This is the ability to forward a user's calls to another extension or external number such as a Mobile/Cell Phone. Calls can be forwarded in a number of ways and if the call is not answered at the forward destination it will go to IP Office voicemail if enabled for the user and call supervision is available. There are three separate forward destinations, one for forwarding on busy one for no answer and one for forward unconditional. Once the numbers have been entered, the user can toggle the forwarding to be active or not as required without having to re-enter the numbers.
If the user is a member of a hunt group, some types of hunt group calls can also follow forward unconditional. Users can select if forwarding is applied to external calls only, or all calls. Call forwarding is processed after Do Not Disturb and Follow-Me conditions are tested.
Feature
• An operator or a group of operators can be configured to provide coverage for external calls that would otherwise go to voicemail.
Benefit
• Any unanswered calls will be routed to an operator or a Group of operators. For example, local government offices prefer to provide a personal service (rather than voicemail).
FORWARD ON BUSY
If enabled, this forward will be triggered when the user is busy and another call is routed to them, but does not include calls for a hunt group that they may be a member of. A user is normally considered to be busy when they are on a call but depending on call waiting settings and key and lamp features this may not be the case.
This forward is triggered if a call has been ringing for a user but they haven’t answered it within the configured answer time, this includes calls that have been indicating call waiting if enabled.
FORWARD UNCONDITIONAL
This sends all calls for the user to the forward unconditional number, but if the call is not answered within a user’s timeout period the call will be sent to IP Office voicemail, if enabled.
Feature
• The ability to forward calls to Voicemail, even when the user’s voicemail is not activated.
Benefit
• This feature allows a user who is familiar with the existing IP Office functionality of diverting all calls to a person or a group to follow the same pattern and divert all calls to a voicemail box.
Calls for a hunt group that the user belongs to can also follow forward unconditional. The hunt group must be set for either hunt or rotary ring type and if the call is not answered at the forward destination it will follow the hunt group call handling instead of going to voicemail. This can be particularly useful in a sales or support environments where a number of people may be out of the office on Mobile/Cell Phones and still participate in the hunt group as if in the office.
FOLLOW ME
Follow-Me is similar to Forwarding except that the destination can only be an extension on the same IP Office as the user making use of the feature. Follow-Me is typically used when a user is going to be working away from their desk, for example in a workshop. All the call settings the user has on their main phone will apply to calls that follow the follow-me feature, including forward on busy or no answer.
Follow-Me can be set either from the users main phone – Follow-Me To – or from the phone where they want calls to be received – Follow-Me Here. Several people can have their phones forwarded to a follow-me destination and if the phone has a display it will indicate who the call is for.