Omnichannel routing with unified agent status allows you to direct tickets from email, calls, messaging, web form, and API to team members based on their availability and capacity. On Professional and Enterprise plans, tickets can also be routed based on priority (seeSummary of features by plan). Using omnichannel routing means agents can set asingle unified statusfor all channels, and important tickets are assigned to the agents who are most available to work on them. This provides the following benefits:
- Agents can respond to tickets faster
- You can prioritize work from high-value customers, including calls
- Agents are automatically assigned tickets and don’t have to go looking for them
- Agents can’t "cherry pick" the tickets they want to work on
- Agents can work on multiple ticket channels at once
- You can route calls to specific groups of agents based on the caller's country code of callers or other attributes
You can usecapacity rulesto limit the amount of work that’s assigned to agents at one time. However, regardless of these rules, agents can assign themselves work in excess of these limits if they want to (seeCreating capacity rules to balance agent workloads).
With omnichannel routing, instead of setting status individually by channel, agents can set a single unified status for Support, Talk, and Messaging. On Professional and Enterprise plans, admins can also define their own custom statuses such as “Out to lunch” or “In a meeting.” This can assist you when deciding how you want to route work items (calls, tickets, and messages) based on the agent status and capacity. SeeAdding unified agent statuses.
To use omnichannel routing, you have toenable and configure it. If you decide to stop using it, you canturn it off.
This article contains the following sections:
Requirements and limitations of omnichannel routing
There are a few requirements for using omnichannel routing, as well as some limitations you should consider before enabling the feature.
Requirements
- TheAgent Workspacemust be activated for your account.
- If your account has a Chat subscription, native messaging or Sunshine Conversations must also be activated.
- You can't be using live chat.
Limitations
Omnichannel routing with unified agent status currently has the following limitations:
- Omnichannel routing can't be enabled if you’re using live chat. Only Messaging is supported.
- Broadcast and hybrid modes for messaging aren't supported.
- Focus modeisn't supported.
- Routing of email tickets by skills in omnichannel routing is currently in an Early Access Program (EAP). If you're interested, you cansign up for the EAP here.
- The ability to set an agent's status if they don't accept a number of message assignments, known as automatic idle, isn't supported yet.
- When using agent statuses, operating hours won't automatically set an agent's status.
- Light agentscan't be assigned tickets and can't set a status.
- The ability to change a Talk agent’s status from the Talk dashboard, mobile apps, or by using the Talk APIs isn't supported. Integrations that use Talk APIs to change agent statuses might also be impacted.
- The ability to set up multiple call routing fallback groups in Talk settings for a single line or IVR keypress isn’t supported with omnichannel routing.
- Tickets are created for all calls as soon as they enter the queue. The setting “Create tickets for abandoned calls” is no longer available.Tip:You cancreate a workflow to automatically close ticketscreated for abandoned calls.
- If call forwarding is enabled and the status of an agent is automatically set to offline because the agent has been disconnected, calls to the agent will no longer be forwarded to the agent’s phone.
- Explore dashboardswill show per channel agent statuses but not unified custom statuses.
- When omnichannel routing is enabled, unified agent statuses can be in an inconsistent state. It is important to manually set every agent's unified status toofflineinitially, then allow them to set their own status after that. If you're an admin for a particularly large organizations and require assistance with this, contactZendesk Customer Support.
- When using priority phone numbers in Talk, call tickets are assignedHighpriority but aren't necessarily put directly at the top of the queue.
How omnichannel routing works
When you use omnichannel routing, tickets are generated for all channels of work (email, web form, API, messaging conversations, and calls) when they enter the queue, enabling you to run triggers on them (including incoming calls).
Omnichannel routing routes work to agents based on the following:
- Availability. This is defined by thesingle unified statusthe agent sets across channels.
- Capacity for each work channel. You define the maximum capacity for each channel and decide which tickets are eligible for routing.
- (EAP) Skills. This is defined by theskills assigned to agents and Support tickets, and only applies to email tickets.
