A consultative call transfer is where a user talks to the person they want to transfer the call to before the transfer is made. This is sometimes referred to as a “warm transfer” or “warm hand-off”. It is a different method of transfer to the “cold transfer” whereby the call is put through to someone without asking them if they can take the call or without providing information on what the caller is calling about.
Some use-cases for consultative transfer includes:
- Manager/PA scenarios where the PA screens calls for the manager.
- Enquiry calls being passed from front office call takers to back office specialist services
The process for making a consultative call transfer in Lync 2013 changed slightly from Lync 2010. This post provides the steps that are required to achieve it.
Scenario:
User1 has an active call with User 2 that they want to transfer to someone else (User 3). However, they want to consult User 3 before transferring the call.
Process:
User 1 calls User 3 from the Lync client. This can be a Lync call or a call to a PSTN number such as a mobile number etc. (No need to put User 2 on hold; Lync will do this automatically). This results in two call windows being open (one to user 2 and one to user 3):
User 3 Call Window User 2 Call Window
Once the consult is concluded, from the User 2 call window, hover over the Phone button then select the person’s name that you want to transfer to under “Current Conversation”
User 3 Call Window User 2 Call Window
Lync transfers the call and both call windows close.
I hope this is useful to explain that the process is simple.
Thanks to my colleagues who helped with the production of the screen shots (but didn’t know their photo’s would appear in the blog 🙂 )
**Update**
If you want to know how to perform a non-consultative (or “blind”) transfer, take a look here.
BrianC
