Virtual Queues

If enabled for your account you can use the Virtual Queues area to create virtual queues. Use virtual queues in configuring the following features:

• Skills based routing. Prioritize interactions (calls, emails, and so on) based on service level agreements.
• Dashboards. Visualize and report on interactions.
• Workforce management. Using virtual queue data in your dashboards, you can help manage your workforce.

For information about creating and editing agreements, see Configuring virtual queues.

Queues

A queue is where interactions wait to be handled by agents. In Vonage Contact Center a queue represents a Universal Contact Distributor (UCD) applet. Interactions routed to the represented UCD wait in the queue. An interaction can only exist in one queue at any one time.

Virtual queues

Like a queue, a virtual queue is where interactions wait to be handled by agents. A virtual queue represents a combination of skills that an interaction must require to enter the queue.

An interaction can exist in multiple virtual queues and a virtual queue can contain many interactions; the interactions in a virtual queue can have been routed to many different queues. Interactions can move into different virtual queues as their skill requirements change over time.

Unlike a queue, a virtual queue does not represent an actual entity in Vonage Contact Center.

Virtual queues are primarily for use in reports—in dashboards—and subsequently for workforce management. If your dashboards show that interactions with certain skill combinations lead to long wait times, you may need to increase the number of agents with those skills.

Vonage Contact Center does not use virtual queues for routing, unless you configure service levels—wait time and percentage targets—for them. (Currently you cannot save a virtual queue without defining a service level for it.)

Virtual queues and priority calls

If priority call handling is enabled for your account, you can configure the calls that enter a virtual queue to be priority calls. Priority calls appear in the priority calls lists in eligible agents' ContactPads. Agents can perform additional tasks related to such calls. For more information about priority calls, see Priority call handling in ContactPad. For information about configuring virtual queues to contain priority calls, see Configuring virtual queues.

Service levels and service level agreements (SLA)

A service level agreement (SLA) includes the target wait time and the target percentage of interactions you want handled within that target wait time. When applied to a virtual queue, the SLA describes the target percentage of interactions with the configured skill combination that must be answered within the target wait time.

A service level is the actual percentage of interactions that were answered within the target wait time.

If enabled for your account, Vonage Contact Center prioritizes interactions according to your SLAs within a 24 hour period. Vonage Contact Center aims to route all interactions to keep in line with SLAs.