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Human handoff

A handoff is the moment an AI agent stops and a person takes over, on the same call, without the caller dialling again. It is what makes an AI receptionist safe to switch on: anyone who asks for a person gets one. This page explains what happens on each side of the handoff and how to keep it working.

What the caller hears​

  1. The caller asks for a person, or the AI agent decides the request is outside what it was told to handle.
  2. The AI agent asks the platform for a human agent. This takes a moment and the caller hears nothing unusual.
  3. If an agent is found, the AI agent says one short handoff line, such as "I will put you through now", and stops talking. In ConversationRelay mode the line comes from the Said as the call is handed over field instead, with the default "Putting you through now. One moment."
  4. The moment the AI agent finishes speaking, the caller hears ringing. The AI agent is gone from the call.
  5. The agent answers and introduces themselves. The AI agent never promises a name, a department or a wait time, because it does not know who will pick up.

Processed minutes keep counting after the handoff: the agent's talk time is metered the same way as the AI agent's, and there is no AI charge for it.

Which queue is used​

Each AI agent has a Human handoff queue on its Basics tab.

  • If a queue is chosen there, the handoff rings that queue.
  • If it is left on Default queue, the handoff rings the workspace's default queue. Set the default under AI & Call Handling > Call Queues with the Default control; the hint reads "Where a handoff goes when nothing names a queue".
  • If the workspace has no default queue and the AI agent names none, there is nobody to ring. The team is notified and the AI agent takes a message.

Who gets rung​

Only agents whose presence is Available or Wrap-up are rung. An agent in Wrap-up is still at their desk with a headset on, so they are included; an agent who is Busy is mid-conversation with someone else and is skipped, as is anyone Offline.

Within the queue:

  • Available agents are tried before Wrap-up agents.
  • Inside each group the queue's Strategy decides the order: Round robin starts after whoever took the last call, Least busy starts with the agent who has handled the fewest calls today.
  • The agent being rung is marked busy straight away so no other call is routed to them while their phone rings.
  • If the first agent does not pick up, they are put back as they were and the next agent in line is rung, until the queue runs out.

A queue with no members rings nobody. The queue list warns you with No members - calls sent here ring nobody.

What the agent sees​

The call arrives in the softphone like any other inbound call, with an Answer button, a Decline button and Silence ringer. Agents who have AI handed off a call switched on under Notification settings also get a notification.

Once answered, the call detail shows the usual header (From, To, Direction, Duration, Handled by) plus the AI handoff reason: the one-line reason the AI agent gave when it asked for a person, for example "Caller wants to dispute a cancellation fee". The Transcript tab holds everything the AI agent and the caller said before the handoff, so the agent does not need to ask the caller to start again.

When nobody is free​

If no Available or Wrap-up agent exists in the queue, the transfer comes back to the AI agent as failed. Nothing has changed for the caller: the AI agent is still on the line. Following its shared rules, the AI agent apologises once, takes the caller's name and number, says someone will call back and ends the call properly. It does not retry and it does not leave the caller on hold music.

At the same time the platform raises the Caller waiting for an agent alert across the workspace: a red banner with Take call, Open call and Dismiss, plus a bell notification reading "AI agent requested a human agent but none was available." With Ring for waiting callers switched on under Notification settings, the alert repeats until someone takes the call. Anyone who clicks Take call while the caller is still on the line is connected straight away, including agents in Wrap-up.

The same alert fires if every agent in the queue was rung and nobody answered, in which case the caller goes to voicemail.

A handoff needs a ticked tool

The AI agent can only hand over if Transfer to agent is ticked on its Tools tab. Without it the AI agent apologises and offers a message even when the whole team is free.

Tips​

  • Staff the default queue. Most AI agents leave Human handoff queue on Default queue. Put every agent who should take AI handoffs in it, and check the Used by column on the queue list shows your AI agents.
  • Keep presence accurate. An agent who forgets to go Offline at the end of the day is rung all evening; an agent stuck on Busy is never rung. The After-call work timer and Mark an agent offline after settings under Settings > Call handling tidy this up automatically. See Presence and availability.
  • Watch the numbers. Reports shows AI to human alongside AI handled and Resolved by AI. A rising handoff rate usually means the instructions are missing an answer the callers keep asking for.
  • Read the handoff reasons. Filter Calls for calls handled by an agent and read the AI handoff reason on each. Reasons that repeat are candidates for a line in the AI agent's instructions.
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