Monitoring Live Calls and Chats
Overview
Supervisors and Agents in training benefit from listening in on live calls and viewing live chats, without joining the session or interrupting the consumer and Agent on the call or chat.
Monitoring allows users to listen in on or view a live session. The Agent in the session does not know that the session is being monitored, and multiple users can monitor an individual session at one time.
In order to monitor calls and chats, users must be assigned a role with the monitoring permissions enabled.
Call and Chat Details pop-up
Call Details
The Call Details pop-up is available from the Agents page and from the Calls > Connected page. The pop-up shows relevant information about the current session including call metrics, transfer, and call participant information. Users will have access to Monitor and Barge calls from this pop-up, depending on their assigned Role and associated permissions.
Chat Details
The Chat Details pop-up is available from the Chats > Connected page. The pop-up shows relevant data about the current session.
Monitoring calls
From the Connected Calls page
Go to Calls > Connected.
Find the call by searching or scroll on the page.
Click the actions button and select Monitor.
When finished, click Stop Monitoring.
From the Agent Monitoring Page
Go to Agents.
Find the Agent using filtering, searching, or scrolling on the page.
Click the Actions button and select Monitor.
OR select Call Details, then click the Monitor button.
When finished, click Stop Monitoring.
Monitoring Chats
Monitor chats from the Connected Chats page.
Go to Chats > Connected.
Find the chat by searching or scrolling on the page.
Click the Actions button and select View Live Chat.
When finished, click the X in the upper right corner.
Viewing live chat UI
Agent: Name of Agent as entered on the Users and Teams page
End User: Consumer name or unique ID if available
Issue: Queue menu path
View Case / Ticket: If your CRM is integrated with CCAI Platform, click the link to view the CRM record associated with the chat session
After Hour Deflection for Calls and Chats
Overview
Customize your consumer's experience by configuring specific deflection paths for when consumers try to contact you outside of your Hours of Operation are first configured, then deflection is enabled and configured at the global level in the Call Settings and Chat Settings pages. Deflection after hours of operation can be further customized for each leaf-queue in Settings > Queue.
The global Languages and Messages settings includes the setup for the voice recordings or Text-to-speech prompts needed once certain settings are enabled.
Add the appropriate messages once announcements or deflections are enabled.
Details
When After Hour deflection is enabled, calls and chats will be deflected based on the specific operation hours for the queue, language, or channel the consumer has selected or has been routed to. While deflection options and configuration is done on the Call settings and Queue Settings pages, the actual hours are set on the Support Center Details settings page. There are multiple options you can offer callers once this setting is enabled.
Steps to fully enable and configure After Hour deflection
Configure hours of operation for your environment - global and custom hours for each queue, channel, and/or language as needed.
Enable and configure After Hour deflection for calls.
Enable and configure After Hour deflection for chats.
Configure per-queue deflection options (optional).
Configure and upload appropriate greetings at Settings > Languages and Messages.
CCAI Platform Portal configuration
Enable and configure After Hour deflection for calls
Go to Settings > Call.
Toggle Enable After Hour Deflection to On to deflect callers when dialing in after scheduled hours of operation (set at Settings > Support Center Details).
Mark the checkbox Allow transfers to queues outside of operation hours for the following behavior:
Agents will be able to see the following queues as options to transfer to in the Agent Adapter:
All queues within operating hours
All queues that are outside of operation hours with after hour deflection enabled
All queues that are outside of hours of operation with no deflection enabled and active, logged-in agents
All queues that are after hours with an assigned virtual agent in 24-hour availability mode
Agents will not be able to see the following types of queues:
All queues that are outside of operating hours with an assigned virtual agent limited to queue hours of operation
Select Mobile and Web SDK call deflection options
When selected, visual options will be displayed when outside of hours of operation. The regular call/chat options will not appear in the UI and the options you select below will be the only options available.
After Hours Deflection: Deflects consumers by presenting alternative options.
