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Language: English
Demo

Telephony

Call queues and call routing

CONTACT.WORK call queues and routing decide who answers each call. A regular customer goes straight to their account manager; everyone else goes to the first available agent according to your setup: the number the customer dialed, the phone menu option, the CRM record, and the schedule. When the line is busy, callers hear the expected wait time or get offered a callback. It runs on Asterisk – in our cloud or on your own servers.

Get a quotePricing
4distribution rulesfor routing calls to agents
Allyour phone systemsin shared queues
Everyconversationrecorded and stored
$0license feesyou pay only for setup

Tools

What you get with setup

Assigned account managerA regular customer is recognized by number and connected to their account manager.
Wait time announcementsWhile callers wait, they hear their place in line and an estimated wait.
Callback instead of holdingThe caller presses a key and gets a call back when an agent frees up.
After-call workAfter a call, agents get time to finish forms and notes.
Overflow groupWhen the main group is busy, colleagues in the overflow group take the call.
Schedules and holidaysNights, weekends, and holidays each get their own call path.

Examples

What it looks like for the caller

Three common situations on the line.

Straight to their account manager

A customer calls your main number. The platform recognizes them by number and finds their account manager. If the manager is free, the call connects right away, skipping the phone menu and the general queue. If the manager is on a call or on a break, the manager's team takes it.

  • Record found by phone number
  • Straight to the manager
  • Manager's team as a fallback
Example 1 of 3

Routes for all three cases are built from the same rules: number, schedule, and customer data.

Under the hood

How the platform picks who answers

Distribution

You set the queue rule

Queues are usually built around skills – language, product, how complex the question is. Each queue has its own rule for picking an agent: ring all free agents at once, round robin, the agent who's been free the longest, or the one with the least talk time today. One agent can be in several queues, and priority decides who gets the call first: the main group or the overflow group.

  • Ring all or round robin
  • Longest idle agent
  • Main and overflow groups

Customer data

Routing by number and record

While the call is coming in, the phone system asks the platform where to send it. The platform looks at the dialed number, the menu option, and what your CRM says about the customer: account manager, language, status. You can move key customers higher in the queue.

  • Dialed number
  • Menu option
  • CRM data

Multi-site network

Several PBXs, shared queues

Branches in different cities work as one contact center. Calls from every phone system come into one platform, so a call to one office can be answered by a free agent in another. Supervisors see all branches at once, and reports cover every phone system together.

  • Branches and cities
  • Shared queues and agents
  • All branches in one monitoring view
Fewer abandoned callsCallers know when they'll be answered and can ask for a callback.
Customers reach their own managerA regular customer's call goes straight to their account manager.
Balanced workloadCalls are shared out by your rules, so no one sits idle.
Every call's path in viewSupervisors see the wait, answer, and transfers for every call.

Launch

How we set up your queues

  1. 01PlanWe review your numbers, departments, business hours, and who covers for whom – that's what the queue rules are built from.
  2. 02LinesWe bring your numbers in over SIP or install Asterisk on our server or yours, whichever suits your company.
  3. 03QueuesWe create agents, queues, distribution rules, and fallback routes for times when the line is overloaded.
  4. 04CRMWe give the platform access to customer records and the account manager field, so calls go to the right person.
  5. 05TestWe place test calls and compare monitoring with the phone system log until the numbers match exactly.
  6. 06Go liveWe switch on the live line and spend a few days reviewing wait times and missed calls, fine-tuning the rules.

Requirements

Requirements

Telephony
Asterisk – yours or installed by us
Lines
SIP trunks from any carrier
Deployment
Our servers or yours
Agents
A browser, plus a softphone if you like
CRM
Optional – any CRM with an API
Cost
The platform is free; work billed in support hours

Preparation

What to decide up front

Which queues do you need?Queue names and the agents in each one.
Where does each number go?A queue for every number and menu option.
How should calls be shared?The queue rule: ring all, round robin, or another option.
When to offer a callback?Seconds of waiting before a callback offer and before overflow.
What are the line schedules?Business hours, holidays, and the after-hours route.
Which CRM fields to use?Account manager and a key-customer flag.

Q&A

Frequently asked questions

Can we keep our current PBX?

You can. We connect an Asterisk-based phone system with our connector – numbers, lines, and menus stay the same, and your team works in the platform. If you have a different phone system, we install Asterisk alongside it and move the lines over.

Asterisk →

Do I need a queue if I have an IVR?

The IVR finds out why the customer is calling and handles simple questions by itself. A queue solves a different problem: who answers and what happens while everyone's busy. That's why they usually work together: the IVR picks the queue, and the queue picks the agent.

IVR (phone menu) →

Which distribution rule should I choose?

It depends on the line. Where speed of answer matters, all free agents ring at once. Where an even workload matters, the call goes to whoever has gone longest without a call. For key customers, use a queue where experienced agents are first in line. We choose the rule after reviewing your calls.

What do callers hear while they wait?

Music or your own recordings, and every so often how many people are ahead of them and roughly how long is left. If the wait is long, they're offered a callback, and then the call moves to the overflow group.

