Introduction to AI-to-Human Handoff in Zowie

Zowie's handoff system enables seamless transitions from AI Agent conversations to human agents when a customer query requires human intervention. This essential functionality bridges automated service with human expertise, ensuring customer issues are resolved efficiently.

Handoffs in Zowie serve as a crucial connection point between automated conversations and human-assisted support. They enable organizations to:

• Direct ticket traffic intelligently from AI Agents to human agents
• Create differentiated customer experiences based on working hours, channels, and query types
• Maintain conversation context when transferring between systems
• Optimize agent workload through strategic routing

A well-configured handoff process ensures customers receive timely, appropriate assistance while maximizing the efficiency of your support operations.

Supported Customer Service Platforms

CS = Customer Success team at Zowie

Best Practices for Handoff Optimization

When to Create Separate Handovers

Create different handovers for:

1. Regions and languages: Different teams working in different time zones or supporting different languages
2. Subject or team expertise: Specialized teams handling specific types of inquiries
3. Channels: Different working hours or experiences across communication channels

Rule of thumb for handover creation:

Understanding Handovers vs. Schedules vs. Out of Office

Before diving into configuration, it's important to understand Zowie's key handoff-related components:

• Handovers: Control where tickets go and what messages are sent when AI-to-human transitions occur
• Schedules: Define when your support teams are available (working hours)
• Out of Office: Special time periods that override regular schedules (holidays, etc.)

The relationship between these components is summarized in this table:

Quick Start Guide: Setting Up Handoffs

Recommended Steps:

1. Plan your handoff strategy - Decide how to differentiate handovers across regions, subjects, and channels
2. Create Schedules - Set up working hours in Availability > Schedules before creating handovers
3. Create Handovers - Navigate to AI Agent > Modules > Handover and click "Create new"
4. Configure General settings - Select schedules and set messages for during/outside working hours
5. Set up Advanced options - Configure automated notifications and user confirmations
6. Configure Routing - Direct ticket flow to appropriate destinations based on channels
7. Save and test - Enable the handover by saving your configuration and test the workflow

Detailed Step-by-Step Handoff Configuration Process

Accessing Handoff Settings

1. Navigate to Modules → Handovers in the AI Agent menu
2. View your existing handovers or create a new one by clicking Create new

Creating and Managing Handovers

Handovers can be accessed through AI Agent → Modules → Handovers. From this screen, you can:

• Create, Duplicate or Delete Handovers: Access and manage your list of handovers
• View and configure handover settings organized into three tabs:
  • General: Set working hours and messages
  • Advanced: Configure special scenarios and notifications
  • Routing: Control ticket destination and queue assignment

Configuring General Settings

The General tab allows you to:

1. Set Standard Working Hours:
   • Select a Schedule that defines your agents' availability
   • Choose from existing schedules in the dropdown menu
2. Configure Standard Replies:
   • Set different messages for during and outside of working hours
   • Create message templates that explain availability to customers
3. Add Out of Office Periods:
   • Link to special time periods when support is unavailable
   • Override regular working hours for holidays and special events

Setting Up Advanced Options

The Advanced tab offers specialized automation options:

1. Message after successful handover:
   • Send follow-up messages when users connect with agents
2. Request confirmation:
   • Ask users to confirm they want to speak with an agent
3. Email notifications:
   • Send email alerts when messages arrive outside working hours
4. Agent is unresponsive:
   • Notify users when agents haven't taken action
5. User is unresponsive:
   • Alert inactive users before closing their tickets
6. Waiting in queue confirmation:
   • Keep users informed about their position in the queue
7. Respond before handover is disabled:
   • Confirm user is ready to respond before working hours end
8. Confirm waiting in snooze:
   • Message snoozed users to confirm they're still active

Configuring Routing Rules

The Routing tab determines where tickets go based on their source:

1. Default Routing:
   • Set general rules for all platforms without specific configurations
   • Select destination (Zowie Inbox or external system)
   • Choose the appropriate queue
2. Exceptions:
   • Create channel-specific routing rules
   • Configure different destinations for channels like Facebook or Instagram
   • Assign tickets to specialized queues based on source

For Meta Channels (Facebook, Instagram), you have additional options:

• Send to Zowie Inbox
• Send to external customer service desk
• Send to Meta Business Suite

Managing Schedules

Schedules define when your teams are available and should be configured before setting up handovers:

1. Navigate to Availability → Schedules
2. Click Create new to add a new schedule
3. Configure:
   • Time zone: Select the time zone your agents work in
   • Time frames: Set days and hours of availability
   • Add multiple time frames for different days if needed

Best practices for schedule management:

• Create separate schedules when teams:
  • Operate across different time zones
  • Have different working hours
  • Support different channels with varying availability
  • Handle automated handovers (24/7 availability)

For simpler maintenance, use as few schedules as possible while still meeting your operational needs.