Scheduled Call: Shows a set of available times within the hours of operation for the queue to request a call.
Email A separate email form can be presented in all channels when Integrated Email Form for Mobile and Web SDKs is enabled. For implementation contact your account team or Support. Otherwise, the following email settings apply:
Web: gives the customer the email address to contact.
Mobile: default email app is launched with an email address in the "To" field, and data like app version and device type can be added to the email body by default.
Email address is set in Settings > Support Center Details:
Phone Number: Only for Mobile SDK. Deflects consumers to another phone number. Shows as "Call now" and displays the number the phone will be dialing.
Voicemail: Only for Mobile SDK. Allows customers to leave a voicemail. Shows as "Leave a callback message." Voicemails will be delivered to agents assigned to the selected queue for calls.
Example deflection UI
Example Mobile SDK that is set to deflect to all options After Hours.
Select IVR call deflection options
After Hours Deflection: During the set hours in the Support Center Details, calls will deflect to the selected option below.
Queue: If you have a 24-hour queue or just one with longer hours set, all calls will be sent to this queue.
Phone Number: Deflects caller to another phone number.
Voicemail: Allows caller to leave a voicemail.
Agents assigned to the queue that was called when operating hours were reached will be alerted of voicemails left as a result of this deflection setting. If this is applied to a top-level queue with no assignments, voicemails will be available in your CRM.
The message can be customized in Settings > Languages & Messages > Voicemail message.
Additional Voicemail message options are available under Custom Callbacks.
Voicemail - Phone Number Blocked
Voicemail - Request Phone Number
Voicemail - Phone Number Input Success
Message Only: "After Hour Deflection" message plays and the call ends. The message can be customized in Settings > Languages & Messages > After Hour Deflection message.
Click Set Deflection to Save the above settings.
Enable and configure After Hour deflection for chats
Go to Settings > Chat.
Enable After Hour deflection: Enable to deflect chat requests outside of operating hours.
If After Hour Deflection is disabled, mark the checkbox Allow transfers to queues outside of operation when After Hours Deflection is disabled for the following behavior:
Agents will be able to see the following queues as options to transfer to in the Agent Adapter:
All queues within operating hours
All queues that are outside of hours of operation with no deflection enabled and active, logged-in agents
All queues that are after hours with after hour deflection enabled
All queues that are after hours with an assigned virtual agent in 24-hour availability mode
Agents will not be able to see the following types of queues:
All queues that are outside of operating hours with an assigned virtual agent limited to queue hours of operation
After hour deflectionoptions: Select Email to deflect a consumer to email if chatting in after hours. A separate email form can be presented when the Integrated Email Form for Mobile and Web SDKs is enabled. For implementation contact your account team or Support. Otherwise, the customer will be presented with the email address set in Settings > Support Center Details from within the body of the chat interaction.
Click Set Deflection to save.
Configure queue-specific settings
Available for IVR, Mobile, and SMS channels. Not available for Web.
IVR
Go to Settings > Queue > IVR.
Click on the queue you want to edit.
Scroll to Custom After Hours Deflection and toggle switch to ON.
Message: A message will play, then end the call. Default message set in Settings > Call or a Custom Greeting can be used.
Queue: Deflects the caller to another queue.
Phone number: Redirect callers after hours to a phone number. Additional charges for call time apply.
Voicemail: directs the caller to voicemail with an option to customize the voicemail greeting.
Click Set After Hour Deflection to save.
Mobile
Mobile configuration allows for either deflecting to a queue, or a combination of other deflection options. If you are deflecting to a queue, the consumer cannot also have another option like leaving a voicemail.
Go to Settings > Queue > Mobile.
Click on the queue you want to edit.
Go Custom After Hours Deflection and toggle switch to ON.
Deflect to Queue: deflects the consumer to another queue
OR
Deflection Options (select one or more):
Scheduled Call: When scheduled calls are enabled in the Channel Settings for this queue, you can select this option to present consumers with timeslots for a scheduled call during operating hours.
