What is call routing? Call routing software explained

Call routing decides where an incoming call goes. The phone system sends each call to the right person, team or queue, so they don’t all land on one desk. It follows rules you set up yourself, such as the time of day, the number the caller dialled, who the caller is or the option they picked in a menu. Done well, it means shorter waiting times, fewer missed calls and customers who reach the right colleague the first time.

Sounds simple. So why do so many callers still end up on hold, transferred three times, or listening to a phone that rings and rings?

Why call routing matters

Picture a busy Monday morning. A customer calls with a question about an invoice. The call goes to reception. Reception puts it through to sales. Sales is busy, so the call goes back to reception. By the time someone from finance picks up, the customer has explained the problem three times and their patience has run out.

That isn’t a staffing problem. It’s a routing problem. With the right routing rules in place, that call goes straight to finance. If finance is busy, it waits in a queue and the caller hears how long the wait is.

How does call routing work?

Every routing setup follows the same basic idea. A call comes in. The phone system checks your rules. The call goes where those rules say it should go.

Those rules can be very simple (“all calls go to reception”) or quite detailed (“calls from existing customers go to their account manager during office hours, and to the support queue in the evening”). Call routing software lets you build and change these rules in one place, without calling in a technician every time something changes.

Types of call routing

There are several ways to route calls. Most businesses combine a few of them.

Time-based routing

Your phone system follows your opening hours. During office hours, calls go to your team. Outside office hours, callers hear a message, can leave a voicemail or get forwarded to an on-call colleague. Bank holidays and Christmas closing? You set those up in advance, so nobody has to remember on the day.

IVR routing

With an IVR (interactive voice response), callers choose an option from a menu. “Press 1 for sales, press 2 for support.” The call then goes to the right team. Keep the menu short and clear, and callers reach the right place quickly. Make it too long, and they hang up.

Skills-based routing

Not every colleague can answer every question. With skills-based routing, the system sends a call to someone who has the right knowledge. A caller who needs technical help goes to your technical team. A caller who speaks German goes to a colleague who speaks German.

Round robin and hunt groups

In a hunt group, the call rings several colleagues at once or one after another. With round robin, calls are spread evenly across the team. That way, the same person doesn’t answer every call while others sit quietly.

Queue-based routing and ACD

When everyone is busy, callers wait in a call queue. Automatic call distribution (ACD) then hands each waiting call to the next available colleague. You decide how long callers wait, what they hear and what happens if the wait gets too long.

Caller-based routing

The phone system recognises the caller’s number. Existing customers can go straight to their regular contact person. Callers from a specific region can go to the local office.

The benefits of call routing software

So what does it actually change in your day-to-day work?

Fewer missed calls. Calls go to colleagues who are available, not to an empty desk.
Shorter waiting times. Callers reach the right person faster, so they spend less time on hold.
Fewer transfers. The caller explains their question once, to the person who can help.
A fair spread of calls. Calls are shared across the team, so no one gets overloaded.
Insight into your availability. Reports show how many calls came in, how long people waited and how many calls were missed. You can see exactly where your routing needs work.
Easy to adjust. Busy period coming up? New colleague starting? You change your rules in a few clicks.

How Xelion handles call routing

In Xelion, routing is part of your cloud phone system. You don’t need separate call routing software or an extra module. Everything is included in one licence.

A customer calls. Xelion checks your opening hours, plays your IVR menu if you use one, and places the call in the right call queue. The first available colleague answers. With match caller, the customer can go straight back to the colleague they spoke to last time. With call whisper, your colleague hears which queue or menu option the call came from before they say hello.

You can also see at a glance who is available. Presence status shows who is on a call, in a meeting or free to answer. Want to see what’s happening in your queues right now? The wallboard shows waiting calls, waiting times and answered calls in real time.

It works wherever your team is. Colleagues in the office, at home or on the road all receive calls through the same routing rules, on their desk phone, laptop or mobile.

Frequently asked questions about call routing

It’s a phone system feature that sends incoming calls to the right person, team or queue, based on rules you set. Those rules can look at the time of day, the number dialled, the caller or an option chosen in a menu.

It’s the part of your phone system where you build and manage your routing rules. In a cloud phone system like Xelion, you set up those rules yourself, without extra hardware.

Call forwarding sends a call from one number to another, for example from your desk phone to your mobile. Routing is broader: it decides where every incoming call goes, based on a set of rules.

An IVR lets the caller choose where their call goes by pressing a button. ACD decides which available colleague in a team or queue answers the call. Many businesses use both together.

No. A small office with five people benefits just as much. Even a simple rule, like sending calls to a second colleague when the first is busy, means fewer missed calls.

Yes. In Xelion, you or your accredited partner manage your routing rules, opening hours and queues. No need to wait for a technician.

Get every call to the right person

Want to see how call routing works in Xelion, and what it could look like for your team? Request a demo and we’ll show you how to set up your calls, queues and opening hours to fit the way you work. Prefer to talk first? Contact us and one of our accredited partners will help you get started.

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