Version 2.6. Virtual Receptionist Stepping Through the Basics

Transcription

1 Version 2.6 Virtual Receptionist Stepping Through the Basics

2 Contents What is a Virtual Receptionist?...3 About the Documentation...3 Ifbyphone on the Web...3 Setting Up a Virtual Receptionist...4 Logging in to your Ifbyphone Account...4 Tutorial: Create a Simple Virtual Receptionist Menu...5 Ifbyphone Glossary P a g e

3 1 An automated telephone answering service, Virtual Receptionist can be configured with menus for the purpose of routing incoming callers. A Virtual Receptionist menu can transfer callers to other numbers and extensions; forward callers to voice mailboxes; initiate a Find Me list or surveys; and play pre-recorded messages. What is a Virtual Receptionist? An Ifbyphone building block, Virtual Receptionist can be configured to provide menus for routing incoming callers to multiple Ifbyphone destinations. By following the tutorial outlined in the Virtual Receptionist Stepping through the Basics Guide, in conjunction with reviewing the extensive manual Virtual Receptionist Advanced User s Guide, you may create a Virtual Receptionist menu quickly and easily on ifbyphone s Web site. Upon creating menu items and routing options, callers can then connect to your Virtual Receptionist menu by dialing the telephone number assigned to you upon registration. About the Documentation The Virtual Receptionist Stepping through the Basics Guide includes the following documentation: Description of Virtual Receptionist features Virtual Receptionist tutorial, with screenshots, for basic setup Helpful hints for creating a more complex Virtual Receptionist ICON KEY Note Warning Tutorial Throughout the document, icons are used to indicate important reminders, including tips and common mistakes. Additionally, the telephone symbol denotes the beginning of a tutorial. The tutorial provides step-by-step instructions for setting up a Virtual Receptionist and using it effectively. Screenshots are provided to guide users through the entire process. Ifbyphone on the Web Ifbyphone s Web site ( contains a wealth of information about Ifbyphone business services. Customer service contact information, as well as additional user guides and tutorials, are also easily accessible from the Web site. 3 P a g e

4 2 Logging in to your Ifbyphone Account To set up and use a Virtual Receptionist menu, you must have an ifbyphone account. To open an ifbyphone account, please go to our Web site at or call (877) and say Business Accounts. Setting Up a Virtual Receptionist In this chapter, a tutorial and step-by-step screenshots are available to quickly and easily guide you through setting up a Virtual Receptionist. Once your account has been activated, follow the instructions below to login: 1. Navigate to the Ifbyphone Web site at 2. Login to your account by clicking User Login at the top of the home page. 3. On the Login to My Account page (Figure 1), enter your User ID (your primary 10-digit phone number numbers only with no leading 1) and PIN code (password); then click SIGN IN. Figure 1: Ifbyphone Account Login Screen 4 P a g e

5 Tutorial: Create a Simple Virtual Receptionist Menu Follow the steps in this tutorial to quickly create a Virtual Receptionist menu that routes callers to three menu items: an operator telephone number, a message describing hours of operation/directions, and a Find Me list. 1. Enter the Virtual Receptionist feature by clicking Virtual Receptionist from either the Main Menu (Figure 2) or on the top navigation bar under Services. Figure 2: Account Main Menu 2. To create a new Virtual Receptionist menu, click Create a new Menu (Figure 3). Figure 3: Create a new Menu 5 P a g e

6 3. On the Virtual Receptionist (Voice Menu) - Edit/Add Menu page, enter the following information into the form fields (Figure 4): Menu Name: Enter a unique name for the Virtual Receptionist Menu (e.g., Weekday Receptionist ). Please note that this field is mandatory. Greeting Text (prompt): Text to Speech (TTS) is the method by which the text that you enter is translated into speech by a synthesizer. When creating a Virtual Receptionist menu, you can enter the dialog to be spoken as plain text. Note that you are required to enter the greeting text, whether you are using TTS or an audio file for the greeting prompt. The extra text provides a back-up in case of audio file failure. In this tutorial, the Weekday Receptionist greeting prompt has been inputted as, Welcome to Speedy Computer Repair. To reach the operator, say operator or press 0. To hear directions and hours of operation, say directions and hours or press 1. To speak to a technician, say technician or press 2. Figure 4: Edit/Add Menu Page ADVANCED SETUP: Audio File Prompt Instead of relying on the text box and TTS synthesizer to deliver your greeting prompt, you can upload audio WAV files from your computer, or request that ifbyphone call you in order to record sound files. See the Virtual Receptionist Advanced User s Guide for more information. Set as default menu?: Check this box to make this menu the Virtual Receptionist default menu. Don t read menu options: If you have uploaded a recording that contains menu options for your greeting prompt, check this box to block the reading of menu options by the TTS synthesizer. 6 P a g e

