The best AI agent knows when to stop. The handover to a person is where many operations lose the customer: the conversation lands in the wrong queue, the colleague on vacation gets the message, whoever takes over asks everything again. ChatSense treats handover as part of the product, with departments, per-person schedules, absences and handover notes.
Departments: the agent transfers by topic
A team can be marked as a “department”, with a description of what it handles. The AI agent reads that description and transfers the conversation to the right department according to the customer’s topic. The system, never the agent or the customer, chooses the person inside the department. Under Settings → Team → “Teams and departments” there are suggested templates the administrator can edit.
Who receives the conversation
- First, the customer’s owner (the “portfolio”), if there is one and they are available. The portfolio is available from the Scale plan up.
- If they are on vacation or off, the registered substitute.
- Otherwise, whoever is online, within their schedule and least busy in the department.
- If nobody can, the conversation waits in the department queue.
The agent never promises a deadline and, by default, does not say the name of who will respond, only the department’s. The company can allow the first name under Settings → Team → “Transfer and absences”.
Per-person schedules and absences
On every plan, the company defines for each employee which days and hours they receive conversations, for all departments or a specific one, including night shifts that cross midnight. Outside their schedule, a person gets no new conversation from that department, even when online. When an absence (vacation, day off, leave) begins, open conversations pass automatically to the substitute, and the substitute and the department lead are notified. Without a substitute, conversations stay with the person and the lead or administrators are told to reassign.
Handover note: the customer repeats nothing
Whoever receives the conversation also receives a note summarizing what the customer wants and what has already been answered. Whoever transfers by hand also leaves a note; if they do not write one, the system generates it. The company can require acceptance from the recipient, with a deadline (off by default): the recipient accepts or returns it, and with no answer in time the conversation goes back to the queue. Every assignment, transfer, acceptance and return is recorded in the activity trail.
Rules by topic, and what is Scale and up
The administrator can create rules such as “if the conversation goes to the Tax department and mentions urgent, hand it to the department lead”. They apply to transfers made by a person and by the AI. Departments, handover note, absence with substitute, per-person schedule and topic rules apply to plans that have a team. From the Scale plan up there is also the customer portfolio, the Departments dashboard (queue, load per person, pending acceptances) and per-department SLA, with a warning when 80% of the deadline is used.
Frequently asked questions
Does the agent choose which person responds?
No. The agent chooses the department by topic; the system chooses the person, by portfolio, schedule, availability and load.
Does the customer have to repeat the problem?
No. Whoever receives the conversation gets a handover note summarizing what the customer wants and what has been answered.
What happens if the employee is on vacation?
Open conversations pass to the registered substitute, and the department lead is notified. Without a substitute, they stay with the person and the lead or administrators are told to reassign.
Are the Departments dashboard and SLA on every plan?
No. The portfolio, the Departments dashboard and per-department SLA are from the Scale plan up.
Go further: see how ChatSense works for clinics, law firms; compare it with other tools on the comparison page and check the plans and pricing.
Want to see this working in your business? Book a 30-minute demonstration with the ChatSense team.