By using the Virtual Front Desk (VFD), companies can provide live assistance to visitors and traveling employees via video call. This is a great way to support locations that might not have a full-time staffed front desk. The VFD can work at any Envoy location you pair a kiosk to, so there's no limit to the number of locations you can support virtually.
You'll need a VFD license for each enabled location. These locations do not need to be active Visitors locations. Learn more about Virtual Front Desk billing.
How it works
Visitors will be able to call for assistance by using the iPad. Once enabled, a Call for assistance button will appear on your kiosk.
When the Call for assistance button is pressed, a video call will be initiated, connecting your visitor to the designated admin or team. Your admin or team will receive a notification with instructions on how to join the call. By clicking on the link in the notification, they'll enter the call and be able to assist your guest!
As an admin, you can choose whether to have your audio and video on. For the best experience, we recommend both! Your visitor's kiosk will always have audio and video on.
To end the call, the visitor or admin can just click/tap on the End call button! The screen will then change to confirm that the call has been disconnected.
To enable
Navigate to Global overview > Virtual front desk.
You'll see a list of locations and how many kiosks are paired.
Select the employee, channel (Slack), or group chat (MS Teams) to receive call notifications for each location. Employees can serve as a virtual receptionist for multiple locations if desired.
For individual employee notifications, they must have logged into Envoy at least once and have a verified account.
For slack channel notifications, please follow the setup instructions.
Once you have a virtual receptionist assigned, toggle ON the switch under Enable.
Pair a kiosk if your location does not already have one paired. Learn more about pairing a Virtual front desk kiosk.
To change the assignee, just click on the ✏️ symbol and make the necessary changes, then click Save.
Notification Settings
You can set the default notification settings for your team under Global Overview > Virtual Front Desk > Settings.
Currently, the notification methods available are:
Email
SMS
Slack
an individual user
a channel
Microsoft teams
an individual user
a group chat
Users must still enable their personal notification preferences to receive the VFD calls. Learn more about notification preferences.
Notifying a Slack channel
Instead of notifying a single individual, you can use Slack to notify an entire channel! This helps ensure your calls are answered promptly. Here's how:
In order to use this feature, you need to re-authorize the Envoy slack app.
Navigate to Apps > Slack and click Configure.
Click on Step 2, Connect to Slack. Click on Connect account to open a new window.
This will launch a pop-up. Click on Allow to re-authorize the Envoy app.
Click through the remainder of the steps, then Complete setup.
Create a new channel in Slack or use an existing channel. Remember - all members of the channel will be able to answer calls made on your kiosk.
In Slack, add the Envoy app to your channel under Channel details > Integrations > Add an App. Click Add next to the Envoy app.
Once the Envoy app is added to the channel, send the command
/envoy-virtual-front-desk. You should receive a message stating whether or not the command is successful.Now, you only need to add the slack channel as the notification method on your location(s) within Envoy. Navigate back to the Global Overview > Virtual front desk > Locations.
Using the dropdown under Who to notify, select Slack channel. Click on Choose a Slack channel and begin typing your channel. If installed correctly, you should see your vfd-enabled channels! Select the channel you wish to notify. Remember to Save.
You can only notify one channel per location, but you can add the same channel to multiple locations.
Notifying a Teams Group chat
Instead of notifying a single individual, you can use Teams to notify a group chat! This helps ensure your calls are answered promptly. Note: You'll need to have Envoy version Version 2.1 + to use this feature.
Here's how:
Create a new group chat in Teams or use an existing group chat. Remember - all group members will be able to answer calls made from your kiosk.
In Teams, navigate to Apps > Envoy.
Click the Envoy Icon to open the app details in a pop-up. Next to the Open button, click the dropdown and select Add to a chat.
Type the name of your Teams group chat and select it from the dropdown. After selecting, click Set up a bot.
Now, you only need to add the teams group chat as the notification method on your location(s) within Envoy. Navigate back to the Global Overview > Virtual front desk > Locations.
Using the dropdown under Who to notify, select Teams channel. Click on Choose a Teams channel and begin typing your group chat name. If installed correctly, you should see your vfd-enabled groups!
Select the channel you wish to notify and click Save.
Answering a call from a visitor is easy - just click the link to connect with your guest directly!
The call will open in a browser window, so virtual receptionists do not need to have Envoy Mobile installed or log in to the Envoy dashboard. However, it's best to easily access Envoy to view a Visitor's invite or see if their host is onsite using the employee log.
The call can be answered on a computer, mobile phone, or tablet! The only technical requirement is that your browser has access to your microphone and camera. You will be connected using your device's default browser.
Call timed out
Admin
If the call isn't answered in time, it will expire. Receptionists will see a Call timed out screen when clicking a link after a minute.
Visitor
On the kiosk, the screen will default to an error state explaining that team members are not available to take the call.
Connectivity issues
If your iPad kiosk or answering device has internet issues, the call will drop and display an error screen on both devices.
Admin
Visitor
Can anyone with the link answer a call?
Yes, anyone with access to the call link can answer the active call on their device. They do not need to be logged into Envoy to do this.
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