然后触发用于分配gr的门票oups, assign a ticket priority, and add a routing tag to the ticket. The following table shows the order in which tickets are routed to agents:
| Plan | Order in which tickets are routed |
|---|---|
Suite Team and Growth |
Tickets are assigned to agents in the order they are created. |
Suite Professional and Enterprise |
优先级最高的票和最古老的creation date, is routed to an agent within the assigned group who has an eligible status and the most spare capacity. |
Tickets are assigned to agents based on the following:
- Agent's status for the channel:
- Email tickets: An agent must have a status ofonlineorawayto receive email tickets.
- Messaging conversations: An agent must have a status ofonlineto receive active messaging tickets.
- Calls: An agent must have a status ofonlineto receive incoming call tickets.
If an agent forgets to set their status to offline, the status of the agent is automatically set to offline or away when one of the following events is detected:
- An agent closes the Agent Workspace without signing out (by closing down their computer or browser window or putting their computer to sleep)
- An agent’s connection is lost due to a network outage
- An agent is idle for longer than the idle status threshold defined by admins
SeeSetting your unified agent status with omnichannel routing.
- Agent's spare capacity for that channel:
- An agent must have fewer open tickets or active messaging conversations than the defined maximum capacity for that channel to have spare capacity. SeeCreating capacity rules to balance agent workload.
- 如果有不止一个的代理资格和地位spare capacity, the agent with the highest spare capacity for the relevant channel is assigned.
- 如果有不止一个的代理资格和地位the same spare capacity for the relevant channel, the ticket is assigned to the agent who hasn't been assigned a ticket in the longest time.
- To be assigned an inactive messaging ticket (more than 10 minutes without a reply), an agent must have spare capacity, but the ticket doesn’t use up any of that capacity.
Here's an example of a scenario for omnichannel routing:
- An important VIP end user has an urgent issue that needs to be resolved.
- They submit a ticket using the email channel.
- The account admin has set up a trigger for the account to add the auto-routing tag to these tickets and then assign a group and priority.
- As a result of this trigger, the end user's ticket automatically routes to a specific group with an urgent priority.
- Omnichannel routing now assesses the ticket based on agent status and capacity.
- The routing system first understands that two agents are available for work.
- Second, it finds the agent with the most spare capacity for emails and assigns the ticket to this agent.
重新分配信息和电话s in omnichannel routing
Messaging conversations and calls require time-sensitive responses. Therefore, omnichannel routing has special reassigment logic for each.
Reassigning messaging conversations
With reassignment timing, a message can be reassigned to another agent in the group if the original agent does not take the message within a specific time threshold. The default threshold is 30 seconds. On Enterprise and above, that threshold can be customized.
The reassignment timing setting must beturned on during setupto reassign messages automatically if they aren’t accepted within the specified time. If that setting isn’t enabled, the routing engine will keep trying the same agent.
Reassigning incoming calls
When a call is offered to an agent, they can choose to accept or decline it. If the agent declines the call or doesn't answer within 30 seconds, the call is returned to the queue and assigned to another available agent. The call will continue to be offered to available agents in a round-robin fashion until themaximum queue waiting timeexpires.
- Status>Less than>Solved
- Channel>is>Phone call (incoming)
Summary of features by plan
The availability of omnichannel routing features varies by plan level. The following applies to your Zendesk Suite plan level, or to the plan level of all individual products:
| Team | Growth | Professional | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
Routing tickets, messages and calls |
Routing tickets, messages and calls |
Routing tickets, messages and calls |
Routing tickets, messages and calls |
Routing based on capacity and agent status |
Routing based on capacity and agent status |
Routing based on capacity and agent status |
Routing based on capacity and agent status |
Default unified agent statuses |
Default unified agent statuses |
Default unified agent statuses |
Default unified agent statuses |
Routing based on priority |
Routing based on priority |
||
Up to 5 custom statuses |
Up to 100 custom statuses |
||
Message reassignment |
Customizable reassignment time |
Related articles
See the following articles for more information to help you get up and running with omnichannel routing and agent statuses:
147 Comments
Thanks to all who pointed out the broken link. This has now been fixed.
Hi there,
I don't see this available in our settings. Does the beta need to be enabled for our account like an EAP or will it just be a slow rollout to all users
HiLauren Benkov. The beta is rolling out this week. If you don't see it in your account by the end of Friday 19th August, please let us know, and we'll investigate. Thanks!
In the article above, it was mentioned that...
