Call Transfer

Efficient operations are vital for business success, and one way to achieve this is through smooth call handling procedures. Call transfer, in particular, is crucial for effective call management. By quickly directing calls to the relevant department, call center, or agent, you can:

• Avoid delays and ensure callers get the assistance they need promptly
• Streamline operations by cutting down on call times
• Transfer calls to an automated survey center, second layer of sales group, an emergency center, or a different call center
• Increase internal collaboration
• Boost customer satisfaction

Now, let’s explore the different types of call transfers and how they benefit different operational needs.

What is Attended Call Transfer?

An attended call transfer, also known as warm or live transfer, is a personalized approach to call forwarding within your business phone network. In this process, an initial staff or agent, often a receptionist:

1. Answers the call
2. Assess the caller’s requirements, and
3. Subsequently
   a. transfers the call directly to an appropriate colleague or department, or
   b. briefs the next agent about the inquiry and then transfers the call.

5 Advantages of Attended Transfer

By providing agents with contextual information before connecting calls, you can ensure a seamless transition for callers. This enhances efficiency, improves customer satisfaction, and fosters better collaboration among employees. Let’s explore the advantages of attended transfers in greater detail:

• Offer personalized assistance to callers by understanding their specific needs before transferring the call. This personalized approach enhances the customer experience and fosters relationships.
• With warm transfers, callers are seamlessly connected to the appropriate department or agent without the need for additional explanations or transfers. This efficiency leads to shorter call handling times and increased overall productivity.
• Prior to transferring the call, the initial staff or agent gathers relevant information about the caller’s inquiry. As a result, the recipient of the transferred call is better prepared to provide effective assistance. This also means that the caller does not have to repeat their request or query.
• These transfers facilitate collaboration among teams or agents. By involving multiple team members in addressing customer inquiries, businesses can leverage collective expertise and offer comprehensive solutions.
• Ultimately, all the transfer efforts will lead to a smooth and personalized customer experience. Your callers will feel valued and understood, which leads to a positive impression of your business and its services.

Who Can Use Attended Transfer? Examples

Attended transfers find applications for attended call transfer across various industries, enhancing communication and customer service.

• Tech Support: A user contacts a software company’s technical support line for assistance with troubleshooting an issue. The initial support representative assesses the problem and transfers the call to a senior technician or specialized support team member, who can provide advanced technical assistance and resolution.
• Financial Service and Banking: Someone seeking assistance calls a bank’s customer service helpline to inquire about personal loan options. The customer service representative could get information like details about the nature of inquiry from the customer. They can put the caller on hold for a bit, call the relevant team and brief the agent about the inquiry, and ultimately connect the customer to the agent. This way the loan department agent can provide personalized assistance and address the client’s needs.
• Healthcare: Let’s say a patient calls a hospital’s mainline seeking to schedule an appointment with a specific specialist. The hospital receptionist, after assessing the patient’s needs, can transfer the call directly to the relevant specialist’s office for scheduling and further assistance.
• Hospitality: A hotel guest calls the front desk to request additional towels for their room. The receptionist can transfer the call directly to housekeeping, ensuring the guest’s request is promptly addressed without delay.

Difference Between Attended and Unattended Call Transfer

Here’s a quick overview of how attended call transfer varies from unattended call transfer:

Areas	Attended Call Transfer (Warm)	Unattended Call Transfer (Cold)
Human Interaction	Involves direct communication before transferring the call.	Call is transferred without direct communication.
Contextual Information	Usually there is exchange of relevant information before the transfer.	Typically lacks exchange of contextual information, unless set up by routing system.
Call Handling Efficiency	May take longer due to initial communication.	Generally quicker as it bypasses initial communication.
Personalization	Enables personalized assistance based on exchanged information.	Provides standardized assistance without prior interaction.
Use Cases	Suitable when personalized assistance is beneficial.	Ideal for swift call redirection without additional communication.

Understanding Unattended Call Transfer

Unattended call transfer—also called automated or cold transfers—involves interception by an automated interactive voice response (IVR) system. Simply put, there is no preliminary interaction with a live agent. Instead, the call goes to an IVR system or auto-attendant, and the caller is presented with a menu of options or extensions to choose from. And based on the caller’s selection, the system redirects the call to the desired agent or department. Top benefits of unattended call transfer include:

• Automatic and Immediate Call Redirection: Offers instantaneous redirection of calls ensuring callers are swiftly connected to the appropriate person, even during off-hours or peak call times.
• 24/7 Accessibility: Provide round-the-clock accessibility to customers. Automated systems can handle calls outside of regular business hours, ensuring that inquiries are addressed promptly regardless of the time of day.
• Scalability: Set up for scalability and handle both normal and peak call volumes.
• Multi-Level Transferring: Facilitating multi-level transfers by routing a call through different agents or departments till the call is received. So if agent A is unavailable to attend an incoming call, it is automatically transferred to agent B. If agent B too is unavailable, the system then transfers the call to agent C.
• Cost Efficiency: Reduce labor costs associated with manual call routing and allocate resources more efficiently.

Who Can Use Unattended Transfer?

1. Legal Services: Clients can call the main line received by the IVR and choose the extension or option based on the nature of the legal matter. Accordingly, they can connect to the appropriate attorney or department.

2. Hospitality: A guest calls a hotel’s reservation line to book a room for an upcoming stay. After booking, the agent transfers the call to the automated customer survey center to gather feedback on the booking experience.

3. Financial Services: A dedicated IVR menu option can be created for the department responsible for addressing bank fraud incidents. Customers contacting the bank to report lost or stolen credit/debit cards or suspicious transactions can select the option to swiftly connect with the department.

How to Set up Call Transfer?

You can access both attended call transfer and unattended call transfer with each United World Telecom plan.

Here is how to set up attended call transfer:

1. Existing UWT customers can coordinate with your account manager to set up extensions. Provide a list of phone lines and their respective extensions, along with the names for the extensions.
2. Log in to the UWT Softphone.
3. When connected on a call, locate and click the Person icon in the top-left corner.
4. The available users will be displayed, indicated by a green circle beside their name.
5. Click the transfer icon on the right side of the user that you would like to transfer the call to.
6. Choose between merging or transferring the call by selecting either the Call Merge or Call Transfer button.
7. Opting for the merge feature will initiate a three-way conference call, while selecting call transfer will seamlessly transfer the call to the designated extension.

To set up unattended call transfers, you can use our intuitive IVR manager. We have many IVR setup resources to help you along the way; for additional assistance, reach out to your account manager.