One number/account, multiple users answering

Question

Here's what I would like to set up for my business:
- A button on my business website that says "contact us now on Skype"
- Clicking that button activates a call or a chat session to a Skype account for my business
- That call or chat will be answered by whichever of my three colleagues are online at the time
I have searched high and low across the Skype website and forums, but haven't found anything like this. Did I miss it?
I realize I could just link it to one single Skype username, but what happens when that person is offline? It would be great if it could go to a single account that is accessed by multiple users, any of which could pick up the call/chat.

Answer 1

keinkohle wrote:
Thanks for the suggestion! Pretty May looks pretty good.
However, they unfortunately don't support Skype messaging. It would be great if customers could just type a quick message, that could be received then answered by one of three staff members.
Anyone heard of anything that can do that?
I am assuming you are expecting these end-users to send these messages to you via Skype?
While this can be done, it would require that you have a computer somewhere dedicated to be running a Skype client and another 3rd party program at all times.
The 3rd party program is a free program I created that does call transfer automatically, called SCTE ("Skype Call Transfer Example").
Inside the Lower text box named "Or Enter "ONE" Skype name or Phone #, you can actually enter as many Skype names and/or phone numbers as you wish, seperating them by a comma.
Example: SkypeName1,[phone],SkypeName2,SkypeName3,[phone]
NOTE: Any phone numbers must have a leading (+) sign.
By checking the checkbox "Auto Transfer" any inbound call will be attempted to be transfered to ALL of the Skype Names and/or phone numbers listed above. The first one that answers, gets that call.
It's important to define "First One that Answers" by saying, if for example SkypeName2 was offline, but had Skype voicemail activated, then it is possible that the call could end up going to Skype voicemail even when the other Skype names are online or the other phone numbers are ringing if those others don't answer the call quickly. So, that's important to remember.
That said, you can remove phone numbers and Skype names at anytime to avoid any Skype names that are not currently online or any phone numbers where say that office is closed ("Say it's a weekend and nobody will answer the phone or it's a different timezone and that phone won't be answered at this time.").
Many use SCTE for example, for hotlines and on-call methods, as shifts change or offices are closed due to timezone difference, the Skype names and phone numbers are changed and inbound callers are redirected to the current support at that time.
SCTE can even be used by those that answered the call, and they can quickly re-transfer the call to members in custom Skype qroups you can create, or contacts in their contact list because SCTE shows the online status of who is currently available, for example, for questions that maybe the original person who had the call transferred to, can't answer. So they in turn, again transfer the called transferred to them, to someone else.
If the people answering the call are also using SCTE, they can quickly place a call on hold, answer another call, resume a call, end a call and transfer a call again, by simply selecting that call in progress from the SCTE active call window.
SCTE can also be placed in your system startup folder and if the Skype name is set to auto-logon SCTE will start Skype when SCTE starts so that Skype and SCTE are always available as soon as your Windows system starts.
SCTE retains any settings from the last time it was used, so it will always startup with any settings you have set from the last time it was stopped.
More information on SCTE and how it works can be found here:
http://saveontelephoneservices.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=11
The above takes care of calls so now lets deal with Skype Chat options.
Since there is no single entity, for example 1 Skype name that will always be around to answer all Skype Chat message at all times, you could create a Skype Group chat link that can be posted on web pages and in emails, but this would mean everyone can see everyones recent messages ("There are methods to disable prior older Skype Group Chat history, when new people join").
So if for example 2 people are asking questions in the Skype Group Chat, at that same moment in time, then both will see the others questions as well as the responses to those questions.
Once their questions are answered someone given what's known as master privilege abilility specifically to manage this Skype Group Chat can then, kick that person from the Skype chat ("They can always re-join later if needed") to keep the people in the Skype Group Chat, just the ones that have current questions, if needed.
The Skype Group Chat method is the best method for this because then there is no need to have you or the other Skype name(s) add each other as contacts before you can exchange Skype chat messages.
If you did a 1 to 1 Skype chat instead, for example, if that persons Skype name asking the questions had their privacy settings set to ("Contacts Only") you/they would need to exchange/approve contact details before communicating via Skype Chat messages.
Not sure if that's bad or good in your case?
So, you would need to respond, before I go into more details on how to deal with chats because my response will be based on your needs.
About Me You can also use a IP Camera as your camera for Skype video Example Instructions