Automatic voice call API and Telegram alerts
Some calls say the same thing every time, and some problems need a supervisor now. Halo's automatic voice call API lets your systems place calls that play a recorded message, and Telegram alerts tell the right people when the floor needs attention.
Automatic calls and alerts
What you get
The Callout API is for calls your systems can place on their own, such as reminders. Telegram alerts are for the moments a person has to act. Both run on the same Halo server as your call center.
Calls that play a recorded message
Your systems place automatic calls through the Callout API, and each call plays a recorded message. Key presses and dynamic content in automatic calls are not in v1.
Limits, retries and allowed hours
Each API key has its own limits. Calls that fail are retried, and calls are placed only within the hours you allow.
Signed webhooks and duplicate protection
Signed webhooks let your system check that a message really came from Halo. Duplicate protection stops the same request from calling a customer twice.
Agents keep their lines
A channel reservation on your Ethio Telecom SIP trunk means automatic calls never block agents.
Telegram alerts that escalate
Alerts arrive in Telegram with a severity, acknowledge and mute buttons, escalation ladders and a daily summary. If Telegram is blocked, an in-app incidents page shows them inside Halo.
An alert when too few agents are ready
Supervisors get an alert when fewer than 2 agents are ready in a queue for 5 minutes in open hours, and a critical alert when no agent is logged in.
How it works on a busy day
At 11:00 your order system asks Halo to call 40 customers whose orders leave after lunch. Each customer hears the same recorded reminder in Amharic. Customers who do not pick up are retried later, within the allowed hours you set. A fault in the order system sends one request twice, and duplicate protection stops the second call.
While the reminders go out, agents keep taking calls on “Orders”, because the channel reservation keeps lines free for them.
At 12:30 only one agent is ready in “Orders”. After 5 minutes Halo sends a Telegram alert to Samuel Kebede, the supervisor. He presses acknowledge and calls two agents back from their break. If he had not acknowledged it, the escalation ladder would have taken the alert to the next person.
Facts
- Automatic calls
- Play a recorded message
- Not in v1
- Key presses or dynamic content in automatic calls
- API controls
- Per-key limits, retries, allowed hours
- Safety
- Signed webhooks and duplicate protection
- Agent lines
- Channel reservation so automatic calls never block agents
- Alerts
- Telegram, with severities, escalation ladders, acknowledge and mute
- If Telegram is blocked
- In-app incidents page
- Too few agents
- Alert when fewer than 2 are ready for 5 minutes in open hours
Questions about automatic calls and alerts
Can callers press keys during an automatic call?
Not in v1. Automatic calls play a recorded message, such as a reminder or a notice. Key presses and dynamic content, like reading out an amount or a name, are not part of the first version. Answering-machine detection and a campaign or predictive dialer are not in v1 either.
Will automatic calls block our agents?
No. Halo keeps a channel reservation on your Ethio Telecom SIP trunk, so automatic calls never block agents. Agents keep taking and making calls while a batch of reminders goes out. Read more about the Ethio Telecom SIP trunk setup.
What if Telegram is blocked?
Halo also has an in-app incidents page. If Telegram is blocked, supervisors still see incidents inside Halo and can work from there. In Telegram, alerts come with acknowledge and mute buttons and a daily summary.
Do alerts show our customers' phone numbers?
No. Telegram alerts show masked numbers only. The full call history stays on your Halo server, on a server for your company alone.
Can alerts come by SMS or email?
Not in v1. Alerts go to Telegram, with an in-app incidents page for when Telegram is blocked. Alerts by SMS or email are outside the first version of Halo.
Related features
Where this matters most: Delivery and logistics. See how Halo is priced on the pricing page.