View the communication panel
Omnichannel for Customer Service offers a suite of capabilities that extend the power of Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise to enable organizations to instantly connect and engage with their customers across digital messaging channels. An additional license is required to access Omnichannel for Customer Service. For more information, see the Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing overview and Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing plan pages.
The communication panel displays messages that you and your customer exchange during your conversation.In the communication panel, you can:
- Send quick replies.
- Search for and share knowledge articles with the customer with whom you're interacting.
- Transfer the conversation (work item) to another agent or queue.
- Consult with others if you need help to resolve the work item.
- Switch between internal and public mode to send messages to internal participants (other agents or supervisors).
Use keyboard commands
You can use the communication panel options or keyboard commands to switch between public-facing and internal messages, get quick replies, show your customer a relevant knowledge article, consult with other agents, or transfer work items.
The following keyboard commands are available in the communication panel.
| Option | Description | Command |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Send public messages | /p |
| Internal | Send messages to internal users | /i |
| Quick replies | Send messages based on templates | /q |
| Knowledge articles | Search for and share knowledge articles | /kb |
| Consult | View a list of others you can consult with | /c |
| Transfer | View a list of agents or queues to transfer the conversation to | /t and /tq |
Note
You can't play MP4 video files in the communication panel. To play videos, we recommend that you download the video files.
Internal and public messages
With the communication panel, you can send messages in two ways: Internal and Public.
When you want to send messages only to internal participants, like other agents or supervisors, use the Internal option. These internal messages won't be shown to the customers.
When you want to send messages to all participants in the conversation, including the customer, use the Public option.
You can use keyboard commands to alternate between sending internal and public messages:
Internal: Enter /i to send an internal message that only agents or supervisors can see.
Public: Enter /p to send a public message to all the participants who are interacting in the conversation.
You can change the mode while you're in the conversation. For example, if you're in Public mode and you enter /i, the mode will change to Internal.
Send quick replies in the chat
You can send messages that were created based on templates to the customer with whom you're interacting. These messages are stored as quick replies. Select Quick replies to retrieve and send a message to the customers.
You can also enter the keyboard command /q to see the list of quick replies.
Search for specific messages
After you enter /q in the communication panel messaging area, continue by typing any keywords and if the Quick replies library has at least one message associated with the words, the message will be displayed.
Search for and share knowledge articles
From the communication panel, you can open the knowledge article search control by selecting the knowledge articles option. You can also enter the keyboard command /kb to open knowledge article search.
After opening knowledge article search, you can search for relevant knowledge articles based on the context of your session and you can share articles with customers through the communication panel. Select the Send link button to share the knowledge article link. More information: Search for knowledge articles
Consult with an agent or supervisor
You can consult with other agents or your supervisors. Select Consult to invite your colleagues.
You can also enter the keyboard command /c to see the list of the supervisors or agents who are available for consultation.
Note
We recommend that you invite no more than five consulting agents when conversing with the customer.
Search for a specific agent
After you enter /c, you can continue typing the name of a participant you'd like to consult with. If the participant is present, the name is displayed.
Transfer the conversation
You can transfer the conversation (work item) either to an agent or a queue.
You can transfer a conversation only to agents who are configured in the same work stream and queue. If the conversation belongs to another queue, when you transfer the request, routing rules assign the conversation (work item) to the appropriate agent in the queue.
To see the list of agents or supervisors who are available to transfer the conversation to, enter /t.
To see the list of queues you can transfer the conversation to, enter /tq.
When skill-based routing is enabled, the Transfer flyout shows users sorted in order of matching skills.
Search for specific agents or queues
Enter /t or /tq followed by the name of a participant or queue. If the participant or queue is present, the name is displayed.
See also
Introduction to the agent interface in Omnichannel for Customer Service
View customer summary and know everything about customers
View customer summary for an incoming conversation request
Create a record
Search for records
Link and unlink a record
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