Is usage of the word 'open' meant to be taken literally (as in Status = Open), or does the system still consider tickets in On Hold or Pending status as open from a capacity perspective?
Is there an API to read agent statuses, or will be be able to create triggers, to integrate these statuses with a WFM solutions?
HiHello Testuser2
The ticket is only considered to be taking up capacity if status = open. If it is status = on hold or pending then it is not taking up capacity
Barry
Still don't see this under Objects and Rules. Do we need to install from the Marketplace? Can't find it there either.
HiLVB
Good news! The new Agent Availability APIs are actually in development at the moment. We are targeting to launch early access program in Q4 this year and general availability in H1 2023. The new public APIs will enable our customers and partners to view and update real-time unified agent status.
Thanks,
Volkan
Hi! Is it still possible to get into the beta/eap for omni channel routing?
how do we get access to the beta?
HelloRob Stack,
We do not have access to this under the admin center. When can we expect this to roll out?
Thanks,
Kevin
Hi, I've created tickets for some of you so we can find out why you don't have the beta yet. I'll update here when we find something out. Thanks!
Hi
To get the omnichannel routing beta, you need to have agent workspace enabled, and if you have a chat subscription you need to have either messaging enabled or use sunshine conversations.
If you qualify , but still cannot see routing in admin centre, please let me know
Barry
HiBarry Neary,
I am really interested to switch over Omnichannel and I am happy to know that most channels which I manage are supported, however, able to advised if Chat & Telegram via Integration Channel are supported? Please adv, TQ.
Channels which I manage,
I just verified, we do have Agent Workspace turned on. Still don't see OmniChannel.
HiMichelle Nibbe, do you have messaging also enabled?
No, we do not use messaging.
I am not sure why you would gatekeep this experience to those using the less than popular messaging channel. Disappointed again.
Just for my own interest - why do you prefer not to use messaging?
As an end-user of the experience, it is confusing, buggy, hard to read, and not a connected experience with guide. if I do not enjoy the experience as an end-user, I can't entertain asking my end users to use it.
More importantly, Zendesk does not allow third party integrations into Messaging, like it does for Chat (example, Pendo).
It's incredibly frustrating having to choose to go full stack in one system rather than have options to integrate and use the technology in a manner that makes sense for our business needs.
I agree with Bobby, I really hope that messaging should not be necessarily for us to be able to use the routing features. The routing features would be an excellent solution for our company, and we are not ready to integrate the messaging into our workflow for a variety of reasons.
MatthewL: Omnichannel routing supports Telegram via Integration channel but not Chat
I am testing out the experience in my sandbox, I just want to confirm if Emails are supposed to just show as assigned in a view or is the agent somehow notified? I was expecting them to behave like Messaging and need to be accepted like Messaging, but I don't believe that is the behavior.
Hi Michael
Emails are assigned directly to agents, unlike Messages the agent doesnt need to Accept them
Barry
ThanksBarry Neary!
I didn't miss any notification to a user a new email was assigned correct, has to be managed via their assigned ticket view?
Hi Michael, yes - an agent would need to monitor their 'My assigned tickets' view to see new tickets arrive....
In the same boat as Bobby and Kevin - we'd love to use Omnichannel Routing, but after testing Messaging, it's just not something we'd be comfortable launching in its current state. We still need the ability to intelligently route tickets, though ....
Hi Barry
Does omnichannel routing supports text channel?
Also email tickets are taking too much time to routing. We have multiple agents with spare capacity, but tickets continue without assignee 15 minutes after creation
Regards.
Hi Gustavo,
Currenty SMS Text's are not supported - would you like them to be treated the same as email tickets or messages?
Could you email me an example of some of the tickets that are taking a long time? On our side, we see tickets typically being assigned within half a second assuming that an agent is available
Barry
Hi, I was hoping to use this as a Round Robin option, but as we do not yet have Messaging enabled, is this not possible for emails and tickets opened via the Help Center dashboard?
We are looking into implementing Messaging but this will not be before February 2023.
I have also tried to use the Round Robin add on from the marketplace but unfortunately we could not get security sign off for this so had to disable it.
Round Robin seems like a very basic function, are there any other ways to set this up?
Pleasesign into leave a comment.