Whether you’re running a small business or an enterprise, if you’re communicating regularly with your customers (or if they’re communicating with you), you need to be able to see if your Agents are giving customers what they need. Call monitoring is one key way to do this.
Dialpad offers several ways to monitor live calls, let's go over how these features work.
Call Monitoring Features
Dialpad offers 4 unique features that allow Call Center Admins, Supervisors, and Coaches to monitor calls:
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Call listening – Allows the Supervisor to listen in on a live call (usually to make notes and provide feedback later)
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Call barging – Allows the Supervisor to directly join live calls directly as a third-party.
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Call whisper – Allows the Supervisor to talk directly to an Agent during a call, without the customer hearing anything
- Call takeover - Allows the Supervisor to take control of the call completely and removes the Agent from the call
Call monitoring capabilities are enabled by default, however, Office Admins can disable the ability for Admins and Supervisors to listen in on calls.
To disable the Listen-in capability for your Call Center, head to your Admin Settings from Dialpad.com
- Navigate to Call Centers
- Select the desired Call Center
- Navigate to Advanced Settings
- Check the box beside 'Disable ability for admins and supervisors to listen in on calls'
Listen-In
Call listening is a realistic way to assess an agent’s day-to-day service quality and performance.
Whether you're coaching an Agent through a new call, or simply running a quality assurance check, Dialpad's Listen-In feature allows you to silently observe active Call Center calls.
To Listen-In on a call:
- Select the desired Contact Center from the Dialpad App
- Select View Call beside the call you'd like to listen-in on
- Select Listen In
From the Listening screen, you'll have the option to Whisper to the Agent, or Barge the call.
While Listening to an active call, you're able to start or pause the call recording, hold, or Hangup, as well as view the live transcript.
To stop Listening, simply press the red Hangup button.
Whisper
Dialpad's Whisper feature allows a Supervisor to speak to an Agent without the customer hearing them, just as if they were whispering. This is useful for training agents, as well as guiding them through a critical call with an irate customer. Call whispering is a useful way to provide an Agent with real-time feedback and suggestions without disrupting the call (it's a little less “invasive” compared to call barging).
To Whisper to an Agent:
- Select the desired Contact Center from the Dialpad App
- Select View Call beside the desired call
- Select Listen In
- Select Whisper to Agent
Once Whispering, you'll have the option to Barge the call, as well as Record, Hold, or Hangup (exit).
To stop Whispering, select the red Stop Whispering button.
Call Barging
Call barging is when a Contact Center Admin, Coach, or Supervisor joins an Agent's call to help them. Barging allows Admins, Supervisors, and Coaches to join live calls directly as a third-party. This is useful to defuse an unhappy client, quickly answer higher-value questions, and prevent further escalation.
To barge a call:
- Select the desired Contact Center from the Dialpad App
- Select View Call beside the desired call
- Select Listen In
- Select Barge call
From the Barge screen, you'll have the option to revert to a Listening state, or Take Over the call. You can also pause or stop the recording, Hold, or Hangup (exit) the call.
Takeover
Call Takeover is when a Contact Center Admin, Coach, or Supervisor joins an Agent's call and then takes over completely, removing the Agent from the call.
To take over a call:
- Select the desired Contact Center from the Dialpad App
- Select View Call beside the desired call
- Select Listen In
- Select Barge call
- Select Take over call
Once connected with the caller, the Agent will automatically be disconnected from the call.