Email: A separate email form can be presented when Integrated Email Form for Mobile and Web SDK is enabled. Otherwise, the following email settings apply: Default email app is launched with an email address in the "To" field, and data like app version and device type call be added to the email body by default. Email address is set in Settings > Support Center Details.
Phone Number: Deflects consumers to another phone number. Shows "Call now" and displays the number the phone will be dialing.
Voicemail: Allows consumers to leave a voicemail. Shows as "Leave a callback message." Voicemails will be delivered to agents assigned to the selected queue for calls.
Click Set After Hour Deflection to save.
SMS
Go to Settings > Queue >SMS.
Click on the queue you want to edit.
Scroll to SMS Chat System Messages section and mark the checkbox next to Enable after hour message.
Enter the text message to send to consumers.
Click Save.
Call Recording - Data Storage
Overview
Once a call is completed, the call recording is uploaded to your CRM. Call recordings are then deleted from the original server as soon the recording is successfully upload to your CRM. Successful uploads usually occur >99% of the time.
There are only three (3) scenarios when a call recording deletion would be delayed after call completion:
Customer CRM has not sent an acknowledgment of successful data upload,
The CRM API limit has been reached, or
The call recording file is too large for the CRM system to upload.
The CCAI Platform service utilizes a retry mechanism with an exponential back off to upload the call recording to the customer CRM system in these scenarios.
As soon as the recording is successfully submitted, it is deleted from the carrier platform. In all cases, the call recording is retained for no more than seven (7) days. During the delayed retention of the recording, the carrier cannot access the recording at any time. The recording is only accessible via MFA handshakes and only the authenticated CRM keys can access that.
Maximum file size
If the call recording size exceeds 50MB, CCAI Platform will split the file into smaller size files then attach them to CRM ticket in order.
Example: if the file size is 70MB, CCAI Platform will divide it into 50MB and 20MB files then attach them as separate recordings to the CRM ticket.
Agent messages & notifications
You can customize agent notifications for calls and chats, both globally and at the queue level. Options include:
Setting the frequency and tone for alerts.
Uploading custom tones.
Configuring whisper announcement settings that provide context before a call starts.
With these settings you can customize your notifications and messages to help improve your agents' responsiveness and efficiency.
Configure call messages and notifications globally
To configure call messages and notifications globally, follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Call.
Scroll to the Agent Call Messages & Notifications section.
Under General, configure the following settings:
Use whisper for calls: Once a call is assigned to the Agent, they will hear an audible message stating the call type and queue: "{Call Type} from {Queue Name}."
Whisper read speed: Increase or decrease the speed at which the whisper message is read. Duration of call whisper message is included in Wait Time metrics.
Use countdown for calls: Plays an audible message to the agent counting down seconds until the caller is live on the phone: "You're up - call starting in 3,2,1."
Incoming call notification: Click on each option to hear the tone. Select the tone for agents to hear for incoming calls. You can also upload a custom tone. See Custom notification tones.
Call notification frequency: Choose for the agent to only hear the notification tone one time, or repeated after a specified number of seconds have passed. If you select Notify agent until call is picked up or no calls are available, you can select or change the number of seconds between notifications.
Activate the Enable SMS Notification slider to allow SMS notifications to the agent for any incoming calls to the phone number specified in the agent's CCAI Platform user profile.
Click Set Notifications to save your changes.
Configure chat notifications globally
To configure chat notifications globally, follow these steps:
Go to Settings > Chat.
Scroll down to Agent Chat Notifications.
Under New Chat Notification, click on each option to hear the tone. Select the tone that agents will hear for incoming chats. You can also upload a custom tone.
Under Notification Frequency, you can choose for the agent to only hear the notification tone once, or repeatedly after a specified number of seconds have passed.
If you select Notify agent until chat is picked up or no chats are available, you can select or change the number of seconds between notifications.
