Use our Business Hours Routing feature to set office hours and efficiently manage incoming customer calls during those hours as well as after hours. Use advanced routing technology to route after-hours calls to desired destinations and provide uninterrupted customer service.
How Do Business Hours Work?
Business hours and after-hours routing use time-based routing technology to create time zone-specific hours for each of your phone numbers. You can set business hours (such as M-F, 9 am to 5 pm) and then set up IVR rules for how calls should be handled during and outside of these hours.
Benefits of Configuring Office Hours for Your Business
With business hours and after-hours routing, you set your teams up to provide responsive, round-the-clock support. Effectively manage fluctuating or high call volumes by sending after-hours calls to secondary phones or remote teams and shift workers. Provide off-hours service and keep your business accessible even during slow hours or holidays. This way, you can also avoid missing valuable leads by keeping your business available at all hours.
Improve overall call handling by routing to different destinations or virtual voicemail when the primary receiver or location is busy. Review after-hours call activity to understand customer preferences and where your customers call from. You can then use this information to expand your reach, scale operations, or simply increase staffing.
Types of After-Hours Routing
Use our intelligent call routing feature to create different after-hours routing systems based on your communication needs:
Custom working hours — Set up business working hours for each phone number within your network. Add rules based on your time zone, office locations, remote teams, and so on.
Split business hours — Create schedules or shifts to incorporate breaks or flex hours for your employees. Log in to your portal and make adjustments in real time to ensure calls during these hours are answered.
After-hours routing — When your business is closed for the day, forward calls to your call center BPOs, offshore support teams, or remote agents. Customize which phone lines go to which destinations and teams.
How to Set Up Business Hours?
To set up business hours and after-hours routing, follow the below steps in your control panel:
- Log in to your Control Panel.
- Click My Phone Numbers on the left-hand side of the dashboard.
- Then, click on the Settings icon for the line that you would like to modify.
- Here, under General, you can select your time zone.
- Then, go to Call Forwarding and Advanced Routing and click on Forwarding Rules.
- Here, you can Create a New Rule. Adjust days, times, and routing strategies, as desired.
So, if your business operates from 9 am to 5 pm. You can set up routing rules for calls that come in after 5 pm.
- Choose the action – Forward all calls to a different number or location or simply send to voicemail.
- You can also list the phone numbers of people and teams who will be available after hours to receive calls.
- Then choose how to route these calls to all parties: Sequential, Random, or Simultaneous.
- Once you save, these changes will take effect based on your chosen time zone.