Experts: ask the right person for customer work

An Expert is a person or desk you authorize the bot to contact on a customer’s behalf. For example, a supplier, courier desk or bookkeeper can help with a question that your knowledge cannot answer.

How it works

When a customer’s question needs an Expert, the bot uses your instructions to decide whom to contact and what to ask. It opens a task and contacts the Expert in a separate conversation. The customer does not join that exchange. The Expert can answer or ask for more information; the bot brings the answer back to the customer’s conversation.

If the Expert needs something from your Support Team, their task message can join a related open team request or open a new one in the team channel. The team can answer there, and the bot can pass the answer back to the Expert. The Expert’s message to the team is internal; it is not automatically copied to the customer.

Experts are not customers. They are also different from your Support Team, which handles work needing your own team’s attention, and from the Coach, your helper inside omotto.

You choose what customer information may be shared and whether starting a task needs team approval. You can follow the Expert’s correspondence, send them a message yourself or give the bot private guidance.

Experts supply specialist information; they do not take control of customer replies or gain your team’s approval authority. They answer ordinary messages through their connected channel without each needing an omotto account. Protected Slack file links have separate access requirements, explained below.

See the suggested workflow for how this fits together: use directives in the internal channel or connected team channel for your case decisions, takeover only to reply personally, and the Coach for reviewed improvements that should last beyond the case.

Where to find it

Setup and editing: open the Handbook, find What … does when…, and click the Expert’s row to open their settings panel. The heading uses your bot’s name. Create an Expert with + Add a rule → Contact an expert → + Create expert.

Activity, tasks and correspondence: open Settings → Experts, then click an Expert’s row. Edit opens their Handbook panel; New expert opens the creation form in the Handbook.

Saved links to the old Experts pages take you to the same Expert in Settings or to their Handbook settings panel.

Experts depend on your plan and Expert allowance. Viewing, managing Experts and connecting Slack can require different permissions. If controls are missing, ask your workspace administrator.

Set it up

Required to contact an Expert: save their details and briefing, and complete the connection for the one channel you choose. WhatsApp consent and Telegram confirmation apply only to their respective channels.

Optional: set working hours, response-time guidance and additional sharing choices, or send a connection test. Choose the Expert and the information they may receive for the work you actually want help with; you do not need every channel or sharing option.

Before you begin

Your plan must include Experts, with room for another one.
Decide whom the bot may contact and what customer information it may share with them. Only add people who agreed to hear from your business.
Pick the channel first. Slack needs a Slack connection. WhatsApp needs a connected WhatsApp line, the person’s agreement to messages and a template. Telegram needs the Expert to open a link and give you a code.

Open the creation form described above.
Enter Name and Role.
Choose Channel and complete the relevant connection steps below.
Fill in the briefing and sharing rules described under Settings. Set availability only if you need defined hours.
Click Save.
Open the Expert’s row in the activity list described above to see their conversation and connection status.

New Experts cannot receive work until their channel is ready. WhatsApp needs recorded consent. Telegram starts as Connecting until link-and-code confirmation.

For an existing Expert, open their settings panel from their Handbook row, or use Edit on their activity page. Changes save automatically; check the save indicator at the top before leaving. The sections are Details, When to reach out, How to reach out, What may be shared, Availability, and Channel and consent.

Slack connection

Before choosing Slack for an external supplier, check whether they need customer files. Those file links require an omotto account, access to the correct omotto workspace and permission to view the customer’s conversation. A Slack account alone is not enough.

Choose Slack in Channel.
If needed, click Connect Slack and complete Slack’s authorization screens.
In Slack user or channel, choose the person or channel from the directory.
Complete the briefing and click Save.

If a private channel is missing:

Invite the omotto app to that channel in Slack. A private channel the app has not joined is not available to it.
Keep a copy of any unsaved form text, then reload the omotto page in your browser to refresh the directory.
Reopen the creation form, or use Change user in an existing Expert’s settings panel.
Select the private channel in Slack user or channel. Do not enter an unrelated name instead of selecting from the directory.
For a new Expert, complete the form and click Save. For an existing Expert, read the warning about dropping open tasks before confirming Change.

