Forum Discussion

NikHut's avatar
NikHut
Copper Contributor
Jan 31, 2022

Handling incoming calls in Teams

Please help, we are fairly new to the Teams application and are trying to implement Teams calling within our organisation.  As with any normal PABX system we have one or two reception staff on duty w...
calling
microsoft teams
Ryan Steele's avatar
Ryan Steele
Bronze Contributor
Mar 03, 2022
I am interested to know why your receptionist would put a call on hold to answer another incoming call instead of just completing the first call and then answering the next one. If they answer a call from a Call Queue and immediately place that call on hold to speak to another caller, that defeats the purpose of the Queue, as the other receptionist cannot pick up this call.
  • AntCraig's avatar
    AntCraig
    Brass Contributor
    Sep 20, 2022
    You obviously have not seen a busy reception before. Receptionists can be juggling 4-5 calls at a time.
    • Ryan Steele's avatar
      Ryan Steele
      Bronze Contributor
      Sep 21, 2022

      AntCraig Yes, receptionists can be juggling multiple calls, but should they?

       

      Which is better: waiting in a call queue and having the receptionist's full attention when it is my turn, or having my conversation with the receptionist be interrupted every time another call comes in?

       

      To be clear, I'm not trying to argue that Microsoft's implementation of Auto Attendants and Call Queues is perfect. On the contrary, I think there are some major gaps, such as the lack of an "approximate wait time" feature, and no ability to request a call-back. But I just don't see the benefit of interrupting one call to answer another one and put it directly on hold. To me, that is an obsolete practice, born out of necessity due to a lack of functionality which is now widely available.

  • youthinkityoudoit's avatar
    youthinkityoudoit
    Brass Contributor
    Mar 04, 2022
    Great question. In this scenario, the customer's primary focus is having a live person answer incoming calls. That being said, they have one person answering incoming calls...I do realize that is not ideal. But I can only advise so much. So she may answer the first call, have a second ringing in right away, say thank you for calling, can you please hold? Answer the second call, process that as needed, then go back to the first call, but if she (or caller) hangs up on the second call, before she takes the first call off hold, Teams hangs up both calls.