Call Flow for a Branch Office

Branch call flow begins with a Virtual Number on your PBX and flows to the receptionist at the branch office. In this case, the receptionist can be a live operator, an Auto Attendant, or several live operators assembled in a ring group or call queue. In summary, a receptionist for Branch Office receives inbound calls through one of the following roles:

• Auto Attendant
• Live Attendant (receptionist)
• Multiple receptionists with a call queue
• Multiple receptionists with a ring group

Call flow within a branch office may be explained as follows:

1. The branch is assigned a Virtual Number. The Virtual Number points to the receptionist extension that is assigned as the Receptionist of the branch office.
2. Overflow calls to branch office receptionist can go to voicemail, Auto Attendant, or any forwarding phone number. The receptionist extension is where you set call overflow rules, if required.
3. The caller can leave a voicemail or dial <0#> to be directed to the Branch Receptionist in order to ensure the caller gets a desired response.
   A branch office call flow may be represented as shown here:
   

Receptionist Tools

The receptionist receives branch phone calls. 8x8 provides receptionist with tools to distribute calls using:

• 8x8 Switchboard Pro, an HTML5 browser-based call management client
  • Switchboard Pro is an application specially designed for handling inbound calls, voicemail, chat and notes. Switchboard Pro enables your receptionist to view real-time presence, manage multiple calls (call park, hold, transfer), coordinate with other receptionists, and toggle Auto Attendant.
  • Switchboard Pro is currently designed to work alongside Polycom desk phones.
  • Call Parking has three modes:
    • Public Call Parking, which parks the call on an extension that is available for anyone on the PBX to pick up the call.
    • Branch Call Parking, which parks the call on an extension only available for pickup by an extension defined as part of the affected branch office.
    • Extension or Private Call Parking, which parks the call on a specific extension, only allowing retrieval from that particular extension.
      For example, the receptionist parks the call on extension 1101, which belongs to Jane Davis. As a result, the parked call can only be picked up from Jane's extension.
• BLF keys on Polycom desk phone to monitor and transfer calls
• Paging (over speakerphone or overhead PA system) to announce call parking
• Public Call Parking from desk phone

Use Case

Let's consider a business with five branch offices. Specialty Cookies has set up 5 stores in California, with a small group of employees at each store. Their main store in San Francisco is a larger operation. Specialty Cookies wants to segment its contact directory for each branch to streamline branch-specific calls.

Let’s look at the requirements for Specialty Cookies, and review how the 8x8 solution can meet the requirements.

Each store requires:

• Live Attendant to answer calls during business hours
• Auto Attendant for after hours
• Outbound Caller ID to show local area number when calling customers from the branch
• Extension dialing between stores

The main store in San Francisco requires:

• Auto Attendant for business hours
• Ring group to answer calls after hours

8x8 Solution

Virtual Office can meet Specialty Cookies’ requirements using:

• 5 branch offices
• 1 Auto Attendant
• 4 Additional attendants (one each for the branch store)
• 5 Virtual Numbers
• 1 ring group