The Contact Center section brings together multiple ways to communicate with your customers, including social media, messaging apps, email, and phone calls. All customer inquiries go directly to Bitrix24, where they can be assigned to employees. This ensures nothing is missed, and customers get faster responses. This article answers some of the most common questions about the Contact Center.

In this article:

• Which messengers and social networks can be connected
• How to create an Open Channel
• How many Open Channels can be created
• How enquiries are distributed among employees
• What are the conversation limits per agent
• How many agents can be added to a queue
• Where chat history is stored and how to delete it
• How to delete an Open Channel
• How to prevent enquiries from going to unavailable agents
• How to enable customer service quality ratings in chats
• How to create canned responses for agents in Open Channels
• How to set access permissions in the Contact Center
• How to transfer a conversation to another agent
• What to do when customers message outside business hours
• How to track which channels bring in more customers and evaluate agent performance

Which messengers and social networks can be connected

In the Contact Center, you can connect:

• Live chat
• Telegram
• Viber
• Apple Messages for Business
• Edna.io WhatsApp
• WhatsApp
• Bitrix24.Network
• Instant WhatsApp
• Facebook
• Instagram

You can also add communication channels by installing apps from the Bitrix24 Market.
Bitrix24 Market overview

How to create an Open Channel

1. Go to CRM.
2. Click Customers.
3. Select Contact center.
4. Choose the channel you want to connect.
5. Click Create Open Channel.
6. Click Configure to access the Open Channel settings.

Create and configure Open Channels

How many Open Channels can be created

The number of Open Channels depends on your Bitrix24 plan:

• Free — 1 channel
• Basic — 2 channels
• Standard — 10 channels
• Professional and Enterprise — unlimited

Bitrix24 pricing page

How enquiries are distributed among employees

Customer enquiries can be distributed in three ways:

• Evenly: Chats are distributed equally among all agents in the queue.
• Exactly as enqueued: Chats go to the first agent in the queue. If they don’t respond, it moves to the next.
• To everybody: All agents see the chat at the same time, and anyone can reply.

To set the distribution mode:

1. Click Configure in the Open Channels and permissions section.
2. Open the Queue tab.
3. Select the preferred enquiry distribution mode.

Configure the agent queue in Open Channels

What are the conversation limits per agent

If an agent has more than 1,000 ongoing conversations, new enquiries are automatically assigned to other employees in the Open Channel queue.
Limit on the number of unclosed conversations

For the Evenly and Exactly as enqueued distribution modes, you can set a manual limit on the number of simultaneous conversations per agent. To do this:

1. In the channel settings, click Configure.
2. Go to the Queue tab.
3. Check Limit simultaneous enquiries submitted to an agent.
4. Choose which conversations to exclude from the count:
• Replied to: Conversations the agent has responded to at least once.
• Waiting for user reaction: Conversations where the agent is waiting for the customer’s reply.
• Closed: Completed conversations that are awaiting rating.
5. Enter the maximum number of simultaneous conversations allowed per agent. If the limit is reached, new enquiries won’t be assigned to them.

How many agents can be added to an Open Channel queue

You can add as many employees from your Bitrix24 account to an Open Channel queue as needed.

Where chat history is stored and how to delete it

All conversations are saved in the Contact Center > Conversations section. You can view the full chat history at any time.
Working with Open Channel chats in the Conversations section

You cannot delete specific chats or the entire conversation history. However, deleting an Open Channel will remove all conversations associated with it.

How to delete an Open Channel

If an Open Channel is no longer needed or was created by mistake, you can delete it.

1. Open the channel settings and click Configure.
2. Go to the Other tab.
3. Click Delete.

How to prevent enquiries from going to unavailable agents

In the Open Channel settings, enable the Check that an agent is online when routing enquiries option. This ensures new conversations aren’t assigned to employees who are offline or unavailable, for example, when they are on lunch or vacation.
Check Open Channel agent availability

How to enable customer service quality ratings in chats

To let customers rate service quality, go to the Quality Assessment tab in the Open Channel settings and enable the Ask a client to rate agent performance option.

After the conversation ends, the customer will be prompted to rate the chat, and the results appear in the conversation statistics.
Quality assessment in Open Channels

How to create canned responses for agents in Open Channels

Canned responses help agents reply to customers with a single click. You can create them directly in the chat and organize them into categories like greetings, payments, delivery, and more.

1. Open a chat in the Contact Center tab.
2. Click the lightning icon to access canned responses.
3. If no responses exist yet, Bitrix24 provides options to save a sent message as a canned response, create a new one, or open detailed settings.

Canned responses in Open Channel chats

How to set access permissions in the Contact Center

1. Go to the Contact Center and open any channel.
2. Select an Open Channel.
3. Click Access permissions > Configure.

Access permissions in Open Channels are role-based. You can control who can access the Contact Center settings and who can only respond to customers. By default, there are three roles:

• Administrator: Full access to settings, conversation history, and statistics.
• Chief executive: Access to conversation history and statistics only; cannot edit settings.
• Manager: Access to personal conversations only; cannot edit settings.

For example, assign the Manager role to an agent so they can chat with customers. If the default roles don’t fit your needs, create custom roles.
Access permissions for Open Channels

How to transfer a conversation to another agent

You can transfer a chat to another agent or to a different Open Channel. The steps depend on whether an agent has already picked up the conversation.

Before the conversation is accepted:

1. Click Transfer.
2. Select an Open Channel or employee from the list, or use the search bar.
3. Click Transfer.

If the conversation is already in progress: Click the arrow button in the top right corner to transfer the conversation to another employee or Open Channel.

What to do when customers message outside business hours

You can set up an auto-reply for messages received when your team is offline. Customers can still send messages but will receive a notification that a response will come during business hours.

1. In the channel settings, click Configure.
2. Go to the Workhours tab.
3. Set the Open Channel’s working hours.
4. In the Off-hours enquiry processing section, select Send text.
5. Enter the message customers will see.
6. Save the changes.

How to track which channels bring in more customers and evaluate agent performance

Conversation statistics show how many enquiries come from each channel. This helps you see which channels are most popular and decide where to focus resources. You can also track employee performance, for example:

• Number of conversations each employee completed
• Number of unanswered chats
• Average response time
• Customer ratings

This information makes it easier to balance workloads and improve service quality.
Conversation statistics

To view the data, go to CRM > Customers > Contact center > Conversation statistics.