Park calls

Call Parking allows you to park the call in its very own automatically-numbered parking space temporarily until retrieved. As a receptionist, you may need to receive and transfer multiple calls at a time. With the ability to park calls, you can now simply accept calls and park them to be retrieved by the desired party. The person for which the call is parked can retrieve the call by clicking Retrieve in the notification banner that shows up on their 8x8 Work for Desktop app, or you can copy the parking information, such as the parking extension number, and share it with the desired party via chat or paging service. This helps in the smooth handling of calls and offers a better calling experience. Parked calls appear in the held calls list.

Note: Users who utilize desk phones only will not receive the banner notification for parked calls.

You can park calls as follows:

Private call parking

With private call parking, you can park a call for yourself to be retrieved later. Let’s say, as a receptionist, you have multiple incoming calls; simply accept a call, park it for private access, and retrieve it at your earliest convenience. Placing a call on hold limits your ability to process multiple calls simultaneously.

To park a call privately:

  1. Log into 8x8 Frontdesk.
  2. Upon receiving an incoming call, accept the call.

  3. Click to park the call, and from the drop-down list that displays, select For me.

  4. The call parks and displays the parked extension along with the total call duration and parking duration.
  5. Click to retrieve the parked call at any time before it automatically bounces back to the extension that parked the call initially.

Note: Parked calls bounce back automatically after a pre-configured time (default is five minutes).

Note: Parked calls bounced back display the letter P and an arrow next to the caller ID.

Park a call for a specific site

8x8 Frontdesk users now have the ability to park calls for a specific site. Once the call is parked for a site, the call can only be retrieved by the receptionists or users from that particular site. As a receptionist, you can select to park a call for your site from the call card, or for a contact’s site from the contact directory.

Let’s say Mel, a receptionist based in the San Jose office, receives a call that should be handled locally. To ensure the call is retrieved by a person based in the San Jose office, Mel can park the call for her site. The call parks for the site registered at the same location as Mel and only users from that site see the option to retrieve the parked call.

To park a call for your site:

  1. Log into 8x8 Frontdesk.
  2. Upon receiving an incoming call, accept the call.
  3. Click to park the call, and from the drop-down list that displays, select For my site.

The call parks for your site, and displays the parked extension along with the total call duration and parking duration.

To park a call for a contact’s site:

  1. Log into 8x8 Frontdesk.
  2. Upon receiving an incoming call, accept the call.
  3. Search for the contact in the directory, hover over the quick actions and click P to park the call. From the drop-down list that displays, select the option to park the call for the contact’s site.

The call parks and displays the parked extension along with the total call duration and parking duration.

Public call parking

To publicly park an incoming call:

  1. Log into 8x8 Frontdesk.
  2. Upon receiving an incoming call, accept the call.
  3. Click to park the call, and from the drop-down list that displays, select For everyone.
    A notification with the parking extension number displays along with a link to copy this information.

  4. Click Copy extension message to copy the caller information along with the parking extension info. For example: You have a call from John Smith +12029720622 on Extension tel:461

    Note: You can also copy the extension message by hovering over the parked call and clicking .

  5. Find the desired contact from the directory, and paste the parked call information via chat.

Notes:
- Parked calls bounce back automatically after a pre-configured time (default is five minutes).
- As a receptionist, you can easily retrieve a parked call at any time by clicking the Retrieve call button from the left side of the panel.

To retrieve a parked call:

  • As a receptionist: Click the Retrieve call button from the left side of the panel.
    Let's say as a receptionist, you park a call for Robin, who notifies you that he cannot take the call at the moment. To avoid having the caller on hold only for the call to bounce back after it times out, you can click the Retrieve call button to let the caller know that Robin is currently unavailable to take calls.

  • As the contact for whom the call is parked:

    • Click Retrieve on the notification banner that appears on the screen of your 8x8 Work for Desktop app.

      Note: Users who utilize desk phones only will not receive the banner notification for parked calls.

      -OR-

    • Click the parking extension information shared via chat. It dials the parking extension number to connect you to the call.

Park a call for a specific contact

Let’s say you have received a call for a specific contact, Melisa, who is currently busy. Instead of placing the call on hold and transferring later, park the call for Melisa. If Melisa uses 8x8 Work for Desktop, she will receive a banner notification informing her of the parked call. She can retrieve the call directly from the banner notification. If Melisa only uses a desk phone or is not an 8x8 Work for Desktop user, copy the parking information and share it with the contact. Melisa can simply click the parking extension link in her chat to retrieve the call.

Notes:
- The notification banner is only visible for contacts using 8x8 Work for Desktop.
- Users using desk phones only will not receive the banner notification.
- Calls parked for a specific contact cannot be retrieved by anyone other than the contact and the receptionist that parked the call.

To park a call for a specific contact that uses 8x8 Work for Desktop:

  1. Upon receiving an incoming call, accept the call.
  2. Search for the desired contact in the directory, hover over the quick actions and click P. From the list that opens, select to park the call for the contact.

The contact is now notified through a banner notification that there is a call waiting for them on the announced call park extension. The banner notification also displays the caller ID or name. To retrieve the call, the contact must simply click Retrieve on the banner.

To park a call for a specific contact that only uses a desk phone or is not an 8x8 Work for Desktop user:

  1. Upon receiving an incoming call, accept the call.
  2. Search for the desired contact in the directory, hover over the quick actions and click P to park the call for the contact.

  3. Notify the contact about the parked call:
  • In the notification that flashes, click Copy extension message to copy the callee information along with the parking extension info and share it with the contact via chat. For example: You have a call from John Smith +12029720622 on Extension tel:461.

    - OR-

  • In the monitoring window, hover over the parking duration info and click to copy and share it with the contact via chat.

Note:
- Parked calls bounce back automatically after a pre-configured time (default is five minutes).
- As a receptionist, you can easily retrieve a parked call at any time by clicking the Retrieve call button from the left side of the panel.

Park a call on a reserved extension

Let’s say your company has reserved call park extensions for specific departments such as Sales or Support. As a receptionist, you can now park an active call on the reserved extension using 8x8 Frontdesk. If the reserved call park extension is assigned to a BLF (Busy lamp field) key on a hard phone, users monitoring this extension see the BLF key light up indicating a parked call. They can simply press the key on the shared device to retrieve the parked call. This way, they do not need to fetch the parking extension number for every call parked.

To park a call on a reserved call park extension:

  1. Accept an incoming call in 8x8 Frontdesk.
  2. Search and find the reserved extension by name, number, or function.
  3. Hover over the quick actions and click P to park the call on the reserved extension.
    A notification displays the call parking information.

  4. If the call park extension is assigned to a BLF key, the key blinks indicating the parked call. As a call park extension user, simply press the BLF key to retrieve the call.

Note: Parked calls bounce back automatically after a pre-configured time (default is five minutes).

Retrieve a parked call

Parked calls can be retrieved with a few simple clicks.

To retrieve a parked call:

  • As a receptionist: Click the Retrieve call button from the left side of the panel.
    Let's say as a receptionist, you park a call for Robin, who notifies you that he cannot take the call at the moment. To avoid having the caller on hold only for the call to bounce back after it times out, you can click the Retrieve call button to let the caller know that Robin is currently unavailable to take calls.

  • As the contact for whom the call is parked:

    • Click Retrieve on the notification banner that appears on the screen of your 8x8 Work for Desktop app.

      Note: Users who utilize desk phones only will not receive the banner notification for parked calls.

      -OR-

    • Click the parking extension information shared via chat. It dials the parking extension number to connect you to the call.