Conference forwarding¶

Live handoff

Conference forwarding connects the caller to a person or department. Use it for urgent or human-only situations, not as the default answer to every uncertainty.

The caller should know what is happening, and the agent should recover gracefully if nobody answers.

Conference forwarding lets a voice agent connect the caller to a person or department in a private call conference.

Use it when the agent should hand over a live caller instead of only collecting a message.

When to use forwarding¶

Use forwarding for:

urgent requests,
sales handover,
support escalation,
emergency or on-call workflows,
cases where a human must continue the conversation live.

Do not use forwarding for every call. If a message or follow-up is enough, a simpler workflow is often more reliable.

Forwarding targets¶

Forwarding targets are usually configured as names mapped to phone numbers.

Example:

Sales: +491701234567
Support: +491701234568
Emergency: +491701234569

Use clear target names and reuse those exact names in the agent prompt.

Use real E.164 phone numbers

Phone numbers should include country code, for example +49... or +1....

Direct forwarding vs. screened forwarding¶

Mode	What happens	Best for
Direct forwarding	The recipient is called and connected if they answer.	Simple handovers where the recipient expects calls.
Screened forwarding	The recipient hears a summary and can accept or decline.	Busy teams, sensitive calls, or cases where the recipient needs context first.

Important settings¶

Setting	Meaning	Recommendation
Forwarding information	Names and phone numbers of targets	Keep names short and obvious.
Timeout seconds	How long Nuvoca waits for the recipient	Start with a realistic value such as 20 seconds.
Enable call screening	Recipient can hear a summary before accepting	Enable for teams that need context before joining.
Screening summary prompt	How the call summary is generated for the recipient	Keep it concise and factual.
Announcement prompt	What the recipient hears for direct forwarding	Explain who is calling and why.

Prompt instructions for forwarding¶

The agent prompt must explain when forwarding is allowed.

Example:

Forward the caller to Sales only if the caller explicitly asks to speak with Sales
or if the caller wants to buy and has provided their name and company.

Before forwarding, say:
"I will connect you with Sales now. Please hold for a moment."

Use the conference forwarding target "Sales".

If forwarding fails or no one answers, apologize and collect the caller's name,
phone number, company, and message for follow-up.

Caller experience¶

Before starting a forward, the agent should:

tell the caller what will happen,
confirm if the handover is optional or sensitive,
use a short waiting message,
recover gracefully if nobody answers.

Do not let the caller wait without explanation.

Testing checklist¶

Each target phone number is correct.
Target names match the prompt exactly.
Timeout is long enough for recipients to answer.
Direct forwarding was tested.
Screened forwarding was tested if enabled.
The agent explains the handover before forwarding.
The fallback path works when the recipient does not answer.