Telephony
Call routing
Call routing sends a caller to the right agent, person, team, location, queue, or workflow using intent, data, rules, and availability.
Call routing sends a caller to the right agent, person, team, location, queue, or workflow using intent, data, rules, and availability.
What Call routing means
Call routing sends a caller to the right agent, person, team, location, queue, or workflowWorkflowA workflow is a defined sequence of steps, decisions, actions, delays, and outcomes used to complete a business process. using intent, data, rules, and availability.
Routing can happen before, during, or after a conversation. Basic routing uses a phone menu or dialed number. More advanced routing can use the caller’s request, location, language, account data, eligibilityEligibilityEligibility is the set of conditions that determines whether a prospect can move to a service, quote, appointment, application, or specialist., business hours, or the availability of a licensed specialist.
How it works
The system evaluates routing rulesRouting rulesRouting rules decide where a lead, call, appointment, or task goes using criteria such as intent, location, urgency, language, licensing, ownership, or availability., checks any required data, then selects a destination or next workflow. A resilient design also defines what happens when the preferred destination is unavailable. That fallbackFallbackA fallback is a safe alternate path used when input is unexpected, a tool fails, or the agent cannot complete the intended step confidently. may be a callback, appointment, alternate queue, message, or escalationEscalationEscalation moves a conversation to a person, specialist, supervisor, or alternate workflow when the agent should not continue alone. path.
Practical use cases
Sending new sales inquiries to the correct regional team
Routing urgent service calls separately from routine requests
Connecting a qualified prospect to an available specialist
A routing rule is only useful when its fallback is explicit. Testing should cover closed hours, unavailable staff, incomplete data, transfer failure, and requests that match more than one destination.
Frequently asked questions
What data can call routing use?
Common inputs include called number, caller intent, location, language, CRMCRMA CRM is the system used to manage leads, contacts, accounts, opportunities, activity, ownership, and follow-up. ownership, qualification answers, schedule, urgency, and destination availability.
Is call routing the same as a warm transfer?
No. Routing decides where the interaction should go. A warm transferWarm transferA warm transfer connects a live caller to the right person while preserving the context already collected during the conversation. is one transfer method that connects a live caller to a human while preserving context.
Source: Thoughtly’s transfer node documentation.
Related concepts: routing rules, warm transfer, human handoffHuman handoffHuman handoff transfers a conversation, context, and next action from an automated agent to a person., fallback.