IVR (phone menu) →

Where does the call go if an agent doesn't answer?

It goes straight to the next free agent. The platform automatically puts the agent who didn't answer on pause, so they don't keep missing new calls. The report shows who missed how many calls.

Can key customers skip ahead?

They can. The flag comes from your CRM – customer status, for example – and those customers wait less than others.

How do queues work if we have several offices?

All offices connect to one platform. Queues and agents become shared, and monitoring and reports show the whole network.

Does an agent drop out of the queue if their browser freezes?

Not right away. If the browser connection drops – the agent refreshed the page or the network blipped – the platform waits 30 seconds for them to come back before removing them from queues. If the browser tab itself freezes, the wait is longer – up to 15 minutes: when an agent talks through a separate softphone or SIP desk phone, they can take calls without the tab. Agents are never removed from queues during a call, and an agent with a SIP desk phone can stay in queues without a browser at all. The wait time is configurable, and the reason for each disconnect appears in the status log.

Where can I see how many customers are waiting?

In real-time monitoring: callers waiting in each queue, free agents, and whether you're meeting your service level. For past days, historical reports show wait time, abandoned calls, and who answered.

Real-time monitoring →

How do I know if I have enough agents on the line?

You calculate headcount from calls per hour, average call length, and acceptable wait time. For a quick estimate there's an Erlang calculator, and workforce management builds shift schedules from it.

Erlang C calculator →Workforce management →

Can a call be transferred to another queue?

It can: right away or after talking to a colleague – to an employee, a queue, or an office phone. The platform suggests who's free right now and knows the topic.

Smart transfer →

Are queue calls recorded?

Every conversation is recorded. Recordings are stored on the phone system server with a backup copy on a NAS, and a link to the conversation shows up in the customer's CRM record. In states that require all-party consent, play a recording notice at the start of the call.

How much do queues and routing cost?

There's no separate fee: the platform is free, with no licenses. Queue and line setup is billed in support hours and estimated up front; in our cloud, you also pay for hosting.

Pricing →

Glossary

Terms on this page

IVR (interactive voice response)
A phone menu: the caller hears a greeting and picks the right department. Learn more →
Callback
The customer doesn't wait on hold but asks for a callback – and gets one when an agent is free. Learn more →
CRM – customer relationship management
Where a company keeps its customers, deals, and full communication history. Learn more →
SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)
The protocol that sets up calls in IP telephony. Learn more →
Customer record
The screen of customer data an agent sees during a conversation. Learn more →
Supervisor
Leads a team of agents: watches the queue and quality, helps and coaches. Learn more →
Call queue – callers waiting to be answered
Callers waiting for an available agent. Learn more →
Call routing
Rules the system uses to decide who gets a call. Learn more →
Cloud deployment (cloud)
The platform runs on the vendor's servers, and agents connect over the internet. Learn more →
Abandonment rate
How many callers hang up before an agent answers. Learn more →
Backup
Data is regularly copied to a separate place so it can be restored if something goes wrong. Learn more →
IP PBX
A company phone system that runs over the internet and your local network. Learn more →
Softphone
A phone app that runs on a computer or in a browser. Learn more →
Workforce management (WFM)
Workload forecasts and agent shift schedules. Learn more →
On-premises deployment
The system runs on the company's own servers, not in the vendor's cloud. Learn more →
After-call work (ACW)
What an agent does right after a call: outcome, customer record, tasks. Learn more →
Model fine-tuning
An existing model is trained further on company materials so it speaks the company's language. Learn more →
SIP trunk
A phone line from the carrier over the internet instead of a wire. Learn more →
API (application programming interface)
The way programs exchange data with each other without a person in the loop. Learn more →
Connector
A prebuilt module that links the platform with telephony, a CRM, or another system. Learn more →
Service level (SL)
The share of calls answered within a set time – for example, 80% in 20 seconds. Learn more →
Erlang C formula
Tells you how many agents you need so customers don't wait longer than they should. Learn more →
NAS (network attached storage)
Network storage: separate disks that servers reach over the network. Learn more →
Hosting
You rent a server from a provider instead of buying one. Learn more →

More

More on telephony

Telephony Inbound lines, outbound campaigns, and a browser phone for agents, all connected to your CRM. Learn more IVR (phone menu) Customers get routine answers on their own and reach an agent for complex ones. Learn more Missed call callback If a caller gives up waiting, they get a call back – no reminders or lists needed. Learn more Smart transfer Customers go to the person who can actually solve the problem, not someone picked by guesswork. Learn more

Blog

Fresh from the blog

All articles →
Services · 7 min read Custom development of your contact center platform for your processes When contact center settings are not enough: integrations, modules, AI workflows. How to tell development from configuration and estimate the payback. Read the article → Management · 9 min read How many agents does your contact center need? Erlang C in plain English Calculate contact center staffing with Erlang C: workload, service level, shrinkage, and headcount by shift – all in one worked example. Read the article → Integrations · 7 min read CRM and phone system integration: what it does and how it works How to connect your phone system to your CRM: calls and recordings in the record, screen pop, click-to-call. What to decide first and how to check it works. Read the article →

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