Configuring your Digital Receptionist

Jun 14, 2018 | User Guides

In this article

Introduction

The free 3CX Digital Receptionist feature (also know as an auto attendant or IVR) automatically answers calls and guides the caller through a number of options as determined by you.

Think something along the lines of “Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Accounts…”

You can configure a number of digital receptionists with their own extension number, as well as specifying when the virtual receptionist will answer calls based on the line the call came in on, or the time of day.

Recording a menu prompt

Before creating your digital receptionist through 3CX, you must first create your list of menu options and record the announcement.

Some helpful tips:

  • A simple example could be: “Welcome to Company *name*. For sales press 1, for support press 2, for billing press 3.”
  • Put the number after the option – e.g. “For sales, press 1” rather than “Press 1 for sales”. This will assist the caller waiting for their desired option to come up.

Creating a digital receptionist

  1. Select “Digital Receptionist” from the 3CX Management Console and select “Add“.
  2. Specify a name for your digital receptionist.
  3. Enter your extension number and record/ upload your call prompt:
    • Recording: Enter your “Audio File Name” and click “Record“. You will be called to record your call prompt.
    • Upload: Click on “Upload” and specify the your call prompt file. The file must be saved in WAV format in PCM, 8kHz, 16bit, Mono format. You must not use MP3 format.
  4. Select a custom prompt language if required.
  5. Specify menu options by selecting the appropriate action and extension number or DID number for each key.
  6. For the option “Destination for No or invalid input“, specify the timeout and what happens to the call if no valid input is received.
  7. When complete, click “OK” to save your digital receptionist options.
3CX digital receptionist

Dialling an extension directly

This option is enabled by default, and allows a caller to enter the extension number of the person they are trying to reach while the digital receptionist prompt is playing, allowing the caller to skip the prompt.

If you’d like to use this feature, it is recommended that you include a line in your prompt to let your callers know this feature is available.

Call by name

This feature allows the caller to find the person they are trying to reach by entering the first letters of a persons surname with the dial pad. The call by name feature must be enabled from the digital receptionist as one of the menu options.

This feature requires:

  • A self-identification message for the user.
  • A surname to be free from Unicode characters

The caller has to type a minimum of three digits (0 – 9), and ‘0’ can be used to call users with shorter surnames with only two letters. After entering three digits, the IVR searches the phone system for matching users.

If there are no matches: “Extension not found”.

If there is one matching user: “Please hold while I transfer your call”

If there are multiple matching users: The IVR digital receptionst will wait for further input for two seconds, then play a prompt for the caller to select from the possible extensions.

Recording your self-identification message through your IP Phone

  1. Go to your voicemail menu (default is 999)
  2. Enter your voicemail PIN number
  3. Enter the ‘9’ key to go to your options menu
  4. Press ‘5’ to record your self ID message
  5. Record your name only i.e. “John Smith”

Exchange server IVR integration

For companies using Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 SP1, the Exchange IVR feature allows for speech recognition in the company’s IVR. This version of Exchange Server also has a voicemail feature that allows you to convert voicemail to text and forward via email.

Note: This feature requires 3CX Pro Edition Licence. Please contact us should you require any further information regarding this.

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