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Auto attendants in Microsoft Teams are a powerful feature that allows organizations to create a customizable call handling service for their business. Auto attendants can provide callers with a range of options, such as dialing by name or extension, reaching different departments, or getting answers to common questions—all without the need for a human receptionist. Managing auto attendants effectively is crucial for ensuring that callers have a positive interaction with your company. This can be vital in terms of customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
An auto attendant is essentially a virtual receptionist. It uses voice prompts and menus to direct callers to the appropriate person or department within your organization. You can set them up to respond to both voice and dialpad inputs, offering a flexible way for callers to interact with the system.
To create an auto attendant in Microsoft Teams, follow these steps:
The call flow of an auto attendant is a crucial aspect to manage effectively. It includes the initial greeting, menu options, and the action taken when a user makes a selection. The design of your call flow can significantly affect the caller’s experience.
Call Step | Action |
---|---|
Greeting | “Thank you for calling Tech Innovations. If you know your party’s extension, you may dial it at any time.” |
Main menu | “For Sales, press 1. For Support, press 2. For all other inquiries, please stay on the line or press 0.” |
Action on selection | Direct call to the respective department’s queue or a designated user. |
No selection/fallback | “We didn’t detect a response. Let’s try again,” followed by a repeat of the menu or transfer to the operator. |
By designing each step with the user in mind, you create a smooth and efficient pathway that reduces frustration and allows for quick resolution of the caller’s need.
Microsoft Teams Auto Attendant also supports advanced features such as:
When managing auto attendants, consider the following best practices:
Auto attendants, when set up and managed correctly, are a vital component of a company’s communication system in Microsoft Teams. They empower organizations to guide callers to the information they need quickly and efficiently, without the need for a live operator at all times. By carefully constructing auto attendants’ call flows, menus, and recording high-quality prompts, companies can significantly enhance their customer and partner engagement while streamlining internal workflows.
Explanation: Auto attendants allow callers to navigate a phone system through voice prompts and touch-tone keypad inputs, providing a menu system for efficient call routing.
Answer: A, C, D
Explanation: Auto attendants can route calls to operators, transfer calls to call queues, and provide information on business hours and holiday schedules. Call recording is not a function of auto attendants; it is typically a separate feature.
Explanation: An organization can set up multiple auto attendants for different direct routing numbers to have customized experiences for different departments or services.
Answer: False
Explanation: A dial plan is not required to set up an auto attendant. Dial plans are used to normalize phone numbers for routing, but auto attendants are designed to provide call answering and handling.
Answer: D
Explanation: Creating an auto attendant requires a Phone System license, which is included in Microsoft 365 E5 and can be added on to Microsoft 365 E Microsoft Teams Exploratory license doesn’t provide the capabilities for an auto attendant.
Answer: B
Explanation: An auto attendant can be configured to directly transfer calls to external phone numbers without the need for a Teams user to manually handle the routing.
Explanation: An auto attendant can be linked to other auto attendants, creating a nested structure that allows for complex call routing scenarios.
Answer: A, B, C
Explanation: Greeting messages, call routing options, and caller’s hold music can be customized in an auto attendant. The interface color is not something that can be altered, as it is not a visual interface.
Explanation: Auto attendants can be managed using the Teams admin center or by using PowerShell, which allows for automation and bulk configuration tasks.
Answer: A
Explanation: Assigning a resource account is necessary as it is used to assign a phone number to the auto attendant and is a prerequisite before setting up any call routing or greetings.
Explanation: Business hours for auto attendants can be scheduled in any increment, providing flexibility to match the exact working hours of the organization.
Answer: True
Explanation: Operators can be designated to take calls in scenarios where the auto attendant is unable to route calls based on the inputs provided by the caller. This ensures that there is always a fallback option to handle such calls.
A phone system auto attendant is an automated system that greets callers and provides them with a set of options for routing their call to the appropriate person or department.
Phone system auto attendants are commonly used for tasks like handling incoming calls, routing callers to specific departments, providing business hours and location information, and allowing callers to leave a message or request a call back.
To create a phone system auto attendant in Microsoft Teams, go to the Teams admin center, select “Voice” from the left-hand menu, and then click “Auto attendants” to create a new auto attendant.
Some of the key settings you can configure for a phone system auto attendant include the greeting message, the set of options presented to callers, the actions taken when an option is selected, and the business hours during which the auto attendant should be active.
To configure the options presented to callers by a phone system auto attendant, you can add or remove key mappings that associate a specific key on the caller’s keypad with a specific action, such as routing the call to a specific department or playing a message.
To assign a phone number to a phone system auto attendant, you can purchase a phone number from Microsoft or port an existing phone number to Microsoft and then assign it to the auto attendant.
A dial pad key mapping is a configuration setting that associates a specific key on the caller’s keypad with a specific action to be taken by the phone system auto attendant, such as routing the call to a specific department or playing a message.
You can test a phone system auto attendant before it goes live by assigning a test phone number to the auto attendant and then dialing the test number to simulate incoming calls and test the auto attendant’s behavior.
To manage existing phone system auto attendants in Microsoft Teams, go to the Teams admin center, select “Voice” from the left-hand menu, and then click “Auto attendants” to view and modify your existing auto attendants.
Yes, you can create multiple phone system auto attendants for different departments or locations in your organization, each with its own set of options, dial pad key mappings, and business hours.
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