FAQ: Overview of Omni-channel Feature in Service Cloud

For those Salesforce Service Cloud users out there who have heard, or maybe even read about this updated Service Cloud feature in the Spring ’16 Release Notes, Omni-Channel, but still have questions – this blog post is for you. I’ll answer some of the frequently asked questions we’ve heard from some of our Salesforce customers around this great feature from Salesforce.

What is Omni-Channel Presence and Routing?

Omni-Channel is Salesforce’s new customer service feature that intelligently routes records to agents in real time based on availability and access to queues. No more cherry picking or manual routing – Omni Presence and Routing takes care of it. Once configured, Omni-Channel will push records to your agents via a footer component in the Service Console.

What objects support Omni-Channel Routing?

Currently you can set up Omni-Routing for Cases, Chats, SOS Calls, Social Posts, Orders, Leads, and Custom Objects.

Do I need to write any code to set it up?

Absolutely not. No code is required to get started with Omni-Channel.

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How do I configure Omni-Channel?

There are only a few simple steps to set up Omni-Channel Presence and Routing in Service Cloud. 

1. Enable Omni-Channel in Setup (Setup>Build>Customize>Omni-Channel>Omni-Channel Settings)
2. Create Service Channels for the objects you want Omni-Channel to work in (Cases, Chats, Social, etc…)
3. Create Routing Configurations. This is where you configure how records (Work Items) are routed. You can prioritize based on the queue the record comes from, set certain records to take up more of your agents “Capacity” (covered below), and decide which routing model you want to use, Least Active or Most Available.
4. Associate your above configured Routing Configurations with their respective Queue.
5. Create “Presence Configurations”. These allow you to decide how much “Capacity” your agents should have, as well as whether they should be able to decline incoming requests.
6. Assign “Presence Configurations” to users.
7. Finally you create “Presence Statuses” which allow your agents to set themselves as inactive during off hours or breaks.

What are “Work Items”?

Work Items are the Salesforce term for records that get routed via Omni-Channel, whether its cases, leads, or other. Via configuration, you decide how much capacity each work item should take up. So if you have cases that come in that take more time than others, you can set them to take up more of you agent’s capacity.

How does Salesforce determine “Capacity”?

The way in which Omni-Channel understands if you, as an agent, have capacity is based on the number of primary tabs you have open in the Console. If your Capacity is set to “5”, and each Work Item is worth “1”, then Omni-Channel will continue to pass you records until you have 5 primary tabs open. See screenshot below:

What does Omni-Channel look like for agents?

Omni-Channel is a widget that sits in the bottom footer of the Console and stays inactive until a Work Item is routed. When a Work Item comes in, the Omni-Channel widget automatically pops up alerting the agent of the new record. Depending on your settings they may or may not hear a sound, and may or may not be able to decline the request. See screenshot below:

How does Omni-Channel work with Live Agent?

Salesforce made it extremely easy to integrate Omni-Channel with Live Agent. If you already have Live Agent configured, Salesforce automatically ports those settings into Omni-Channel configurations, so you don’t have to do anything. Once set up, your agents will access Live Agent Work Items in the same place as Cases.

Hopefully this provides you with a good background on Omni-Channel Presence and Routing, and helps aid in the decision on whether to turn this Service Cloud feature on or not.