Setting Up Out of Office Periods

For holidays and special events, configure Out of Office periods:

1. Navigate to Availability → Out of Office
2. Click Create new to add a new out-of-office period
3. Configure:
   • Name: Identify the special period (e.g., "Christmas Holiday")
   • Time zone: Select the applicable time zone
   • Time frames: Set the date range when support is unavailable
   • Replies: Create custom messages for this period

Zowie Inbox Handoff Setup

When routing tickets to Zowie Inbox:

1. In the Routing tab, select Zowie Inbox as the destination
2. Choose the appropriate queue from the dropdown menu
3. Ensure agents are assigned to the selected queue in Zowie Inbox

To optimize internal routing:

• Create specialized queues based on expertise or inquiry type
• Use the "into" field to select the appropriate queue
• Configure queue assignments in Zowie Inbox separately

External Help Desk Integration

Zowie supports handoffs to various external help desk systems:

Zendesk Integration

Important Notice: To use Zendesk for live chat integration while maintaining full Zowie widget functionality, you must have either a Zendesk Sunshine Conversations subscription or Zendesk Enterprise License. This integration is not compatible with lower-tier Zendesk licenses.

1. Obtain the Zendesk Account Key from your Zendesk Chat console
   • To find your Account Key, log into Zendesk Chat admin center
   • Navigate to Settings → Account → Account API
   • You'll find your Account Key listed there
   • You can also access it directly at: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408825772698-How-do-I-find-my-Chat-Account-Key-
2. Add the key to your Zowie widget code
3. Configure the handover:
   • Go to Modules → Handovers and select your handover
   • In Routing settings, select source and set to “ID” and provide your Zendesk ID.
   • You can specify the queue thought the “into” field settings

The widget code should look like this, with your Zendesk Account Key highlighted:

<script type="text/javascript">
  (function(d, s, id, cb) {
    var js = d.createElement(s);
    var n = d.createElement('div');
    n.id = id;
    if (js.readyState) {js.onreadystatechange = function() {if (js.readyState === "loaded" || js.readyState === "complete") {js.onreadystatechange = null; cb();};}
    } else {js.onload = function(){cb();};}
    js.src = "https://live-chat.chatbotize.com/chatbotize-entrypoint.min.js";
    document.body.appendChild(js);
    document.body.appendChild(n);
  })(document, 'script', 'chatbotize', function() {
    Chatbotize.init({
      instanceId: "fd89fa429ca641258e232d3f8e5deed0",
      startOnOpen: true,
      headerMode: "white",
      zendeskAccountKey: "HKhgueodkejBfrju9j4j48fej3kSSF8"  // Your Zendesk Account Key goes here
    });
  });
</script>

Note that you need to replace the zendeskAccountKey value with your actual Zendesk Account Key.

Gorgias Integration

1. In Gorgias, go to Settings → Integrations → Chat
2. Create a dedicated chat widget for Zowie
3. Copy the "applicationId" from the installation code
4. Add the Gorgias application ID to your Zowie Widget code as shown below:

<script type="text/javascript">
  (function(d, s, id, cb) {
    var js = d.createElement(s);
    var n = d.createElement('div');
    n.id = id;
    if (js.readyState) {js.onreadystatechange = function() {if (js.readyState === "loaded" || js.readyState === "complete") {js.onreadystatechange = null; cb();};}
    } else {js.onload = function(){cb();};}
    js.src = "https://live-chat.chatbotize.com/chatbotize-entrypoint.min.js";
    document.body.appendChild(js);
    document.body.appendChild(n);
  })(document, 'script', 'chatbotize', function() {
    Chatbotize.init({
      instanceId: "fd89fa429ca641258e232d3f8e5deed0",
      startOnOpen: true,
      headerMode: "white",
      gorgiasApplicationId: "YOUR_GORGIAS_APPLICATION_ID"  // Your Gorgias Application ID goes here
    });
  });
</script>

5. In your Handover module Routing settings replace, replace Zowie Inbox value with ID pointing to Gorgias.

Other Supported Platforms

Zowie also supports integrations with:

• Thulium
• Intercom
• LiveChat
• Meta Business Suite
• Salesforce

Each integration requires specific configuration steps detailed in their respective integration guides. Contact your customer's access managers for details.

Advanced Routing with Survey Module

For more sophisticated routing needs, you can leverage the Survey module in conjunction with handovers to collect additional information before routing tickets to appropriate agents or queues.

Using Surveys for Enhanced Routing

The Survey module allows you to:

• Collect detailed information from customers before handoff
• Gather context that helps agents provide more efficient service
• Automatically create tickets in external systems with collected information
• Route conversations based on user responses

Configuring Survey-Based Routing

1. Create a Survey - Navigate to Modules > Survey
2. Configure Survey Questions - Set up questions to gather relevant routing information
3. Connect Survey to Handover - In the "Initialize module after the survey" section, select the appropriate handover
4. Set Up Integration - Configure the survey to send data to your customer service system:
   • Zowie Inbox tickets with collected information
   • External system tickets (Zendesk, LiveChat, Intercom, etc.)
   • Email notifications with form responses

Survey Response Types for Routing

You can use various response types to gather routing information:

• Text responses for open-ended issues
• Single choice options for categorizing inquiries
• Multiple choice for complex issue categorization
• Email capture for offline follow-up
• File/image uploads for visual context

Integration with External Systems

Survey data can be sent to various platforms to create properly categorized tickets:

• Zendesk Support (with custom field mapping)
• Zendesk Sell (for sales-related inquiries)
• LiveChat
• Intercom
• Custom webhooks

Using surveys before handoffs provides a powerful way to ensure tickets are directed to the right teams with all necessary context, improving resolution times and customer satisfaction.