team decides when it applies and can change it at any time. Calls the agent cannot complete go to your team with a brief, so when a colleague picks one up, the work so far is not lost.
In travel, overflow matters most during delays and cancellations, when call volume rises fastest. The agent takes the routine rebooking and flight status questions, so your team is free for the passengers who need a person.
In practice
A motor insurer routes its out-of-hours claims line to the agent, with transfers to an on-call claims handler.
- At 10:40pm, Mariam calls to report an accident. The agent confirms who she is, finds her comprehensive policy, and starts taking the first notice of loss (the first report of a claim).
- She mentions that the other driver says he was hurt. Claims involving injury stay with the insurer's claims team, so the agent tells Mariam it is connecting her to a claims handler.
- The on-call handler works from the contact centre platform. The agent transfers the call with SIP REFER, and the brief appears on the handler's screen as the call connects.
- The handler greets Mariam by name, confirms the injury details, and takes over the claim. Mariam does not repeat anything she has already said.
- The transcript, the brief and the handler's outcome are in Mariam's record the next morning for the claims team.
What your team controls
- The triggers that send a call to a person, and the destination for each situation.
- Which destinations use a bridged transfer, and which use the default.
- Where the brief appears: your contact centre platform, your CRM or the Telonic console.
- The hours in which callbacks can be booked and placed.
- The overflow threshold, in your own phone system or contact centre platform.
Related
- Handover to your teamAgents
- Escalation rulesGovernance and control
- Voice: connecting your telephony over SIPChannels
- Contact centre platformsIntegrations
- Voice: inbound and outbound callsChannels
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