Under New Message Notification, click on each option to hear the tone. Select the tone that agents will hear for new messages in an existing chat. You can also upload a custom tone.
Click Save Notification to save your changes.
Configure whisper announcements at the queue level
By configuring whisper announcements at the queue level, you can provide information to agents that is specific to a queue prior to a call starting.
To configure whisper announcements at the queue level, follow these steps:
In the CCAI Platform portal, click Settings > Queue. If you don't see the Settings menu, click Menu, and then click Settings > Queue.
Depending on the type of queue you are editing, click either IVR (Interactive Voice Response), Mobile, or Web.
Click the queue that you want to edit.
In the Settings pane for your queue, go to the Whisper Announcement section, and then click Configure.
Click the Whisper Announcement toggle to the on position.
Select one of the following whisper announcement types:
Queue name: CCAI Platform reads the queue name before the call starts.
Text-to-speech: enter text for CCAI Platform to read before the call starts.
Upload Audio Recording: upload an audio file for CCAI Platform to play before the call starts.
Optional: In the Whisper read speed box, select a playback speed.
Optional: Click the Use countdown for calls toggle to the on or off position. If you turn on this setting, CCAI Platform plays a message to the agent that counts down the seconds until the call starts—for example, "You're up - call starts in 3, 2, 1."
Click Save.
Custom notification tones
You can upload custom tones for the following notification types:
Agent call messages & notifications:
- Incoming call notification
Agent chat notifications:
- New message notification
- New chat notification
Under Settings > Chat > Agent Chat Notifications, you will see
Select the tone you would like to use under each notification type.
Clicking Custom tone allows you to upload a .mp3
audio file and preview
it. The .mp3
file can be deleted or replaced with other custom tones. The
uploaded tone remains available even if you choose a default tone.
Settings recommendations
Use a longer ringtone and/or more frequent notification if:
Agents are often multitasking and not always waiting to take a call
In an open office or louder environment
Agents might listen to music from their computer
Use a shorter ringtone if:
Agents are always alert and waiting for calls
Higher call frequency
Call whisper:
Use this when the queue selection and type of call highly impact the first communication from the agent
Increase speed of whisper for decreased wait time impact
For very low second count SLAs:
- Only use whisper and countdown if necessary as the duration of these messages contributes to the wait time for calls
Ending a Call or Chat
On the Calls/Chats Queued and Connected Monitoring pages, you can end calls and chats by selecting the End Call/Chat option from the Actions column.
This is useful for clearing a stuck call or chat. The following are examples of best practices:
View the call or chat details before ending.
End the call or chat if it exceeds a company defined queue wait time threshold. For example, anything over 5+ hours is defined as a stuck call or chat and can be ended.
Permission to end Call/Chat
The following permission is required. It is included by default for Admin and Managers (restricted to assigned teams only) and can be added to any custom role.
- Monitor-Chats-Edit permission.
Ending a Call or Chat
Go to the Monitoring Page. Available Monitoring Pages to end an Call or Chat:
Call Monitoring Page (Calls > Connected, Calls > Queued)
Chat Monitoring Page (Chats > Connected, Chat > Queued)
Go to call or chat row that you want to end and click on the dots under the Actions column.
The Action menu options appear.
Click End Call/Chat.
A confirmation window displays.
Click Confirm.
Handling Unauthenticated Consumers
Overview
When using the Web SDK and Mobile SDK, some user flows allow for your customers or prospects (referred to as consumer) to contact support before logging into the website or app. Since the user didn't enter any login credentials, there is no way to tie the user back to your exiting database right away. CCAI Platform will track the anonymous user when possible with a new temporary unique ID and merge to your existing user record/ID once the user has logged in.
Unauthenticated consumers may include:
Prospects contacting your support or sales team via your webpage
Current customers who are logged out of your app and contacting support to get help with their login
New users in the critical first stage of onboarding before a login has been created
Since no identifying information is passed to your CRM without the user logging in, they will be recognized anonymously as a Web User.
