Teams Call Queues

Microsoft Teams call queues allow you to route incoming calls to a group of agents who can answer the

Microsoft Teams call queues allow you to route incoming calls to a group of designated agents or a specific user. When a call comes in, it is automatically placed in a queue and routed to the next available agent. Call queues can be used to manage high volumes of incoming calls, such as customer service or sales calls.

Here are some key features of Teams call queues:

1. Routing options: You can configure call queues to route calls to the next available agent, to agents with specific skills or languages, or to a specific user.
2. Queue management: Agents can see a list of calls waiting in the queue, and supervisors can manage the queue by adding or removing agents.
3. Call handling: You can configure call queues to play a greeting message, music on hold, or other custom messages while callers are waiting in the queue. You can also configure options for what happens when the called party is unavailable, such as voicemail or call forwarding.
4. Analytics and reporting: You can view call queue analytics to see how many calls were answered, missed, abandoned, or redirected. You can also track average wait times, handle times, and other metrics to optimize your call queue performance.
5. Integration with other Teams features: Call queues can be integrated with other Teams features, such as auto attendants, to provide a complete call management solution.

To set up call queues in Teams, you need to have admin permissions. You can create a call queue from the Teams admin center, and configure the routing, handling, and management options. Once the call queue is set up, you can assign a phone number to it, and agents can start receiving calls.

Here’s a detailed description of Teams call queues and working examples:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Teams admin center using your admin credentials.
2. In the left navigation menu, click on “Voice” and then click on “Call queues.”
3. Click on the “Add” button to create a new call queue.
4. In the “New call queue” window, enter a name for the call queue and click on “Create.”
5. After creating the call queue, you will be taken to the “General” tab where you can configure the basic settings for the call queue. These settings include the name, description, and maximum queue size.
6. To add agents to the call queue, click on the “Agents” tab. Here you can add individual users or groups of users who can answer calls in the queue.
7. To configure the call routing settings, click on the “Call routing” tab. Here you can set up rules to route calls to specific agents based on various criteria such as the agent’s availability or skills.
8. To configure the call handling settings, click on the “Call handling” tab. Here you can configure options for what happens when the called party is unavailable such as voicemail, call forwarding, or playing a message.
9. After configuring all the settings for the call queue, click on the “Save” button to apply the changes.
10. To assign a phone number to the call queue, go to the “Phone numbers” tab and click on the “Add” button. Select the type of phone number you want to assign to the call queue such as a toll or toll-free number. After selecting the number, click on the “Save” button.
11. To manage the call queue, go to the “Call queues” page in the Microsoft Teams admin center. Here you can edit, delete, or enable/disable the call queue as needed.

Example: Suppose you want to create a call queue for your customer support team that allows customers to call and speak to the next available agent. You can follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Teams admin center using your admin credentials.
2. Click on “Voice” and then click on “Call queues.”
3. Click on “Add” to create a new call queue and enter a name such as “ABC Company Support Queue.”
4. In the “General” tab, enter a description for the queue and set the maximum queue size to 10.
5. In the “Agents” tab, add the members of your customer support team who can answer calls in the queue.
6. In the “Call routing” tab, configure the rules to route calls to the next available agent based on their availability.
7. In the “Call handling” tab, configure the voicemail and call forwarding options for when agents are unavailable.
8. In the “Phone numbers” tab, assign a toll-free number to the call queue.
9. Click on “Save” to apply the changes.

Your call queue is now ready to receive incoming calls and route them to the next available agent in the queue. Customers can call the assigned toll-free number and speak to a customer support representative.