Configuring business hours in Zoom Contact Center ensures calls are routed appropriately based on the time of day. Set your business hours by navigating to the Routing section in the Zoom admin portal and then configuring the Business Hours settings for your desired flow. This involves specifying days of the week and start and end times, including timezone settings.
Prerequisites
- A Zoom Contact Center account.
- Administrator privileges within the Zoom account.
- Understanding of your organization’s standard business hours, including any exceptions for holidays or special events.
- Determination of the time zone in which your business operates.
- Confirmation that your Zoom Contact Center license is provisioned.
Configure Business Hours in Zoom Contact Center
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Access Zoom Web Portal: Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an administrator.
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Navigate to Contact Center Management: In the navigation menu, click Contact Center Management.
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Go to Routing: Under Contact Center Management, click Routing. You will likely see a list of existing flows.
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Select a Flow: Choose the inbound flow you want to configure business hours for. Click the name of the flow to edit it. If you don’t have any Flows configured, you must create one. This usually involves clicking a “Create” or “Add Flow” button. Name the flow descriptively.
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Locate the Business Hours Option: Inside the Flow designer, look for elements that define the flow logic. Often, you will find a “Business Hours” or “Time-Based Routing” element. If there is no “Business Hours” element, you will need to add one from the available building blocks on the left-hand side. Drag and drop the Business Hours element into your flow.
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Edit Business Hours Settings: Click on the Business Hours element to open its settings panel.
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Set Time Zone: The first setting is to configure the correct timezone. Use the drop-down menu to select the correct time zone. This ensures that your business hours are accurately reflected.
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Define Business Days and Times: Specify the days of the week your business operates. Check the box next to each day you are open. For each selected day, enter the start and end times for your business hours using the time selection dropdowns.
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Add Multiple Time Slots (Optional): If your business has breaks during the day (e.g., for lunch), click “Add Time Slot” to create additional time ranges for the same day. This allows you to define more complex operating hours.
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Configure Closed Hours Routing: Determine what happens outside of your defined business hours. Usually, this involves routing to voicemail, playing a closed message, or routing to an after-hours answering service. The Business Hours element typically has “Yes” (within business hours) and “No” (outside business hours) exit points. Connect these exit points to the appropriate elements in your flow. For example, connect the “No” exit point to a “Play Announcement” element to play a message that the business is closed, and then to a “Disconnect” element to end the call.
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Configure Holiday Hours (Optional): Many Business Hours elements have a section to configure special routing for holidays. Find the option to configure holidays and select “Add Holiday”. Enter the name of the holiday, the start date, the end date (if it’s a multi-day holiday), and the routing for calls received during the holiday. Routing during holiday hours is configured in the same way as configuring closed hours.
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Save Your Changes: After configuring all your business hours settings, click the “Save” or “Apply” button in the Business Hours element’s settings panel.
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Activate the Flow: After configuring your business hours and routing options, ensure that the entire flow is activated. Look for an “Activate,” “Enable,” or “Publish” button for the entire flow and click it to make your changes live.
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Test Your Configuration: After saving the flow, it’s crucial to test your configuration. Call your contact center number from outside of business hours to ensure that calls are routed correctly to the after-hours destination. Call again during business hours to confirm correct routing.
Common Issues
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Incorrect Time Zone: Calls are routed incorrectly because the time zone setting is incorrect. Solution: Double-check the selected time zone in the Business Hours settings and correct it if necessary.
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Overlapping Time Slots: The system flags an error because two time slots on the same day overlap. Solution: Edit the start and end times of the overlapping time slots to ensure that they do not overlap.
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Flow is Not Activated: The business hours configuration is not taking effect because the entire flow is not activated. Solution: Ensure that the flow is activated by clicking the “Activate” or “Enable” button in the flow designer.
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Holiday Hours Not Configured Correctly: Calls are not being routed to the holiday destination on holidays. Solution: Verify the holiday start and end dates are correct, and that the routing is properly configured to the desired destination.
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Business Hours Element Not Connected: The Business Hours element is not properly connected to other elements in the flow, causing calls to be dropped or misrouted. Solution: Ensure that the “Yes” (within business hours) and “No” (outside business hours) exit points of the Business Hours element are connected to the appropriate elements in your flow, such as “Play Announcement” elements or routing to specific agents.