Zendesk Talk setup for the voice agent

Plans and permissions:

• Add-on: AI agents, billed separately
• Set the voice agent’s transfer destinations: Admin role, or a custom role with Voice agent settings set to Can edit voice agent settings
• In Zendesk, you need admin access to create team members and groups, and to edit Talk lines.

Use this setup to have the voice agent answer calls to your Zendesk Talk lines, and to send callers who need a person back to your team in Zendesk Talk. Calls reach the voice agent through Zendesk Talk’s overflow setting. The voice agent then transfers calls it can’t resolve to other Zendesk Talk lines that connect to your support team.

You make most of these changes in Zendesk Admin Center. In Assembled, go to AI support > Voice agent and open the voice agent.

How the call flow works

• A call comes in on a Zendesk Talk line and is routed to a group whose only member is never available.
• Because no one can answer, Zendesk Talk sends the call to its overflow number, which is the voice agent’s phone number.
• If the caller needs a person, the voice agent transfers the call to another Zendesk Talk line, which rings your support team with your usual greetings, business hours, and voicemail settings.
• You can send callers to different lines depending on what they’re calling about. See Voice agent.

Create a group that never answers

First, set up a group with one team member who is never available for calls. Calls routed to this group always overflow to the voice agent.

1. In Zendesk Admin Center, go to People > Team > Team members, and create a team member who will never take inbound calls. Keep their voice status set to Offline.
2. Go to People > Team > Groups, create a group, and add the team member from step 1 to it. Don’t add anyone else.

Important: If this team member is ever set to Online for calls, calls go to them instead of the voice agent.

Send calls from Zendesk Talk to the voice agent

1. In Zendesk Admin Center, go to Channels > Talk and email > Talk, and select Lines.
2. Select the gear icon for the line you want the voice agent to answer.
3. Under Routing, set the routing group to the group you created above.
4. Under Voicemail, turn voicemail off.
5. Under Overflow, turn overflow on, and enter the voice agent’s phone number. You’ll find it on the voice agent’s General tab, under Installation.
6. Save the line.

To test it, call the line. The voice agent should answer.

Send calls back to Zendesk Talk

You need at least one other Zendesk Talk line for the voice agent to transfer calls to. Connect it to your support team’s groups, with the greetings, business hours, and voicemail settings you want.

1. In Assembled, go to AI support > Voice agent, open the voice agent, and select the Routing tab.
2. Under Destinations, add or edit a destination, and enter the Zendesk Talk line’s phone number as its transfer number.
3. Under Route mapping, choose which case categories go to each destination, and choose a destination for All other inquiries (fallback).
4. Select Save changes.

When the voice agent transfers a call, Zendesk Talk creates the ticket, and Assembled adds the call summary and transcript to it. See Voice agent cases in your CRM.