The novomind iAGENT Desk is the web based backend interface, via which the customer service agent communicates with the customer/client.
This chapter is intended to provide an initial overview of the novomind iAGENT Chat. Individual functionality will be discussed in detail in the following chapters.
The user interface can be divided into seven areas – as shown in the following diagram:
- Chat Input Area
- Chat history & chat details
- Chat tools – text modules, knowledge base, notes etc.
- Chat list (Chat Chart) – list of active chats
- Central button bar – logout, break, individual settings
- Novomind applications – Change to Mail oder Call mode, Search
- Status bar for short messages to the user (“new chat”, “you won’t receive new chats” etc.)
In the upper part of the window, in area 4, the chat channels are shown in table format. Each chat occupies one channel. A chat will remain visible in the channel until it is closed by the agent. Once a customer is transferred to an agent, the relevant chat will appear in the first free channel. When a chat channel is selected, all other dialogue windows are updated and the relevant chat content is displayed. Overall, the chat channel overview helps the agent to keep up with incoming chats, and to react to customer requests in a timely manner, as the status display keeps them up to date with the most recent action, the duration of a chat, and the current status of chats, while they processes a different chat.
Area 2 contains detailed information regarding the chat. The history of the current chat conversation is displayed here. There are two chat history looks:
1. Text view (aka “old chat look”): In this mode, the chat dialogue is displayed as a plain text list. The questions of the customer appear in red, the answers of the agent in black letters. System messages are labelled with an (i) icion.
2. Chat bubbles (aka “new chat look”): The chat messages are displayed in bubbles, the agent messages on the right, the customer messages on the left, system messages in the middle. Pictures and smileys are displayed with a preview directly in the chat history. Other documents will be displayed as a clickable link. Clicking on the document link triggers the browser-specific function for opening/viewing this document type.
To switch between these two views the chat view button is used (area 5, top right next to the search button).
If a customer is a known contact and has previously made chats, then their chat history will be visible in this area. The chat history can be seen above the current chat and is visually separated from it. Initially, only the last chats are loaded and displayed, but when the agent scrolls up, the older chats are also loaded and displayed. See pictures above.
The transaction codes of a chat and the sending of pushlinks can also be found in the chat history.
Chat history view options (since Version 12.23): Besides the looks there are 3 different view options for the chat history: You can choose to display the actual messages only (Simple chat history), add the system messages (Detailed chat history) or display only the system messages (System chat history). The latter option is useful if you need to find a certain system message quickly. You can switch between these view options by clicking the so called toggle switch icon in the upper right corner of the chat history.
| Detailed Chat History | Simple Chat History | System Chat History |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
All pages visited by the customer during the chat are logged under Visited Pages (depending on the system’s configuration, the displayed visited pages are not available).
The tab Info provides additional information about the client and its system environment; in this example: the id and the WhatsApp account of the chat.
The type and amount of data may however vary depending on installation. The tab may for example also include data provided by the customer when logging on to the chat.
The data displayed in the tab CRM is optional, and is meant for additional customer data provided by an external CRM system.
The window at the bottom right (area 1) is the Chat input area, agent response area, the agent formulates their answers in. Text formatting is not available but the agent has the option to include content from text modules, links, and response templates from the knowledge base. The message is then sent to the customer by clicking Send.
The central window on the left (area 4) contains predefined knowledge, which the agent can use for their chat with the customer. This area contains text modules and pushlinks. Text modules are predefined text massages which are defined in the iAGENT Supervisor and made available to all agents because of their high reusability. Pushlinks are a type of text component which leads the chat participants directly to the required website. The address from the pushlink will be opened in a new window at the customer.
Furthermore, knowledge bases can be integrated into the novomind iAGENT Chat system on administrator level. The agent then has the option to research terminology and topics in the tab Knowledgebase, and use the results for their consultation of the customer or even send response templates from the knowledge base to the client directly.
The uppermost area (5) of novomind iAGENT Desk includes a central button bar and the name of the currently logged in user.
The Novomind Application bar (area 6) enables you to switch between Mail, Chat and Call application if the specific rights are provided. You can also start searches using the magnifying glass icon or open the manual by clicking the question mark.
For incoming chats, the chat type will be signaled to the agent by different symbols in novomind iAGENT Desk:
Regular Chat, Web Chat:
Forwarded Chat:
Depending on the chat type and the configuration of the chat frontend, additional details will display when the mouse cursor is hovered over the novomind iAGENT Chat tab:
- Category
- Customer name
- PIN
- Forwarding agent
A special button is available for refreshing the agent user interface (reload button, left side, next to iAGENT Desk caption). A click on this button will reload the page in the browser from scratch.
The current network status and the agent status Ready is displayed permanently in the status area of iAGENT Chat.
Agents can be assigned to an individual time zone. This enables the date and time to be displayed in the relevant time zone throughout the user interface (e.g. when chatting) – configured for the user via the iAGENT Supervisor.
The novomind iAGENT user interface can be used in Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.