7 Allow barge-in for introduction: Check this box to let users barge through the introduction, allowing them to choose menu options before the introduction message has finished playing. Allow barge-in for menu options: Check this box to let users barge through the menu options, allowing them to choose menu options before all the menu options have finished being read. Touch Tone (DTMF) only: If you check this box, menu items can only be selected by touch tone. Voice prompts will not work. 4. Press the Save button to save the Virtual Receptionist menu. Having successfully created a new Virtual Receptionist menu, click the Add a new Menu Option link that appears at the bottom of the page (Figure 5). Figure 5: Add a new Menu Option Link 5. The addition of menu items to your Virtual Receptionist provides your callers with a list of verbal and telephone keypad instructions for moving around your system. The following is a brief description of settings available on the Virtual Receptionist Edit/Add Menu Item page (Figure 6). Steps A through C below will then guide you through setting up a Virtual Receptionist menu with three menu items. Figure 6: Virtual Receptionist Edit/Add Menu Item Page Menu Item Tag: This required field is the menu item name that the Virtual Receptionist announces to callers. For this tutorial, the menu items will be Operator, Directions and Hours, and Technician. 7 P a g e

8 Keypad Number (used): In this required field, type a keypad number to correspond with the menu item. Keypad numbers that have already been assigned to other menu items within this menu will be listed (e.g. used: 3, 4). A keypad number can be up to four digits long. For this tutorial, callers will hear: Say Operator or press 0. Say Directions and Hours or press 1. Say Technician or press 2. ADVANCED SETUP: Hidden Menu Option Checkbox Check this box to block the announcement of a menu item. Even though the menu item announcement is blocked to callers, it is accessible to callers who know its private keypad number. See the Virtual Receptionist Advanced User s Guide for more information. Action: Select an option from the drop-down list to route a caller to the menu item. There are several different items to choose from, including: - Phone Directory: Enables a caller to say or spell the name of the person they wish to connect to. - Find Me: Connect the caller to a Find Me list. - Play Audio: Upload a wav file that will play when a caller selects this option. - Read Text: Have the computer system read a text message to a caller. - SurVo: Connect the caller to a SurVo online survey. - The Ifbyphone Main Menu: Connect the caller to the Ifbyphone main menu. - Transfer Call: Transfer a caller to another number of your choosing. - Transfer Call w/ Whisper Message: A message is read to the caller and then a message is whispered to the recipient before the call is transferred - Voice Mail Greeting: Connect the caller to a Voice mailbox. ADVANCED SETUP: Menu Item Actions The Virtual Receptionist Stepping through the Basics Guide is limited to covering the Transfer, Read Text, and Find Me actions. For further details and instructions on implementing the other menu item actions listed above, please see the Virtual Receptionist Advanced User s Guide. Follow Steps A through C below to setup a Virtual Receptionist Menu with two items: A. The first menu item is the Operator. Set the keypad number to 0 and the action to Transfer (Error! Reference source not found.). Enter an optional First Read This Text prompt and the 10-digit phone number (no dashes) for the caller to be transferred to in order to reach the operator (Error! Reference source not found.). Press the Save button to save your settings and continue. 8 P a g e

9 Figure 7: Transfer Call B. Click the Add a new Menu Option link that appears at the bottom of the page to create another menu item. The next menu item is Directions and Hours. Set the keypad number to 1 and the action to Read Text. Enter the text to be read by the TTS synthesizer. You may then redirect the call to a selected menu from the Then go to (menu) drop-down list (Figure 8). In this example, directions and hours will be read to the caller, and then the caller will be redirected back to the Weekday Receptionist menu. Press the Save button to save your settings and continue. Figure 8: Read Text ADVANCED SETUP: Create a New Menu You may also opt to create a new Virtual Receptionist menu or select any previously-created menu from the Then go to (menu) drop-down list. See the Virtual Receptionist Advanced User s Guide for more information. 9 P a g e

10 C. Click the Add a new Menu Option link that appears at the bottom of the page to create another menu item. The last menu item is Technician. Set the keypad number to 2 and the action to Find Me Enter an optional First Read This Text prompt and then select a Find Me from the drop-down list. To build a new Find Me list, select Create New Find Me List and click the Continue button. To use an existing Find Me list, select it from the dropdown list and click the Continue button. For detailed information on creating a Find Me list, please see the Find Me Advanced User s Guide. Figure 10: Find Me 6. Notice that on the Virtual Receptionist (Voice Menu) - Edit/Add Menu, your new menu items appear in a tabular format (Figure 11). You may edit or delete a menu item by pressing the Edit and Delete buttons, respectively. Figure 11: Virtual Receptionist Edit/Add Menu Also, take note that a new drop-down list has appeared, entitled Default Menu Option (Figure 12). Figure 12: Default Menu Option Drop-Down List The Default Menu Option drop-down list allows you to specify a default menu item from a list items. If you have multiple items listed for a menu, and the caller does not make a 10 P a g e

11 selection within 15 seconds, then the system will direct them to the default option. If no default menu option is selected, then the system will continue to re-prompt the caller for a choice. Click to continue. 7. Returning to the Virtual Receptionist page (Figure 13), you will find a list of existing custom menus (included the menu that you just created). Existing Virtual Receptionist menus contain the menu name and prompt, as well as corresponding Edit, Delete, and Test buttons. The default or main entry menu is marked with a telephone icon. Figure 13: Virtual Receptionist Menu list 8. You may now use your Virtual Receptionist to answer callers and route them to ifbyphone s business services. Please see the Virtual Receptionist Advanced User s Guide for instructions on utilizing more advanced features. 11 P a g e

