Idle detection in desktop chat agent apps

Idle detection feature allows switching your live chat agent app to "away" mode if there has been no activity for X minutes on your computer, if a screensaver is activated or if you lock your computer. All these options are available for the desktop application and can be enabled in Options / General menu of the app.

Here are several cases showing how useful the idle detection feature is

• Your agents often forget to log out of their apps. With idle detection feature the app will switch to "away" status in X minutes of computer inactivity. Your agents can define the time of inactivity individually depending of their workflow. In "away" status the agent will appear offline and will not receive chat requests from visitors.
• Your agents are used to screensaver which turns on automatically or they enable it manually if they step away from their workstations. When the option "Show me as away when screensaver is active" is enabled, agent app will switch to away mode automatically without additional actions from the agents' side. In this case they will not get chat requests while being away from their computers.
• Your agents lock their computers when they have important phone calls or need to step away. In this case if the option "Show me as away when my computer is locked" is enabled, the agent app will switch to away status automatically once your agents lock their computers.

Possible issues

• Online account suddenly goes offline. By default idle detection is enabled in all agent apps. The time period is set to 15 minutes there. If there has been no activity for 15 minutes the app will switch to away mode. And in case there is one agent available, the account will be offline and the chat button will switch to offline status. To prevent this from happening ask your agent either to disable this feature or to increase the time period.
• The agent is in away status after logging into agent app. This happens if an options "Show me as away when I log into" is enabled in the agent app. By default it is disabled but it could be enabled either by mistake or the agent forgot about it.

We hope this information will help you take the most out of idle detection feature and will make your live chat workflow smooth and efficient.