If you see Reconnect Slack so experts’ files reach the bot, use Reconnect if you manage connections, or ask an administrator. See also the team channel: it can share the same Slack connection.

Ensure your business has a connected WhatsApp line.
Choose WhatsApp in Channel.
In Phone number, choose the country and enter the full local number. For a country not listed, use the full international number beginning with +.
Obtain the person’s agreement to messages from this business.
Tick WhatsApp opt-in, confirming the displayed number is the person who agreed.
Choose Template after 24 hours and complete any variable sources described under Settings.
Click Save.

You may save without the consent box ticked, but the Expert is not ready for contact. Unticking it withdraws the recorded consent. Consent is recorded with who confirmed it and when; it is not permission invented by omotto. Respect requests to stop, including requests received outside WhatsApp.

Telegram connection: link and confirmation code

This uses omotto’s Telegram bot; it is separate from connecting a customer-facing Telegram line. Telegram appears only when this option is available.

Choose Telegram and save the Expert.
Open their page and copy Link to send.
Send the link privately to the intended Expert.
Ask them to open it and tap Start in Telegram.
Check the person shown in omotto and ask them for the six-digit code the bot gave them.
Enter it in Confirmation code.
Click Confirm and check Connected as.

The link is single-use and expires after seven days. New link replaces a link you can no longer use. If a code expires, ask the Expert to tap Start again; repeated wrong codes can cancel the link. Never confirm a code from someone other than the intended Expert.

Optional: check the behavior you chose

Open the Expert’s row and check the connection status. Active alone is not enough; read any connection warning too.
For Telegram, check Connected as shows the right person.
Use Test message to send a real connection-test message. It tests the connection, not a customer’s case.
Ask the Expert to reply, and check the reply in All correspondence.

Settings

Details and briefing

Text fields start blank. Use specific instructions rather than a description such as “helps with things”.

Setting	What it does	New-Expert default
Name	How you and the bot refer to this person or desk. Required.	Blank
Role	What this Expert knows or handles, such as “courier desk”. Required.	Blank
Channel	Where the Expert receives messages: Slack, WhatsApp or Telegram when offered. It cannot be changed after creation.	Slack
Language	The language used when writing to this Expert, not the customer’s language. Choose a listed language or Team default.	Team default
Enabled	Whether the bot may contact this Expert. Read the pause consequences below before switching it off.	On
Requires approval	Requires a teammate’s approval before starting a task with the Expert. It does not require fresh approval for every message in an ongoing task.	Off: Writes on its own
Trigger	When this Expert should be contacted. This tells the bot which customer situations fit.	Blank
Introduction	How to introduce the business and the reason for contacting the Expert. This is guidance, not a message sent word for word.	Blank
Mission	What to achieve, what the Expert can and cannot do, and standing instructions for the exchange.	Blank
Prerequisites	What must be obtained from the customer before contacting the Expert.	Blank
Who is this for	Everyone, or customers with any or all of the chosen labels. This decides who the bot may contact this Expert for.	Everyone
Required verification	No verification, or Verified / any time. The latter needs valid identity proof from this or an earlier conversation. Expired or revoked proof does not count. Knowing a name or order number is not proof. See verification and User identification.	No verification
Learn from this expert’s answers	Where Expert-answer learning is available, allows suggestions based on their answers. You review suggestions before they change anything. It does not automatically make every answer reusable knowledge. See teaching and learning.	On

Under Who is this for, the advanced Hidden until they qualify option hides this Expert from the bot until the customer meets both the audience and verification requirements. Verification alone does not grant a required label. Audience and verification save independently; existing Experts keep their previous verification choice. A label’s Used by link opens this Expert’s audience control.

If Who is this for says Can’t be read — choose who this is for again, the saved choice could not be read. It is not treated as Everyone. Select Choose again, choose the intended audience, and save it. To replace it with Everyone, select Save audience after opening the fresh choice. Audience summaries on the Coach’s review cards and connected-agent reads show label names only to people who may view labels; otherwise they show a count. To add a label, you also need permission to view labels. If you may edit this setting but cannot view labels, you can still remove existing labels or change how the retained labels match. The Coach checks the permissions of the person who approves the change. If this audience changes elsewhere while you edit, omotto shows the current saved choice instead of overwriting it. Review that choice before editing again; the rejected choice is not retried.