12 3 Ifbyphone Glossary The purpose of the glossary is to assist you by defining commonly-used ifbyphone terms. Auto attendant Another term for Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Essentially refers to an automated telephone answering system that routes calls. Building Block Ifbyphone proprietary code that allows you to build a complex voice application that is accessible via the Web, or telephone. Smart Click-to-Call and all destinations are building blocks. Click-to-Call (CTC) Immediately connect a user to a registered business telephone number. Click-to-Call can be easily set up by registering phone numbers in addition to the toll free number given to you at sign up within the Registered Numbers utility. Click-to-Call can then be configured as a destination for Smart Click-to-Call, enabling Web site visitors to click a button and immediately speak with a customer service representative or other call recipient. Destinations Destinations are Ifbyphone services/building blocks that can be configured for Smart Click-to- Call access. Through Smart Click-to-Call, customers can click a link, type in their phone number, and connect immediately to a destination. Destination Configurations Destination Configurations allow you to setup a destination for use with a specific Smart Clickto-Call. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) A computerized system that allows a telephone caller to select options from a voice menu and interact with the computer phone system. IVR systems use Dual Tone, Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signals (entered from the telephone keypad) and natural language speech recognition to interpret the caller's response to IVR prompts. Find Me An Ifbyphone building block and destination, Find Me can be configured to maintain a prioritized list of phone numbers where a call recipient may be reached (e.g. desk or cell phone, pager, etc.). If a call recipient cannot be located at any of the phone numbers listed, the call can be redirected to their voice mailbox. Modes Blocks of time established within a specific day when configuring a schedule. Modes are fully customizable, but are commonly used to represent a workplace s open, closed, lunch, and after 12 P a g e

13 hours. Once modes have been set within a schedule, Smart Click-to-Call and Virtual Receptionist can be configured to exhibit different IVR behavior for a specific mode. Net Integration Communication between a SurVo and Web-based server. Net integration may be carried out to retrieve or post information and to perform a function like user account validation. Typically net integration is performed when a company is utilizing Ifbyphone business services to add voice to an existing system. Schedule An Ifbyphone tool that allows a user to specify the day-to-day operation of a workplace with start and finish times. Schedules are configured for Ifbyphone building blocks, including Smart Clickto-Call and Virtual Receptionist. Within a schedule, it is possible to specify a desired time zone, as well as modes. Smart Click-to-Call An Ifbyphone building block that is highly flexible in customization and scalability, Smart Clickto-Call enables routed communication between customers, business services and contacts via the Web or . Through Smart Click-to-Call, customers can click a link, type in their phone number, and connect immediately to a company s configured services (commonly referred to as destinations in this documentation). Ifbyphone offers the following services and building blocks as Smart Click-to-Call destinations: a custom Virtual Receptionist, voice survey, voice mailbox, a Find Me auto-dial telephone list to locate an individual, and Click-to-Call for immediate telephony connection. Smart Click-to-Call can be configured based on the day and/or time of day. Software as a Service (SaaS) A software model employed by vendors who both develop and operate network-based applications for use by customers over the internet. SaaS is typically a low-cost way for businesses to obtain the same benefits of commercially licensed, internally-operated software, without the associated complexity and high initial cost. SurVo See Voice Survey Form (SurVo) Virtual Receptionist An Ifbyphone building block and destination, Virtual Receptionist can be configured to provide menus for callers to route incoming calls. An automated phone environment, the virtual receptionist can transfer callers to other numbers/extensions, forward callers to voic boxes, initiate a Find Me list or surveys, play pre-recorded messages, etc. Voice Form Similar to a Web form with voice recognition capabilities, a voice form is a dialog between a user and the system configured to provide or collect information. At the completion of a voice form, the information collected can be ed, saved to a web site or transmitted for further processing. Voice Survey Form (SurVo) An Ifbyphone building block and destination, Voice Survey Forms (SurVo) are used to create dialogs over the telephone between callers and the system, much like a Web form with voice 13 P a g e

14 recognition capabilities (see Voice Form). A SurVo can be used to conduct employment screens, provide a customer satisfaction survey, route a call based on a user's answers to a series of questions, etc. SurVos have the potential to be invoked in response to a Smart Clickto-Call, an inbound call, an outbound call, a scheduled call, or an API request from a Web site. VoiceXML W3C's standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. VoiceXML allows voice applications to be developed and deployed for visual applications. Analogous to HTML interpretation by a visual Web browser, VoiceXML documents are interpreted by a voice browser. VoiceXML has tags that instruct the voice browser to provide speech synthesis, automatic speech recognition, dialog management and soundfile playback. VUI (Voice User Integration) Describes the interaction with computers though a voice and/or speech platform to initiate an automated service or process. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) An international consortium, hosted by MIT, which develops interoperable technologies (standards, protocols, software and tools) for the Web. W3C s mission is to promote the evolution of the Web in a single direction, rather than into splintered factions. 14 P a g e