Using direct routing, you can route interactions to dedicated personnel in your organization directly. The customer has direct access to the personnel and does not have to wait in the queue to be assisted by the next available agent. The personnel who handle direct routing interactions need not be typical agents who have to be specifically on a queue; however, in this article, we refer to them as agents.

Direct routing is helpful where customers require personalized services, such as:

• Premium customers 
• Financial advice based on a customer portfolio
• Concierge services
• Commission-based roles

Features

• Direct routing routes interactions to a dedicated agent as an ACD interaction. The interactions are routed via a queue and all features of an ACD interaction such as wrap-up codes are available. All direct routing agents must be familiar with the Genesys Cloud agent interface.
• Genesys Cloud does not support direct routing for non-ACD interactions. 
• Currently, Genesys Cloud supports voice, SMS, and email interactions for direct routing.
• Direct routing agents whose status is On queue and agents whose status is Off queue and Available with the Routing > Conversation – Accept Off-Queue permission receive interactions intended for them. 
• When the targeted agent is unavailable to handle an interaction, Genesys Cloud routes the interaction to a backup agent or queue.
  • The distribution of interactions to backup queues or to voicemail requires the configuration of an in-queue flow. 
  • When the interaction reaches a backup queue, Genesys Cloud routes the interaction using the routing method that is set in the backup queue. The next available agent per the routing method set receives the interaction.
  • When a direct routing agent does not answer a voice call, you can configure the in-queue flow to play the agent’s voicemail message, and then reach ACD voicemail. The voicemail is then routed to a backup agent or queue as a callback.
  • When the backup of a direct routing agent is another agent, the status of the backup agent must be On queue, or Off queue and Available to receive the missed interactions. However, when the backup is a queue, only agents whose status is On-queue receive the interaction.
• You can configure a queue to use a direct agent’s number and email address for an outbound interaction.
• Currently, you can complete the following pre-requisites only via APIs:
  • Designate an agent’s number as a direct routing number.
  • Configure agent-level backup setting by an administrator.

How direct routing works

1. A customer calls an agent.
2. The call routing forwards the call to the call flow that is mapped to the agent’s phone number.
3. The call data action retrieves the user ID of the dialed number and adds the agent as the direct routing agent to receive the interaction. For more information, see Call data action. For direct routing examples, see Example Architect flows and custom data actions for direct routing. 
4. The Transfer to ACD Action forwards the call to the direct routing queue from which the direct routing agent is alerted. For more information, see Transfer to ACD action. 
5. If the agent is unavailable to answer the call, the in-queue call flow creates a voicemail (callback). For more information, see Set up backup options for a direct routing agent.
6. If the backup option is an agent, the ACD routing logic routes the interaction to the backup agent. If the backup option is a queue, the in-queue flow routes the interaction to the designated queue. For more information, see Change web app preferences.