Configuring built-in telephony in Zoho CRM

Configuring built-in telephony in Zoho CRM

Configuring a telephony system in your organization ensures the security of your daily business correspondence. In addition to building and personalizing the telephony system, you can also manage subscriptions, payments, and recordings without any third-party dependencies.

 Setting up built-in telephony 

Built-in telephony in Zoho CRM is powered by Twilio's telecommunication infrastructure. 
Setting up built-in telephony consists of the following steps:
  1. Buying a number
  2. Configuring incoming call routing
  3. Setting voice configuration
  4. Configuring outgoing call users

Step 1: Buying a number 

The CRM admin must purchase a number and enter details including the country, number type, and region for the customers the calls will be connected with.
There are three types of numbers you can choose:  Local, mobile,  and toll-free. 
The cost of buying a number depends on the type of number you choose. Click  here  to learn more about the call rates. 

To buy a number 

  1. Go to  Setup > Channels > Telephony.
  2. In the  How would you like to Proceed?  page, click  Set UpNow button.
  3. In the  Getting started  page, click  Buy a number.
  4. In the Buy a number pop-up:
    1. Choose the  Country .
    2. Select the  Number Typ e as  Local, Mobile,  or  Toll Free  from the dropdown list.
    3. Select the  Region .
    4. Choose a number from the  Available Phone Numbers  dropdown and click  Next . 
  5. Verify the purchase summary and click  Buy .
  6. In the  Confirm Your Purchase  pop-up, click  Buy Phone Number.
Notes :
  1. Each organization can buy and maintain multiple phone numbers. The purchase and maintenance of each number will be charged  monthly .
  2. Each built-in telephony transaction (purchase of number, making a call, or upgrading recording storage) will be charged in credits.
  3. The value of 1 credit is 1 USD . The price for purchasing credits will be converted into your local currency. Click  here  to learn more about pricing.
  4. To get started with built-in telephony, admins will have to buy credits. Credits will then be deducted from the organization's built-in telephony wallet for each activity.
  5.  The number of available credits will be displayed on the home page, where the admins can manage the transactions.

    Step 2: Configure incoming call routing 

Once you have purchased phone numbers, you can set preferences for how incoming calls will be routed, either  directly to CRM users or through IVR menus.

IVR menus

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is a computer-operated response system which will interact with callers and route their call based on the inputs they make. You can configure IVR using the Key Press, Menus, and Actions options and you can associate an action with specific users or configure another level of the IVR menu with another set of IVR options.
You can configure up to  5 levels  with up to  9 key press actions  at each level.

Direct Users

You can associate one or more users with a number so that calls to that number will be routed to those users. 

If multiple users are associated with a number either directly or via IVR menus, the ring type has to be set as either simultaneous or sequential .
  1. If  Simultaneous ringing  is selected, all the users will get an incoming call at the same time. Simultaneous ringing is the default ringing type.
  2. If  Sequential ringing  is selected, the call will be routed to the users one at a time in the same order that they logged into the Zoho CRM account. If a user is unavailable, the call will be forwarded to the next user. 
 If sequential ringing is selected, you can set the maximum number of rings for each user up to a maximum of 10 rings . You can also choose whether to repeat the sequence once more if none of the users answer the call.

For cases when the users are busy or unavailable, you can choose to send the call to voicemail or inform the caller that the user is busy and decline the call. 

Setting  Voice configuration 

You can make voice configurations for incoming calls and set IVR messages like a welcome message, a menu message, a message for when the user is busy, and a message for when user is unavailable to help guide callers through your system.
  1. Voice Format : You can choose  Text, Audio File, or  Audio URL  to enter or upload the script for the following messages: 
    1. Welcome Message
For example: "Thank you for calling Zylker, Inc."
    1. Message When User Is Busy
For example: "Thanks for waiting, an agent will soon be assigned to you."
    1. Message When User Is Unavailable
For example: "All our agents are currently unavailable. Please stay on the line or call again later. Thank you!" 

Call Queuing 

You can queue up to  25 callers at a time  and you can set a maximum waiting time for each caller of up to  25 minutes . You can also play music or announcements as the callers are waiting to be connected. 

Call Recording

Many organizations choose to record calls to monitor the quality or evaluate agents' performance. These recordings are stored in the Zoho File System and the storage amount can be upgraded for an additional cost.

  To configure incoming calls  

  1. On the Incoming Call Routing tab, click Configure. 
  2. On the Incoming Call Configuration page, select either  Configure IVR Menu or Associate User. 
  3. If you selected  Configure IVR Menu, make the following settings in  Level 1 in the IVR Menu Configuration  section:
    1. KeyPress: Specify a number between 1 and 9.
    2. Menu: Enter a menu option for each of the numbers.
    3. Action: Select either  Configure IVR Menu or Assign User.
  4. Repeat Step 3 for each level of the menu. Click  Save. 
    Click the  +  and  -  icons to add and remove menu options.
  5. If you selected  Assign User, select one or more users in the Action column. 
    All active CRM users will be listed here. 
  6. If you selected  Associate User :
    1. Select the user(s) you want to route the callers to in the User field. 
    2. Select either  Simultaneous Ringing or  Sequential Ringing as the  Ring Type.
    3. If you select  Sequential Ringing, choose the number of  Rings per User .
    4. Check  Repeat the sequence once if needed. 
  7. In When user is busy or unavailable, select either Send to Voicemail or Inform the caller that the user is busy & decline the call.
  8. In the  Voice Configuration section, select the voice format and set all required IVR messages. 
    1. Voice Format: Select the voice format: Text, Audio File, or  Audio URL.
      1. Text: Enter the message as text.
      2. Audio File: Attach an audio file with a recording of the message.
      3. Audio URL: Specify the URL of the audio file.
    2. Welcome message:  Add a welcome message.
    3. Menu message: Enter a menu option for the number and specify the format it needs to be read in. 
    4. Message when user is busy: Enter a message to notify callers when users are busy.
    5. Message when user is unavailable:  Enter a message to notify callers when users are unavailable.
  9. Select the  Call Queue options: 
    1. In the Maximum Callers in the Queue field, select the number of callers you want in the queue. 
    2. In the Maximum waiting time in the queue field,  select the number of minutes a caller can be in the queue for. 
    3. In the Music while waiting field,  select either  Default Music or Customize Music. 
      If Customize Music is selected, choose  Audio file or Audio URL.  
    4. Choose an announcement from the  Announcement While Waiting dropdown or click Customize Announcement.  
  10. Select Call Recording to record all the incoming calls. 

 Step 3: Configure outgoing call users 

This step lets you determine who can make outgoing calls using which number. There is no limit to the number of users who can be associated with a phone number. If you do not want to display the phone number during an outgoing call, you can mask the number using a custom caller ID so that if the prospect or customer calls you back, they will be redirected to the dedicated support number. 
See also: Managing Caller ID.

To configure outgoing call preferences for users  

  1. Select the  + Configure button on the Outgoing Call Users tab.
  2. On the  Assign Number for Outgoing Call  page:
    1. Select a user from the dropdown.
    2. Select a number to assign to the user from the dropdown.
  3. Click Save.
  4. Toggle  Allow to configure custom caller ID  on to allow the user to set a custom caller ID.
  5. Toggle  Call Recording for outgoing calls on to record outgoing calls.

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