Documentation / Telephony channel
Activate telephony
This feature is available if the Telephony feature has been activated for your account.
In short: With telephony you receive phone calls in aishaa, call customers from a ticket, and every call ends up as a message on a ticket. You need three things for this: the Telephony feature on your account, a phone number that aishaa connects to your organisation, and colleagues whom you enable as phone agents. For each colleague you choose where calls ring: in the browser, on that colleague’s own phone number, or both.
Where to find this
The telephony settings are under Organisation > Channels > Telephony > Settings. The page is called Telephony, with the subtitle Phone numbers, greeting and phone agents for this organisation.
Who: from the Organisation admin role upwards. The Telephony feature applies to the whole account; the phone numbers and phone agents apply per organisation. If your account has multiple organisations, use the organisation switcher at the top of the page to choose which organisation’s settings you are viewing.
The Telephony page under Organisation > Channels with one connected phone number and below it the agent table with the columns Colleague, Phone number, Rings, Press 1 and Phone agent.
Step 1: have the Telephony feature activated
Telephony is a feature that aishaa turns on per account. You can see its status in Account > Account settings, Features section, next to the Telephony switch with the explanation Receive and answer phone calls in aishaa via a linked phone number. You cannot change the switch yourself; below it, it says These features are managed by aishaa. Contact us if you would like to change them.
Would you like telephony to be activated? Contact the aishaa team via the aishaa support chat in aishaa (menu Chat, conversation aishaa support) or via support@aishaa.nl.
As long as the feature is off:
- The Telephony item does not appear in the Organisation > Channels menu.
- The Telephony page shows the message Telephony is not enabled for your account.
- The Routing of incoming calls section is missing from the account settings.
- Colleagues do not see a phone icon in the top bar of aishaa.
The Features section in Account > Account settings with the Telephony switch and the notice that the features are managed by aishaa.
Step 2: have a phone number connected
You do not order or connect a phone number yourself in aishaa. As long as no number has been connected to the organisation, the Telephony page shows the message No phone number has been linked yet. Contact aishaa to activate telephony.
Contact the aishaa team via the aishaa support chat in aishaa (menu Chat, conversation aishaa support) or via support@aishaa.nl.
As soon as a number has been connected, it appears on the Telephony page as its own card with the number in international format (for example +31…) and, if one has been set, a display name. An organisation can have multiple numbers; each number has its own card with its own settings. A number always belongs to exactly one organisation. The connected number is also the number customers see when a colleague makes an outbound call from aishaa.
Step 3: enable phone agents
At the bottom of the Telephony page is the agent table with the explanation These colleagues ring in aishaa when your number is called. The table shows all users of the organisation, with the columns Colleague, Phone number, Rings, Press 1 and Phone agent.
- Turn on the switch in the Phone agent column for every colleague who should be able to answer and make phone calls. The change is saved immediately.
- Turn that switch off for colleagues who should no longer make or receive calls. This is also saved immediately.
If saving fails, you see Could not update phone agent.
What an enabled phone agent notices:
- A phone icon with the availability menu (Available for calls or Do not disturb) and the option My phone… appears in the top bar of aishaa.
- Incoming calls appear as a pop-up in aishaa, on every open page.
- Phone numbers on the customer card next to a ticket become clickable (Call).
You set phone agents per organisation. If a colleague works in multiple organisations, you enable that colleague in each organisation separately. The colleague only rings for the organisation currently selected in aishaa.
Have a colleague ring on their own phone number
A colleague does not have to ring in the browser. In the Phone number column you enter that colleague’s own mobile or landline number (with + and the country code), and in the Rings column you choose where calls arrive: Only in the browser, In the browser, otherwise on my phone, In the browser and on my phone or Only on my phone. The switch in the Press 1 column appears with every choice except Only in the browser and makes the colleague press 1 first before the call counts as answered.
Every change is saved immediately; you see Phone settings saved. Below the table is the explanation A phone number is called as a normal call from the organisation’s own number. With “Press 1” on, the colleague hears who is calling and presses 1 to accept, so voicemail never takes a call; a key press interrupts the announcement. Call minutes are charged for that leg. The colleague can set the same thing themselves via My phone… in the availability menu. All the details are in Calls on your own phone number.
Step 4: check the number settings
Each number has settings for the greeting, call recording, transcription, voicemail and the recording announcement. Check them before the number goes into use. Pay particular attention to the Recording announcement: under the GDPR it is mandatory as soon as calls are recorded or transcribed, and it is on by default. See Number settings: greeting, recording, transcription and voicemail.
Step 5: choose the routing
In Account > Account settings, under Routing of incoming calls, you decide whether the colleague the customer already knows rings first, or everyone at once. This choice applies to all numbers and organisations of the account and can only be changed by an Account admin. See Routing of incoming calls.
Step 6: have colleagues test it
Ask an enabled phone agent to open aishaa, check in the availability menu that the status is Available for calls, and have someone call the number. The call should appear as an Incoming call pop-up. If that colleague rings on their own phone number, that phone rings instead, with the announcement and the request to press 1. Afterwards, the call appears as a message on a ticket with the Phone channel. See Making and receiving calls and Phone tickets and transcripts.
Good to know
- You cannot order, choose or disconnect a phone number in aishaa. Porting an existing number is also arranged via the aishaa team.
- Telephony is not linked to the organisation’s opening hours. Whether a call is answered depends only on the phone agents: if nobody is set to Available for calls with aishaa open, the caller hears the greeting text and (if voicemail is on) can leave a message. If you do not want to take calls outside office hours, use the availability menu, or turn off Accept incoming calls per number.
- The softphone works in the browser in which aishaa is open. If the browser does not support the softphone, the status in the availability menu stays on Phone offline and that colleague does not ring in the browser. Enter an own phone number for that colleague and they ring after all.
- If you turn off a phone agent while that colleague has aishaa open, the phone icon disappears for that colleague and they no longer ring.
- Every enabled phone agent can also make outbound calls from a ticket. There is no separate setting per colleague for inbound only or outbound only.