Call cascades allow you to distribute incoming calls efficiently among different team members by ringing one user at a time. In this guide, you’ll learn how to set up cascade routing, filter by skills, and use advanced machine learning and call history options to optimize your call distribution.

Configure call cascades 

1. Access your IVR scenario settings

Open your interactive voice response builder to adjust call routing for your team members.

1. Go to your IVR's page.
2. Click on 'Edit' for the IVR you want to configure.
3. Click "Configure" to modify the corresponding scenario.
4. Add a step and click on the gear icon to access advanced settings.

2. Set up your call cascade strategy

1. Go to the Users section and add the team members to whom calls will be distributed.
2. Go to the Call forwarding section and select Cascade mode.
3. Click on "Close" to confirm your changes once the configuration is complete.

Random Cascade

• What it is: Distributes calls to configured users in a completely random order.
• When to use it: Use this when you want to distribute calls fairly without favoring any specific agent.

Predefined Cascade

• What it is: Sets a fixed, custom order for call distribution.
• When to use it: Use this to ensure your primary agents always receive calls first before they cascade to backup staff. Drag and drop the users into your desired sequence to customize the order.

Skills

Refine your cascade strategy by targeting agents with specific expertise.

1. Select the agent based on skills pre-configured in your dashboard (🔗 How to manage your skills routing)
2. Choose the specific skill(s) required for the step.
3. Optionally, toggle the "Ring only agents with select skills" setting:
   • If enabled: Only agents with matching skills will receive the call.
   • If disabled: Agents with matching skills are prioritized, but calls will cascade to other agents if they are unavailable.

Intelligent distribution with Machine Learning

Use advanced AI patterns and contact details to connect callers to the most relevant agent.

• What it is: Let the AI decide who should take the call based on user history, call patterns, and real-time availability.
• When to use it: Enable this to automatically improve operational efficiency and reduce customer wait times.

Select which specific agent should receive the call based on : 

• One user

• Users based on call history 

Select which specific agent should receive the call depending on their history with the caller:

• Has taken the most calls from the caller: Routes the call to the agent who has handled the largest number of calls from this caller.
• Last spoke to the caller: Routes the call to the agent who had the most recent interaction with the caller.
• Spoke with the caller the longest: Routes the call to the agent who has spent the most cumulative time on the phone with the caller.
• Contact owner in CRM: Automatically routes the call directly to the owner of the contact synchronized in your CRM (supports Salesforce, HubSpot, Odoo, Zendesk, Vincere, and Bullhorn).
• Has taken the least amount of calls: Routes the call to the agent who has answered the fewest calls, helping balance daily workloads.
• Has spent the least amount of time on the phone: Routes the call to the agent with the lowest cumulative talk time, ensuring fair distribution of phone duties.
• Has the most availability: Routes the call to the agent who has been waiting in an active, available state the longest.

Select which specific agent should receive the call based on data from

• One day
• One week
• One month.

🎉 You now know how to configure call cascades and optimize distribution and can ensure your customers are quickly routed to the most qualified and available agents!