Language offers Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Turkish, Greek, Amharic and Bengali, plus Team default.

For a courier desk:

Trigger: “A customer needs a delivery update that is missing from the order information.”
Introduction: “Introduce yourself as our bot and explain which delivery you are asking about.”
Mission: “Find the current delivery status and the next practical step. Do not authorize extra charges.”
Prerequisites: “Obtain the order number and confirm which delivery the customer means.”

These are examples to adapt, not built-in values. Prerequisites describe what must be known; Disclosure separately controls what may leave the customer conversation.

Disclosure, phone, email and files

Setting	What it does	Default
Disclosure	A closed list of customer details the bot may share. Details not named here are withheld. For example: “Order number and delivery address.” Relayed details keep the supplied language and spelling.	Blank
May share phone	Allows phone details only within the disclosure rules. Off blocks sharing phone numbers even if the disclosure text permits them.	On
May share email	The same hard restriction for email addresses.	On
Photos & files	Allows forwarding eligible customer images, videos and documents to the Expert. It does not control receiving files from the Expert. Turning it off affects new forwarding; it does not recall files already sent.	On
Customers may hear this expert’s name	Off means customers hear the role, such as “the courier desk”. On also allows the Expert’s name alongside the role.	Off

A ticked phone or email box does not replace Disclosure. If you want the Expert to receive a customer’s phone number, name it in Disclosure and leave May share phone on. Permission to forward files is separate from permission to share details in text.

What they can pass to our customers

These switches control the other direction: what the bot may pass from this Expert to a customer without team review. They do not change what customer information the Expert may receive under Disclosure.

Setting	What happens when it is off	Default
Links	Unsafe links are checked and held for team review. It does not hold every link.	On
Payment, credential or ID requests	Requests for payment, passwords or other sign-in details, or identity documents are checked and held for team review. It does not hold every request or instruction.	On
Prices and amounts	Amounts outside the task’s authorized briefing are checked and held for team review. It does not hold every amount.	On

All three start on for both new Experts and Experts you already had. With all three on, omotto skips this check: these switches add no hold or review alert. With a switch off, only its categories are checked; simply discussing a subject is not itself a request. If a required check cannot be completed, the item goes to your Support Team for review instead.

These permissions do not give an Expert control of the bot or permission to approve its actions. Requires approval is separate: it controls starting a task, not passing an Expert’s answer to a customer.

Working hours and typical response time

Working hours: defaults to no restriction. During creation, Configure working hours opens the schedule; use Add range and Remove for each day’s periods. Clear hours — always open removes the schedule. In Edit, turn off Always available, enable weekdays and enter start/end times. Add window and Remove window manage extra periods, for example around lunch. A day switched off is unavailable. Keep at least one valid window, or use Always available. The displayed time zone applies; there is no separate time-zone selector.
Typical response time: defaults to 1 day. Enter a whole number and choose minutes, hours, days or weeks in Response time unit. The allowed range is 5 minutes to 4 weeks.

This is an expectation, not a promise from the expert. The Expert’s own stated timeline can replace the estimate for that question.

WhatsApp template after 24 hours

WhatsApp allows free-form replies during the 24 hours after that person last messaged the sending WhatsApp line. Outside that window, including an initial outreach, an approved WhatsApp template is required. This is based on the Expert’s messages, not the customer’s conversation.

Template after 24 hours defaults to System template (default). You can instead choose a compatible approved template from the list. This setting does not approve a template with Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, and the default must also be usable before sending.

For a selected template, fill every Variable … source:

Source	Value inserted
Assistant message	The bot’s message for this exchange. Exactly one variable must use this source.
Expert name	This Expert’s saved name.
Expert role	This Expert’s role, rendered in the template’s language.
Fixed text	Text you enter in Variable … static text. It must not be blank.

A one-variable template automatically assigns Assistant message. Multiple-variable templates need a complete mapping.

What to configure next

Choose only the options that fit what you want this feature to do.

