In short: BT Cloud Voice call queues come from Call Centre ACD, a site feature that holds callers in a queue, plays entrance, wait-time and comfort messages with music, and passes each call to the next free agent. Agents log in and out and can work from different sites. Call Centre ACD plus adds schedules and selective forwarding.
What Call Centre ACD is
ACD stands for automatic call distribution. Call Centre ACD is a BT Cloud Voice site feature that turns a number into a managed queue: calls that cannot be answered straight away wait in line, hear messages and music, and are passed to agents as they become free.
It is the right tool for a customer service line, an order line, a helpdesk, a booking line or any number where callers sometimes have to wait. It is not only for large contact centres: a team of three taking calls for a busy reception can benefit as much as a team of thirty. Agents do not have to be at the same site, so you can run one queue across offices or include people working from home on the BT Cloud Voice app.
How the queue works
Each call centre has its own name, number and settings in the BT Cloud Voice Business Portal:
- Queue length: BT's help guide gives a maximum of 50 callers waiting in one call centre
- Distribution: the same five patterns as hunt groups: simultaneous, regular, circular, uniform (longest free agent first) and weighted
- Leaving the queue: you can let callers press a key to leave the queue, which then follows your busy treatment
- Skip to the next agent after a set number of rings (five by default, each roughly four seconds), or if an agent becomes busy while the call is ringing
- Held-call alerts and redirection: agents can hear a reminder beep (every 30 seconds by default) when they have a caller on hold, and a call left on hold too long can move to the next available agent
- Alternate numbers: extra published numbers can ring into the same call centre, which BT's guide says needs Call Centre ACD plus
What callers hear while they wait
Messages are where a queue earns its keep:
| Message | When it plays |
|---|---|
| Entrance message | As soon as the caller joins the queue; BT's system message or your own |
| Estimated wait message | Tells callers their position in the queue or roughly how long they will wait, once or at intervals |
| Comfort message | Repeats during the wait (every 10 seconds by default) to reassure callers they have not been forgotten |
| On-hold music | Between messages; BT's system music or your own |
Use the messages to do useful work: point callers to your website, give your opening hours, or include a call recording notice if you use call recording.
Agents logging in, wrap-up and overflow
Agents can join and leave the call centre, so their phone does not ring when they are busy with other work, at lunch or at the end of their shift. After each call an agent can be set to go back to available, unavailable or wrap-up, a short pause for notes, which BT allows up to an hour.
When things go wrong, overflow settings take over:
- Overflow: callers hear busy treatment, keep hearing ringing, or are transferred to another number, optionally after an announcement and after a wait you set (30 seconds by default)
- All agents logged out or unavailable: calls can stay in the queue, get busy treatment or be transferred, for example to a hunt group or a voicemail box
Call Centre ACD plus, statistics and reporting
Call Centre ACD plus is an optional add-on to Call Centre ACD with more advanced call handling; you choose "None" or "Plus" as the feature pack when you create the call centre. BT's help guides say time schedules, holiday schedules and selective call forwarding on a call centre need the plus upgrade, as do alternate numbers, so it is the version to choose if your queue should divert automatically out of hours, at lunchtime or on bank holidays.
Every call centre can collect statistics: per agent (calls received, average call time, busy and idle time, unanswered calls) and per queue (incoming, queued, answered and busy-overflow calls, plus average talk, queue and hold times). Daily reporting can be switched on with 30 or 60 minute intervals and emailed to up to two addresses.
For live wallboards, dashboards and trend reporting, add BT Cloud Voice Call Analytics. Supervisors and receptionists who need to see who is free can use the Receptionist console, and agents who need customer records to pop up on screen can use CRM integration. Good headsets make a real difference for anyone on the phone all day.
How we design your call centre
Forever Communications Limited, a BT Business Partner, starts with your call pattern: when calls arrive, how long they last, how many people answer and what callers need. From that we design the queue, messages, overflow and out-of-hours routing, build it in the portal, test it with your team and train your agents and supervisors. Contact us to plan your call centre.
Why buy BT Cloud Voice from Forever Communications Limited
Forever Communications Limited is part of Forever Group and a BT Business Partner. We supply, set up and support BT Cloud Voice for UK businesses, schools, charities and public sector organisations, from a handful of users to multi-site teams.
- A named partner who plans your numbers, call flows, user feature packs and handsets with you
- Number porting managed for you, timed to avoid downtime
- Connectivity checked first, so call quality is right from day one, with BT business broadband and BTnet available if you need it
- Help with the digital switchover, including alarms, lifts, card terminals and other analogue lines
- Training and ongoing support for the apps, Microsoft Teams integration, moves, adds, changes and faults
BT Cloud Voice is a business service. We do not sell consumer or home phone products.
Want a BT Cloud Voice quote for your business?
Tell Forever Communications what you need and we will come back to you by email with options, not a hard sell.
Contact usFrequently asked questions
Does BT Cloud Voice have call queues?
Yes. Call queues come from Call Centre ACD, a site feature that holds callers in a queue with messages and music and passes calls to the next free agent.
Can BT Cloud Voice be used as a call centre?
Yes. Call Centre ACD gives you queues, comfort messages, agents who log in and out, wrap-up time, overflow and statistics. Call Analytics adds reporting and, with the right package, live wallboards. Agents can be on different sites.
What does Call Centre ACD plus add?
Call Centre ACD plus is an add-on to Call Centre ACD with more advanced call handling. BT's guides say time and holiday schedules, selective call forwarding and alternate numbers on a call centre need the plus upgrade.
How many callers can wait in a BT Cloud Voice queue?
BT's help guide gives a maximum queue length of 50 callers for a call centre. You decide what happens to further callers, such as busy treatment or transfer to another number.
Can call centre agents work from home on BT Cloud Voice?
Yes. Agents do not need to be at the same site. They can take queue calls on a desk phone at home or on the BT Cloud Voice app, if their pack includes it.
Should I use a hunt group or a call queue?
Use a hunt group when calls are usually answered straight away. Use a call queue when callers often have to wait, because the queue keeps them informed and shares calls fairly.