Depending on whether your business is open or closed, you may want to route your incoming calls differently. The Business Hours Applet helps you automate your Call Flows depending on these pre-set hours.
Specify your regular business hours for each day, as well as the days of the week you're open. Then customize your Call Flows depending on whether incoming calls occur during or after hours.
How to Set Business Hours
Head to the Call Flow you want to edit and drag the Business Hours Applet into the flow. From there, you can select:
Opening times for each day you're open
Closing times for each day you're open
Which days you're closed
Note that you are considered closed outside the hours you are marked open. For example, if your business day runs from 9 AM - 5 PM, after 5 PM you will be considered closed. Once it reaches midnight, the system looks to the next day's settings.
Additional Important Information
When you drag the Business Hours Applet into a flow, you will see a note that says <Your server's current time>. If this time is incorrect, you need to go into the Admin Panel under Account Settings to adjust it.
🔥 Hot Tip: If you operate across regions or your server lives in a different location, make sure you do the math to adjust the business hours to reflect the correct time zone.
Once Hours are Set
Once hours are set, determine what happens if your business is Open or Closed. At the bottom of the Business Hours Applet, there are two options:
Open Applet
Closed Applet
In these spaces, drag over an applet option from the menu depending on what you want to happen during/outside business hours.
For example, if during business hours you'd like the system to ring a specific User or Team, you would pull over the Dial Applet to the Open applet spot. Or if you want the call to go to voicemail when it's after hours, you would drag the Voicemail Applet to the Closed applet spot. For those businesses that use an external answering service after hours, drag the Dial Applet into the Closed applet spot, and forward the call appropriately.
It's totally up to you! You can use any applet that makes sense for your business.
Two Common Ways to Use the Business Hours Applet
There are two common ways to use Business Hours:
Starting a Flow with the Business Hours Applet
Using an IVR Menu first
If you start a flow with Business Hours, it will immediately check the time of day before moving forward. This is useful when you have set business hours for the entire system.
If you start with an IVR, you can set Business Hours for any/all of the menu options. If you use this option, you can set different business hours for each of the menu options.
This can be helpful for different time zones, or for different departments that have different hours. It's a flexible tool to meet your needs.
