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Pickup vs. Team Calling

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For some time now I have meat this requirement in a lot of RFP’s and customer meetings, …..Call Pickup!

From my personal point of view Smile

What is the idea of having call pick up?, from my point of view, “get the phone answered”

This Call pickup function is what you could do in an old time PBX, and it’s used a lot at some customers and other customers hate it, but for whatever reason customers that like it, have an tendency to hang on to it like nothing else can do the same or even better.

What is the reason for having call pick up?

· If you aren’t at your desk and your phone is ringing someone else can pick it up

· If you have a department phone that you need to be answered, by someone in the room that can hear it ringing

Some questions I asked my customers.

· Would you like to know who have called you and who has taken that call, so you can go back and asked what the call was about?

· Would you like to be able to choice who can pick up your call, maybe someone isn’t then best to answer you customers.

· If you have simultaneous calling, so that you “phone” and your mobile rings at the same time, would you like to have at least 10-20 sec, to pick the call up before some else pick it up, when needed and not when you are in meetings.

· Would it be nice to actually not having a phone standing in the middle of the room ringing if everyone in that room is busy.

· Would it be nice to be able to select someone else to pick up your phone, other than people in same room, and be able to change it whenever you like to do that and not be depending on the Telco admin to set it up for you.

· Would it be nice if you could choice what “ring tone” you will get when other phones are ringing, and even choice to not have a ring tone just a little popup on your phone or PC when someone in your teams phone is ringing and only having a ringtone when your own extension ring’s.

Team calling in Lync is actually a very nice/great function, and this function can replace call pick up! back to my statement in the beginning “What is the idea of having call pick up ?, from my point of view, “get the phone answered” , and that is what Team calling can do for you and more, but in a more Unified Communication and mobile worker stile and not having a “desk phone look at things”, wakeup it’s 2012 Smile

Look at this little funny video on team calling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ddkLdw2tJo&feature=player_embedded

This blog show how easy it’s to set it up: https://www.ultimate-communications.com/2011/04/configure-team-call-aka-call-pickup-in-lync-server-2010-lync/

Interesting blog on ring groups etc. https://windowspbx.blogspot.com/2012/05/microsoft-lync-simple-ring-group-for.html

If you are looking for any 3rd party vendor solutions to take care of your call control, I have found solutions like this that might help you.

FonComfort (Beta) from Bressner:

It uses the Client API and provides features like

  • - Pick up
  • - linked call forwarding (e.g from manager to assistant and to a mobile phone)
  • - second call suppression
  • - Convenient conductive call transfer

This solution will be released in 2 version very soon, Basic and professional, and some rumors on en Enterprise Version later.

Basic version is Client based software and the professional version is also Server software on the Lync Server https://www.bressner.de/products/telecom_it/unifiedcommunication/lync-software/lync-foncomfort/

Routing Agent from Competella: https://competella.com/Content/Competella%20Routing%20Agent.pdf

  • Configuration of forwarding rules on a per user level using
    a plugin page in the Lync Client. Defaults can be set on a
    system level.
  • Forwarding to external destinations
  • Optional delay of forwarding (with ring tones)

SimpleRoute https://www.colima.de/en/products/simpleroute.html

  • With SimpleRoute, incoming audio and video calls and instant messages can also be redirected or blocked depending on the origin, content and presence status of the recipient. The ever-popular BusyOnBusy function can be implemented for selected users.

Call pickup from AXON https://www.ubibase.com/ubibase_introduction_axon_eng_v1.3.pdf

Call Pickup from CereBro: https://www.colima.de/en/products/cerebro.html

https://blog.colima.de/en/2012/06/call-pickup-with-colima-cerebro-preview/

If you are looking for other Lync application this site also has a very good list of 3rd party applications

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    I know when i wrote this blog i would get feedback and thanks for that :) I understand that in parts of the world and at some customers the Desk phone is still used a lot; in the Nordic what I see is that the Lync client is taken over for almost all "normal" users, so deployment of phones is for a low number of the users like below 5%, of cause in some deployment I see more phones, but in some no phones at all. The Mobile phone is way more important for users than the Desk phone is in the Nordic. Very many company's users are working very mobile, like I am, and by that the Desk Phone has no meaning, but the Lync client can solved that and Mobile phone can as well. You can still be a member of a Team calling group and be on the internet or at home logged in on your Lync client on the Laptop answering calls. So when I gave my personal opinion on Team calling vs. Call pickup it was from that kind of user deployment with Lync client, and if you look at Lync only as an PBX replacement, like getting rid of one type of phone putting in a new kind of phone, and not using all the other great options in Lync, my opinion is you should properly look for another product, because Lync is not just a PBX phone replacement, it’s an total new way to work and communicate, and you need start thinking in new/other way to solved daily working tasks, and yes there is still some things Lync can’t do on every device, but what can a Desk phone do that a good headset on a PC can’t do, you can’t/won’t bring it with you home after work,  (sorry for the a little sarcasm) and yes of cause it would be nice if Lync could do more on the Lync Desk phone, and who knows what happens tomorrow and the day after :)

  • Anonymous
    May 23, 2012
    Team Calling is a great feauture but will only be a solution for Lync client on PC not for Lync phone edition. You cannot set the ringing as muted for the Phone edition and so you will have a lot of Phones ringing at the same time....If it was possible to set the ringing of the phone following the contacts (for instance set it as muted for people in the same team....)

  • Anonymous
    June 24, 2012
    Well said Jean-Marc, anybody who thinks team call forward is a replacement for call pick in my opinion when using Lync Phone Edition has not deployed this to wide enough customer base The lack of Call Pickup has caused so many issues for me in my organisation as we mainly use Phone Edition and the little bugs quirks such as

  • Lack of option to to Set Simulataneous Ring Tones
  • Inability to diable Call Waiting Beeps
  • The delay in answering RSG If these small issues were recitifed i have no doubt Lync can truly be classified as a PBX replacement

  • Anonymous
    January 23, 2013
    "· If you have simultaneous calling, so that you “phone” and your mobile rings at the same time, would you like to have at least 10-20 sec, to pick the call up before some else pick it up, when needed and not when you are in meetings." I don't understand this. how do you have both simultaneous ringing on the mobile phone, and, 10 or 20s after,on your team if you do not answer? For me if I choose simultaneous calling to my mobile, I can't choose simultaneous rings (with delay) to my team.

  • Anonymous
    February 22, 2013
    Update 22-02-13, this blog might be irrelevant blogs.technet.com/.../call-pickup-in-lync-2013-cu1.aspx

  • Anonymous
    March 04, 2013
    FonComfort Professional, which includes the call pickup feature for has been released a few months ago Lync 2010 (no beta any more). Test licenses can be requested onwww.bressner.de/.../BT+FonComfort+Professional_17689.html BTW in contrast to the video mentioned above it is possible to pickup calls from a hard phone. A version for Lync 2013 will be released very soon. We have added FonComfort QuickLink as a very convenient application which enables 1 click call handling including call pickup and a separate ring tone for group calls. Also forwarding and presence settings can be changed for managers if the user is authorized. You can see also which callid you may take and everything in  a single dashboard like window.

  • Anonymous
    September 18, 2014
    Call pickup? YES PLEASE!!!! After a Lync rollout, the users are getting downright abusive over the LACK of the vital functionality. Microsoft get too involved in minute details but keep forgetting CORE functionalities (Windows 8 for example). This is an example of microsoft's prevailing attitude of "Why would anyone want to do that?" Why Microsod? Because it is how THE REAL WORLD does business!!!