Write When to reach out so the bot knows which questions go to this Expert.
Decide what may be shared, and whether a task needs team approval.
Set working hours and the typical response time.
For WhatsApp, finish the template that is used after 24 hours.
Check Support Team for what happens on a long wait, then practice in a rehearsal before going live.

What happens when…

You or the Expert need to exchange files or voice notes

Customer to expert: Customer-file forwarding is supported on WhatsApp and Slack, not Telegram. WhatsApp files must fit that channel’s supported formats and sizes. Slack receives a protected link, not a public attachment. Opening it requires signing into omotto, access to the correct workspace and permission to view the customer’s conversation. An external Expert with only a Slack account cannot open it.

Customer voice recordings are not forwarded as audio. Files must be ready and safe to use; a pending or unavailable file may not be forwarded. See customer attachments. On WhatsApp, customer files wait for an open messaging window; sending an approved text template does not send those files by itself.

Expert to business: Experts can send images, videos, documents such as PDFs, and voice notes through WhatsApp or Slack. Telegram Expert files are not supported. Voice notes are transcribed so the bot can use their text; the recording is not forwarded as audio. A file or voice note that cannot be processed is marked unavailable. Photos & files controls customer files sent out to the Expert, not these incoming Expert files.

Expert to customer: Eligible images, videos and documents included with the Expert’s answer can subsequently be sent to the customer. This is not automatic forwarding of everything the Expert sends. The bot selects from the files included with that answer. Files must still be available, safe and suitable for the customer’s channel. They are sent after the bot’s reply; voice recordings are not sent as audio.

The Expert conversation’s manual message box is text-only. The Photos & files setting is not an attachment button there.

The Expert is outside working hours or takes longer to answer

Outside working hours, a new bot request waits for the next opening. The page shows that it is deferred, not delivered. The response clock starts with the first confirmed bot send, or an Expert reply to the task—not with saving, approval or your own manual message.

The usual-response clock pauses outside working hours. When the Expert answers, or asks you or the customer something, the reminder and escalation clock stops until the bot asks them something again; the task stays open and shows that no Expert reply is pending. An explicit commitment from the Expert keeps its stated time rather than being moved by the working-hours schedule. An exchange already under way can continue outside hours.

Long waits can prompt a reminder and escalation to your Support Team, rather than being treated as a completed answer. Late answers can still be attached to recent tasks; do not assume a missed estimate makes every later reply irrelevant.

You want to follow tasks and read Expert correspondence

Open the activity list described above, then click an Expert’s row to open their page.

Active tasks shows work still in progress. Archive · … finished tasks contains completed work; More loads more archived tasks.
A task shows What we asked, Answer summary, its status, and a link to the customer conversation when there is one.
When the task still needs details from the Expert, Answer summary includes a separate Still open list. It helps you and the bot follow up; it is not part of the answer passed to the customer. The list is hidden when nothing remains open.
Only this task shows its correspondence. When offered, Everything said at the time adds other tasks’ messages dimmed for context.
All correspondence shows the continuous Expert conversation. Off-task messages contains messages not tied to a task.
Test message sends a real connection-test message, subject to availability and channel rules. It does not test a customer’s case.
If shown, Contact when… opens an unsaved Handbook draft; review and save it there before expecting it to take effect.

In the customer’s Inbox conversation, click an Expert correspondence label to open or close that task’s correspondence alongside the customer messages. This is an internal view, not extra messages sent to the customer. A focused link opens the full Expert page.

When the customer has moved from the website chat to WhatsApp, the WhatsApp conversation shows Continues from the website conversation to open the same correspondence, and the website conversation links to it.

An Expert message or report needs your review

Review the item in the private internal channel, not in a card above the customer’s conversation. An alert opens the review there. This is team work; opening it does not send anything to the customer.

The review and alert explain what was held. For a category check, the review also names the relevant switch under What they can pass to our customers. It can instead explain that the check failed or that permissions changed. Staff with permission can read the held message; it is not shown to the customer while awaiting review.

