Assigning Agents and Channels in Teams

In the Microsoft Teams integration, your team members become live chat agents automatically based on their access to the Teams channel where Social Intents is installed. Below we cover how agent assignment works through Teams, how to manage which channels receive chats, and how to organize your team for efficient chat handling.

How Agents Work in Teams

Unlike standalone live chat platforms that require you to create individual agent accounts, Social Intents uses your existing Teams membership. Anyone who has access to the channel where Social Intents posts chat invitations can act as an agent.

When a visitor starts a chat on your website:

1. Social Intents sends a chat invitation to your configured Teams channel
2. All members of that channel see the notification
3. Any member can click to join and respond to the visitor
4. The agent who joins first becomes the primary responder

There is no separate agent provisioning step. If someone is in the channel, they can answer chats.

Choosing the Right Channel

The channel you select during setup determines which team members see incoming chats. Choose your channel based on who should respond:

Creating a Dedicated Channel

If you do not already have one, create a channel specifically for live chat:

1. In Microsoft Teams, right-click on your team name and select Add channel
2. Name it something clear like Bate-papo ao vivo ou Website Support
3. Set the privacy to Standard (all team members) or Private (specific members only)
4. Add the relevant team members to the channel

Then update your Social Intents widget settings to point to this new channel.

Changing the Default Channel

To change which channel receives incoming chats:

Managing Agent Availability

Social Intents respects your widget's online/offline schedule, but individual agent availability is managed through Teams presence:

• Available (green) - The agent is active and can respond to chats
• Away/Busy - The agent is still in the channel and will see notifications, but may not respond immediately
• Offline - The agent is not signed into Teams

If no agents respond to a chat invitation, the visitor will see your configured offline message after the timeout period.

Multiple Widgets, Multiple Channels

You can create multiple widgets in Social Intents, each pointing to a different Teams channel. This is useful when you have separate chat widgets on different websites or different sections of the same website:

• Widget A (marketing site) → routes to #conversa-de-vendas channel
• Widget B (support portal) → routes to #support-chat channel
• Widget C (product app) → routes to #product-help channel

Each widget has its own code snippet, appearance settings, and AI chatbot configuration.

Joining and Transferring Chats

Joining a Chat

When a chat invitation appears in your Teams channel, it includes the visitor's name (if provided), the page they are on, and their initial message. Click the join button to start responding. The visitor sees a notification that an agent has joined.

Transferring a Chat

If a chat needs to go to a different agent or department, you can transfer it. The chat is handed off to the target agent or channel, and the conversation history carries over so the new agent has context.

Multiple Agents in One Chat

Multiple agents can participate in the same chat. This is useful when a question requires input from different team members - for example, a sales question that needs technical confirmation.

Agent Roles and Permissions

In the Teams integration, agent roles are primarily managed through Teams channel membership rather than through Social Intents role settings:

• Channel members - Can join chats, respond to visitors, and transfer conversations
• Channel owners - Same chat capabilities, plus control over who is in the channel
• Social Intents admin - The account owner can manage widget settings, AI configuration, billing, and reporting through the Social Intents dashboard

Best Practices

• Use a dedicated channel - Mixing live chat notifications with other team discussions makes it easy to miss incoming chats
• Enable notifications - Make sure channel notification settings in Teams are set to alert agents about new messages
• Set response expectations - Use the widget's timeout message to let visitors know typical response times
• Use private channels for sensitive topics - If your support team handles confidential information, use a private channel that only authorized team members can access
• Combine with AI chatbots - An AI chatbot can handle common questions instantly, reducing the load on your team and ensuring visitors get immediate help even when agents are busy

Perguntas frequentes

Can I limit which team members can answer chats?

Yes. Use a private Teams channel and add only the team members who should handle live chats. Only members of the channel will see incoming chat invitations.

Do agents need separate Social Intents accounts?

No. With the Teams integration, agents do not need individual Social Intents accounts. They respond to chats through the Teams interface using their existing Teams identity.

Can I see which agent handled a chat?

Yes. The Social Intents dashboard and reporting features show which agent joined each chat, response times, and chat outcomes.

What happens if two agents try to join the same chat?

The first agent to join becomes the primary responder. A second agent can also join the chat to assist, but the visitor will see both agent names.

Next Steps

• Escalation Routing in Teams - Route chats to specific channels by topic
• Using AI Chatbots with Teams - Add AI to handle questions automatically
• Troubleshooting Teams Integration - Fix common connection issues