Handoff System

The handoff system manages how calls move between agents and from AI to human. It follows a strict three-level escalation model with a core principle: the agent always asks for consent before transferring a call.

Three-Level Escalation

Consent-Based Transfers

Every transfer follows this protocol:

1. The L1 agent detects that the caller needs a specialist (via keyword matching or conversation context)
2. The agent asks the caller for consent: "I'd like to connect you with our support team. Shall I transfer you now?"
3. Only if the caller confirms does the agent initiate the transfer
4. If the caller declines, the agent continues handling the call

This consent requirement is built into the agent's tool configuration. The transfer tools include explicit instructions that the agent must ask before proceeding.

Two Handoff Strategies

Zentrix Agent Studio supports two strategies for L1-to-L2 handoff over phone calls, each suited to different customer tiers:

Strategy 1: Persona Switch (Standard -- Included)

The same AI agent switches its behavior mid-call. Instead of a real transfer, the agent "becomes" the specialist by activating a different set of instructions and knowledge:

• The caller hears no transfer tone -- the transition is seamless
• Context is fully preserved because it is the same underlying call
• No additional phone number or agent instance is required
• Zero extra cost

How it works technically: The agent's system prompt includes instructions for multiple "modes." When it detects a specialist topic, it announces the handoff, pauses briefly, and then responds as the specialist persona using the specialist's knowledge base content.

Caller: "My API keeps returning a 500 error."
Agent (as Receptionist): "I see, that sounds like a technical issue. Let me connect you
    with our technical specialist. One moment please."
[Brief pause]
Agent (now as Tech Support): "Hi, this is Ravi from the technical team. I understand
    you're seeing a 500 error with the API. Can you tell me which endpoint you're calling?"

Strategy 2: Dedicated L2 Agent (Enterprise)

A separate AI agent with its own phone number receives the transferred call. This uses native telephony call transfer:

• The caller hears a brief transfer tone as the call is routed
• The L2 agent is a fully independent agent with its own prompt, voice, and knowledge base
• Requires an additional phone number (Rs 1,499/mo or BYON)
• The telephony provider charges for both call legs (double telephony cost)

Best for enterprise customers who want true agent separation and independent scaling.

Context Preservation

When a call is transferred (either strategy), the receiving persona or agent gets context about the conversation so far:

Persona Switch: Context is inherently preserved because it is the same underlying AI conversation. The specialist mode has access to everything discussed in the L1 phase.

Dedicated L2: Before transferring, the L1 agent calls a log_escalation_reason tool that sends a summary to your server. This summary includes:

• Reason for the transfer (e.g., "technical issue with API integration")
• Conversation summary -- what was discussed, the caller's name, issue details
• Caller issue category -- a brief classification

The L2 agent's greeting then references this context: "I understand you were transferred because of an API issue. Let me take a look at that for you."

Hold Experience

During a transfer (Dedicated L2 strategy), the caller experiences a brief hold:

1. The L1 agent announces the transfer and says goodbye
2. There is a hold period (approximately 10 seconds) while the call routes
3. The L2 agent picks up with its own greeting, acknowledging the transfer

The web widget shows a visual hold screen with a countdown during this period.

L3 Human Escalation

When AI cannot resolve the issue -- or when the caller explicitly asks to speak to a person -- the agent escalates to L3:

1. The agent says: "I'd like to connect you with our support team. Shall I transfer you now?"
2. Upon confirmation, it calls the transfer_to_support tool
3. The voice platform uses the telephony network's native transfer_call to route the call to the human phone number configured in your agent settings (escalationPhone)
4. The human operator answers a regular phone call

The escalationPhone is set per agent instance during setup. It can be a direct line, a call center number, or a mobile number.

Preventing Circular Transfers

The routing configuration includes a max_transfers_per_call setting (default: 3). After reaching this limit, any further transfer attempts automatically route to L3 human escalation instead of another AI agent. This prevents scenarios where agents pass a caller back and forth indefinitely.

Monitoring Handoffs

All transfers are logged in the call_transfers table with:

• Source and target agent instances
• Transfer reason
• Conversation context at the time of transfer
• Timestamp

Review transfer data in your analytics dashboard to identify patterns -- for example, if 40% of calls are transferred from Receptionist to CS, consider adjusting your Receptionist's knowledge base to handle more support queries directly.

A Product by BRTNeura Technology LLP