A ticket/case is created in your CRM with the following information for the consumer, and an internal process should dictate how the agent should edit the data so that the name of the contact is either updated to be correct or merged with an existing contact in your CRM.
- First Name: Web User - {Month/Day Hour:Minute} (ex: Web User 10/05 10:15)
- Unique Visitor Identifier
If the same user comes back to the web SDK and then is able to log in, the prior tickets while unauthenticated can be merged with ID they have now logged in with.
Mobile: Unauthenticated Consumers
Since no identifying information is passed to your CRM without the user logging in, they will be recognized anonymously as a Mobile User.
A ticket/case is created in your CRM with the following information for the consumer, and an internal process should dictate how the agent should edit the data so that the name of the contact is either updated to be correct or merged with an existing contact in your CRM.
- First Name: Mobile User - {Month/Day Hour:Minute} (ex: Mobile User 10/05 10:15)
- Mobile SDK Identifier
If the same user comes back to the Web SDK or Mobile SDK and then is able to log in, the prior tickets while unauthenticated can be merged with ID they have now logged in with.
Note for Android Devices: If the user uninstalls and reinstalls your app, their unique mobile SDK ID will not be recognized, and a new contact will be created.
SmartActions
Overview
Consumers calling or initiating a chat can share photos, videos, and screenshots with agents to get on the same page fast. By prompting the consumer to send the requested media, there's no more need for walking them through each step just to send the media, and the media is captured, then immediately available to the agent.
Using SmartActions with Mobile SDK calls
Actions menu: Click to bring up smart action options
Get Verification: Asks the consumer to verify via fingerprint or PIN code they use to unlock their mobile device. This can be used as a security measure to verify ownership of the product/device in question.
Request Photos: Prompts caller to take or select up to 4 photos. They will need to grant camera/photo access for your app.
Example use case: Product arrived broken, the consumer can send photos of the damaged item.
Request Screenshots: Prompts caller to take a screenshot of the current page in the app.
Process Note: Since this prompts the consumer to take and send a screenshot of the current page, guide them to the part of the app that you would want to view a screenshot of before initiating the screenshot request.
Example use case: Consumer receiving an error on a certain page
Request Videos: Prompts caller to select an existing video or to take a new video.
Example use case: Consumer sends a video showing their current product setup that would be hard to describe.
Get Text Input: Prompts consumers to type in information using their mobile device keyboard.
Example use case: Consumer can correctly send their tracking #, email, or a correct spelling of their last name.
Redact: When enabled, agents can initiate call redaction to pause recording a call. See Call Redaction.
Example use case: Consumer is sharing sensitive information such as credit card details or social security information.
SmartActions for Mobile SDK chat
Actions menu: Click to bring up smart action options
Get Verification: Asks the consumer to verify via fingerprint or PIN code they use to unlock their mobile device. This can be used as a security measure to verify ownership of the product/device in question.
Request Photos: Prompts caller to take or select up to 4 photos. They will need to grant camera/photo access for your app.
Example use case: Product arrived broken, the consumer can send photos of the damaged item.
Request Screenshots: Prompts caller to take a screenshot of the current page in the app.
Process Note: Since this prompts the caller to take and send a screenshot of the current page, guide them to the part of the app that you would want to view a screenshot of before initiating the screenshot request.
Example use case: Consumer receiving an error on a certain page
Request Videos: Prompts caller to select an existing video or to take a new video.
Example use case: Consumer sends a video showing their current product setup that would be hard to describe.
Using SmartActions for Web SDK Chats
While the same flow of prompting the consumer to take an action like send a photo or video is not available for Web SDK chat, consumers can still add image attachments.
While chatting, direct the chat participant to click on the paperclip icon and they will be prompted to select and attach a file. Accepted file types are .png, .jpg, and mp4.