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Audio Monitoring (Listen, Whisper, and Barge)

Audio Monitoring (Listen, Whisper, and Barge)

Note: The DTMF (dial-in) Audio Monitoring feature described below is not turned on by default, and a fee applies to enable it. Contact Support (760.837.7000 or support@automatedtelecom.com) to have it turned on for your account.

Concept

Audio monitoring is a phone feature that allows Call Center Supervisors to join a call (barge), whisper to their agent, or choose to listen into the call.

Types of Audio Monitoring

  • Join Call (Barge) - Allows the supervisor to join the call, rather than just listen, as is the case with Listen Only, or speak to only one of the parties, as is such with Whisper (on-net User only). Join Call allows the User joining the call to have a conversation with both the agent and the caller they are speaking with.
  • Listen Only - Allows the supervisor to listen in only, hearing both sides of a call, but not be heard by either of the other parties. By default, the Listen Only option is selected when a connection is made, so both the Agent (on-net User) and Caller (off-net caller) will be unaware of the listener.
  • Whisper - Allows the supervisor to listen in to the call and speak to the agent only while the caller will not hear any audio from the supervisor.

Rules

  • The audio monitoring features mentioned in this guide are available to users with a scope of Call Center Supervisor or higher.
    As a general rule, the scope of the user listening must be higher than the scope of the agent in the call. For instance, a Call Center Supervisor will not have the option to listen in to another Supervisor's call, but they can listen in to the calls of Call Center Agents.
  • Join Call (Barge) & Listen Only are available on all calls (with the correct scope), regardless of whether the call is on-net to on-net or on-net to off-net.
  • Whisper only works for a call by an agent/employee (on-net) connected to a caller that is off-net. The call can be inbound or outbound.

Making the Connection

Note: Basic Users are not able to monitor calls.

To start the connection as a Call Center Supervisor:

  1. Click on the Call Center tab from the PBX main menu.
  2. Hover over the name of the agent you want to monitor in the Agents table found in the lower right area of the Call Center screen and click on the Audio Monitoring icon. It may take 1 or 2 seconds to show the icon.
  3. An Audio Monitoring box will appear on the bottom right of your screen, allowing you to initially listen to the conversation between the agent and the caller.
  4. From the Audio Monitoring box, you can choose either:
    1. Join the call or Barge in by clicking on the Join Call button.
    2. Whisper to the agent by clicking on the Whisper to (agent extension) button.
    3. Return to just listening to the conversation between the agent and the caller by clicking the Listen Only button.

Note: If the Listen Only button is not showing, you are already in Listen Only mode due to clicking on the Listen-In button.

Using the DTMF Audio Monitoring Feature

You can also monitor a call by dialing a code from your phone, without opening the Call Center screen. This isn't turned on by default — contact Support to have it enabled for your account, and note that a fee applies.

By default, only Office Managers can use this feature. If you'd like it opened up to specific users, just let Support know which extensions should have access.

To use the DTMF Audio Monitoring feature, follow the steps below:

  1. While an agent/user is on a call, dial the "Tapping" code (ex. 007) plus the extension you want to monitor. For example, to monitor the agent at extension 1000, dial 0071000. This starts monitoring in Listen Only mode.
    • If that agent has more than one active call, the system will pick the first one that isn't on hold.
    • If none of the agent's calls are off hold, you'll get a "Not Found" response.
  2. Once monitoring has started, you can switch modes at any time:
    • Dial *79 to Barge-In and speak with both the agent and the caller.
    • Dial *78 to Whisper to the agent only — the caller won't hear you.
    • Dial *77 to return to Listen-In only, so neither the agent nor the caller can hear you.
  3. To end the session, simply hang up.
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