Cloud Telephony Integration

Cloud Telephony integration employs telephony features in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud to improve technician productivity while handling user calls. The integration is built over Zoho PhoneBridge, an integration platform for Cloud PBX (Private Branch Exchange) and Contact Centre Solution providers.

This integration allows technicians to place and receive calls from ServiceDesk Plus Cloud. Once enabled, technicians can call the requesters right from the request details page. Additionally, technicians can also use the dial pad provided by your telephony service provider inside ServiceDesk Plus Cloud to place calls to any phone number. 

This guide explains the setting up and benefits of enabling telephony integration in the following points:

• Prerequisites
• Enable/Disable Telephony Integration
• Map User Phone Numbers
• Receive Incoming Calls 
• Place Outgoing Calls
• Configure Telephony Options
• Add Notes to a Call
• View Call Details in Requests
• Change Service Provider

Prerequisites 

The mobile or phone number of users under Setup > Users & Permissions must be stored as follows:

1. Start entering the number with a plus sign (+).
2. Enter the country code. You can find your country code online.
3. Enter the complete contact number.

If the country code is missing or not preceded by the plus sign, the outgoing calls placed to the user will fail. In the case of incoming calls, the user details will not be displayed in the call pop-up.

Enable/Disable Telephony Integration 

Role Required: SDAdmin

To enable the integration, go to Setup > Apps & Add-ons > Third Party Integrations. On the Cloud Telephony block, toggle the integration on.

The Telephony marketplace appears, displaying all the service providers available in your data center. You can find the list of service providers in each data center currently supported by ServiceDesk Plus Cloud in the table below. Select your service provider and enable the integration.

To disable Cloud Telephony integration, go to Setup > Apps & Add-ons > Integrations and toggle the integration off in the Telephony Integration block.

Map User Phone Numbers 

Provide your login credentials to the service provider. After you complete the validation process, you must map the users with their contact numbers. The call details displayed while receiving/placing calls depend on the user details provided in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.

Depending on the service provider, you can map your users in two ways:

• From the service provider website — For service providers like Zoho Voice or Avaya, you will be redirected to their website where you map technicians with their phone numbers.
• From the Phone icon — Certain service providers like RingCentral support a phone icon on the application footer. After the SDAdmin enables the integration, technicians can use the icon on the application footer to log in to the service provider and map their telephony account with ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.

Ensure the number mapped to a user in the service provider's site is the same as the phone/mobile number provided in the user's profile in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.

Receive Incoming Calls 

ServiceDesk Plus Cloud automatically screens all incoming calls to technicians. The caller details are displayed as a call pop-up with a business card view of the user's profile picture, name, and contact details.

A preview of the recent open requests raised by the caller can be accessed by clicking the Open Requests button. This helps the technician to understand the context better even before picking up the call.

If the user details are displayed incorrectly on the call pop-up, recheck the number saved in the user details page in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud. Even if a number is mapped correctly on the service provider's site, the user details displayed during a call depends on the phone/mobile number stored under Setup > Users & Permissions.

If multiple users are mapped to the same phone number:

• Any one of the users' names will be displayed in the pop-up window while receiving the call.
• Recent five open requests of one of the users linked to the number will be displayed on the call popup.

Place Outgoing Calls 

Depending on the service provider, technicians can place outgoing calls either to a requester from the request details page, or to any phone number, or both.

Calling requesters:

Technicians with access to the Requests module can call a requester directly from the right panel on the request details page. Click the  icon or  icon to call a user's mobile or landline respectively.

The call details will be recorded as a note in the Conversations tab of the request. Click here to know more.

Calling any number:

Technicians can also utilize the dial pad icon in the application footer to call any contact number, including the numbers not present in the application. The dial pad can be accessed by any technician irrespective of their access permissions.

If multiple users are mapped to the same phone number, 

• One of the mapped users' names will be displayed on the call pop-up while placing the call.
• Recent five open requests of one of the users linked to the number will be displayed on the call popup.

Configure Telephony Options 

After logging into your service provider and validating your account, you can hide or show call pop-ups for incoming/outgoing calls using the icon. Depending on your service provider, you can also configure preferences for your outgoing calls.

Note that even if you hide your call pop-up, the ringtone will be set off when a call is placed to the number configured with your login. The application window will continue to ring until the call is attended in another device.

Add Notes to Call  

Technicians can document the important pointers discussed over the call as call descriptions on the relevant request. Depending on their scope of permission, they can access the description as notes in the request details page or in the telephony logs.

Adding notes for an incoming call:

Technicians can add notes for incoming calls from other technicians.

After you accept the call, enter the discussion content in the Call Description text box on the call pop-up.

• Once the call is completed, click Done to save the description.
• If the call is initiated from the request details page, the description will be added as a separate note along with the call details in the Conversations tab. The notes are also added as Receiver Description under Telephony Log.

Adding notes for outgoing calls:

Technicians can add notes for an outgoing call in the Call Description text box after the receiver accepts your call. Once the call is completed, click Done to save the description.

If the call is initiated from the request details page, the recorded notes are displayed along with the call details in the Conversations tab. You can also find your notes as Caller Description under Telephony Log.

View Call Details in Requests

Cloud Telephony integration automatically logs the outgoing call details every time a call is placed from the request details page. If a call is initiated from the right panel of the request details page, a summary of the call will be logged as a note under the Conversations tab. This helps technicians track the previous conversations in a request while working on it.

By default, the note is accessible privately only to technicians. 

The following details are logged into the Conversations tab of the request details:

• The caller number from which the technician places the call.
• The caller's username, as stored in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.
• The receiver's number to which the technician calls.
• The receiver's username, as stored in ServiceDesk Plus Cloud.
• The duration of call indicated in hh:mm: ss.
• Notes added as description added during the call.
• The time when the call was initiated.
• The URL where the call recording is present.

A detailed call report is recorded in the Telephony Log. Incoming calls and outgoing calls placed from the footer dial pad are also logged under Telephony Log.

Change your Service Provider 

You can disable or change your service provider anytime.

1. Go to Setup > Apps & Add-ons > Third Party Integrations.
2. On the Cloud Telephony block, click the toggle button.
3. On the Cloud Telephony pop-up window, disable your current service provider.
4. Choose a new service provider and enter your login credentials.

Depending on your new service provider, you can map your users as mentioned previously.