If you turn a switch off while a message is waiting, a message that was not checked against the newly restricted categories goes to review before it can be passed on. omotto does not automatically check it again. Turning a switch on does not dismiss an existing review. Your approval is final for that message, even if the switches change later. Approval releases the original Expert message for the bot to use; your reply in the review stays internal and is not itself sent to the customer.

If the task has a recorded continuation to another customer conversation, the review shows where the task started and which channel the customer continued on. Open Expert task opens that exact task when you have permission to view it. The channel’s conversation button opens the recorded destination, closes the internal-channel panel and keeps your unsent internal draft for when you return. These tags and links are not shown when that connection is unavailable; another conversation for the same customer is not enough.

If the review has already ended, its alert still opens a settled view headed Nothing to do here anymore. It shows the recorded ending, who closed it when known, and the closing time. An available destination-conversation button remains. There is no new review action to take. The ending can still appear even when the task or its continuation link is no longer available.

You want to write to the Expert or privately instruct the bot

The message box has two destinations:

To {name} sends your words to the Expert on their channel, attributed to you. It can send immediately outside working hours. It does not pause the bot or take over the customer conversation.
Instruct the assistant is private guidance: the Expert does not receive that text. With a task selected, it concerns that task; in All correspondence, it concerns work with that Expert more generally.

Reply to an Expert through To {name}, or use Instruct the assistant to guide the bot privately. This applies to older tasks too; there is no separate answer box. Sharing restrictions still apply.

To stop a task, open its More actions menu and choose Drop. This stops pursuit; it does not answer the customer’s outstanding question. Arrange follow-up with your team.

You pause, change or delete an Expert

Paused: switch Enabled off in Edit. History stays. Already-started open tasks close, and the team is alerted when a customer is waiting; no automatic customer message is sent by that cleanup. Requests still waiting for their first bot send remain held for resumption. Turning the Expert back on does not reopen abandoned tasks.
Change number / Change user: changes the WhatsApp recipient or Slack selection, not the channel. Open tasks are dropped, queued messages stop and a fresh conversation starts. Check the new WhatsApp number and attest consent for that person again.
Customer-number conflict: the same WhatsApp identity cannot be both a customer and an Expert. The confirmation can permanently erase that WhatsApp contact’s conversations, messages and history while retaining the customer, tickets, memories and profiles on other channels. Read the preview carefully; cancel if unsure.
Delete expert: found in Edit. It drops outstanding work and removes the Expert’s history. It is not a pause.

You disconnect Slack or unbind Telegram

Disconnect Slack affects the whole shared connection, not just one Expert. Its confirmation lists affected Experts and open tasks. Expert settings stay, their selected Slack destinations are cleared and open tasks are dropped. A team channel using that workspace is disconnected too. Reconnect and select the people or channels again. Removing the app from Slack entirely is separate; Slack’s workspace permissions determine who can do it.

Telegram’s Unbind drops open tasks and ends the current connection, without deleting the old Telegram history. You can send a new link afterwards.

Troubleshooting

Connecting: finish the Slack selection or Telegram confirmation. For a private Slack channel missing from the directory, follow the invite, browser reload and channel-selection steps under Set it up. Active alone is not enough: check the connection warning too.
Opted out: the Expert asked to stop. Use Reactivate on their page only after renewed consent. This records a fresh attestation; it does not revive dropped tasks.
Slack file link cannot be opened: check that the Expert has signed into omotto in the correct workspace and is allowed to view the customer’s conversation. Signing into Slack is not enough.
WhatsApp template send failed: if the template is missing, paused, incompatible or too long, check its approval and variable mapping, then follow the displayed repair instructions. Do not assume changing a setting means the failed message has been delivered.
Telegram link or code no longer works: use New link for an expired or cancelled link. For an expired code, ask the intended Expert to tap Start again. If the Telegram conversation is lost or the bot is unavailable, follow the status message.

For a disconnected channel, missing consent, invalid number or failed send, repair the reason shown on the Expert page. If it cannot be resolved, contact support with the status and the action you tried. Never send passwords or connection secrets.

If an Expert result arrives during a takeover, it waits while your team holds the conversation. Once control returns to the bot, delivery resumes subject to bot availability and the customer’s messaging window.