Sequential and Parallel Calling with CyberGate

Sequential and Parallel Calling with CyberGate

One of the Frequently Asked Questions about CyberGate is: how can we call from our IP Video Intercom to a Teams Call Queue or Teams Group? This question makes perfect sense, but we found out there are multiple customer needs behind this one. We’ll get down to that in this post, talk about it in a broader sense and how we addressed this need with CyberGate.

Can CyberGate call to a Teams Call Queue or Teams Group?

While this is (unfortunately) not supported on the interface (Microsoft APIs) available between CyberGate and Teams. Fortunately, we created a way around this limitation to achieve (almost) the same result !

Let's start with the basic call scenario and build from there toward more complex call routing setups. We’ll use CyberGate for IP Video Intercom to Teams as our use case.

Call from IP Video Intercom to a single Teams user

If the visitor hits the call button on the IP Video Intercom, you want to call a certain Destination. In this example we want to call alice.smith@... So this teams username is configured as Destination in the IP Video Door Intercom. Alice simply answers the incoming call on her Teams Desktop Client or Teams Smartphone App, gets connected to the visitor with two -way audio and live video, and can remotely open the door from Teams.

Parallel Calling - Call from IP Video Intercom to multiple Teams users simultaneously

One of the main reasons behind the question about Teams Call Queues is the need to call multiple Teams users at the same time. This is “Parallel Calling” – so, calling multiple Teams users simultaneously and the first call taker is connected to the visitor, with two-way audio and live video of course.

This is supported by CyberGate ! using the Multi Ring Group (MRG) feature. Essentially, first you’ll create an alias in the CyberGate Management Portal (CMP) – for example ‘reception’ - and assign up to 15 Teams users to each MRG. Say you want to call Alice, Bob, and John when the visitor hits the call button, you simply add these Teams user names to the MRG ‘ reception’. In the IP Video Door Intercom, configure the Destination to be reception@ and that’s it !

Note:

• The maximum number of Multi Ring Groups that can be created is: 128
• The maximum number of members (teams users) per Multi Ring Group is: 15

Parallel Calling – (un)set your Availability to take incoming calls from IP Video Intercoms.

What if Bob is out of the office attending an event, or has a day off ? During this period, you don’t want to receive intercom call alerts at all. So basically we want Teams users who are a member of one or more MRGs to (un)set their Availability to take incoming Intercom calls.

And Yes, you can do that ! Deploy the CyberGate for Teams App for all users who take incoming calls from the IP Video Intercoms. The App enables Teams users to:

• View your own membership to MRGs
• View who else is in the MRG, and what is their Availability Status.
• Edit your own Availability status (available or unavailable)

In addition, in the CyberGate Management Portal you can assign a Supervisor – a designated regular Teams user - to each Multi Ring Group. The Supervisor can View and Edit the Availability status of all members, and add or delete members without the need to log in to the Management Portal.

This complementary App is developed and maintained by CyberTwice, and installed on Teams users’ Desktop client.

(Did you know this App also enables the Door Open button in the Teams Desktop Client, so that Teams users don’t have to remember the 2 … 4 digit door-open command ? We’ll talk about that in more detail in another blog).

Sequential Calling - call from IP Video Intercom to multiple Teams users, one after the other.

Great, so from the IP Video Intercom you can call to:

• an individual Teams user; and / or
• a Multi Ring Group and call multiple Teams users in parallel.

But what if you call Alice and she’s not available or busy ? In that case Bob is the 2^nd in line and John is the 3^rd destination to try. Or, likewise, what if you want to call Multi Ring Group ‘reception’ first, and if nobody answered, try another Multi Ring Group ‘sales’ ?

This is Sequential Calling – call one Destination after the other if the previous Destination is not available or busy. Sequential Calling is supported by most IP Video Intercom brands. Typically you can configure up to 3 Destinations in the Intercom, and again, with CyberGate the Destination can be an individual Teams user or a Multi Ring Group.

What about Scheduling ?

The combination of Sequential Calling (set up in the Intercom), and Parallel Calling (pre-configured Multi Ring Groups in CyberGate) provides a lot of flexibility already.

If you’re looking to set up a Schedule - call Reception during office hours and Security outside of regular office hours – this is configured in your IP Video Intercom. Again, most Intercom brands support Scheduling functionality but we recommend to contact your hardware Reseller or System Integrator and ensure it is supported if this is relevant for your call routing use case.

In summary

And finally, do you think this should become a feature candidate ?

 For those of you who are familiar with traditional VoIP, on-prem or cloud-based UC call routing functionality, this all sounds pretty similar and actually it is.

Question is if we can make life easier for Customers adopting CyberGate, and we’re interested to hear your opinion whether or not this would be an improvement:

• Right now, the Destination is configured in the IP Video Intercom. This information is stored locally in the Intercom Device, so you need to login to the Intercom to make any changes to the desired call routing.
• Typically Customers have more than just 1 Intercom brand / model deployed, and naturally the UI for device configuration is different for each brand. Knowledge and skills your IT needs to remember …

What if you’d be able to configure the Destination in your IP Video Intercom just once, without the need to ever touch it again ?

• Use CyberGate to define what calling to ‘reception’ does: call to an individual Teams user, sequential calling, parallel calling, scheduled or a combination of all of these.
• You’ll have one platform – CyberGate SaaS – and one UI – CyberGate SaaS – to configure desired call routing for 25+ manufacturer brands.

Share your thoughts about this idea via the Contact Form.