Agent Whisper
Summarize
Summary of Agent Whisper
Agent Whisper enables agents and chat managers in ServiceNow to have private conversations during live chat interactions without the requester being aware. This feature allows agents to discreetly request assistance or escalate issues to chat managers, who can then provide guidance or join the chat publicly if needed. Agent Whisper is especially useful for training new agents, resolving complex requests, or managing escalation scenarios.
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Key Features
- Private Messaging: Agents and chat managers can switch between public and private chat tabs. Private messages are only visible to the agent and manager and do not display typing indicators to the requester.
- Help Quick Action: Agents can request help by typing
/helpor using the Quick Action menu to notify chat managers and include a brief private message explaining their needs. - Manager Views for Help Requests: Chat managers can monitor help requests through multiple views including the interactions list view (with a help requested column), the manager dashboard (via Workforce Optimization for Customer Service plugin), and the Help Requested list under Conversation Monitoring.
- Joining Public Chat: When a manager switches from private to public chat, a confirmation dialog appears to notify them that the requester will be informed of their joining.
- Attachments in Private Chat: Attachments sent in private chat are shared only between agents and chat managers.
- Chat Transcripts: After a conversation, two transcripts are generated: an external one without private messages (accessible to requesters if enabled) and an internal one including private messages, which are clearly marked with “[PRIVATE]” and viewable on the interaction record.
- Reporting: Administrators can create custom reports to track the number of help requests made by agents, aiding in monitoring and improving support processes.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
With Agent Whisper, ServiceNow customers can improve agent collaboration and training by allowing discreet communication during live chats. This improves customer service quality by enabling timely help and escalation without disrupting the requester’s experience. Managers gain visibility into when agents need assistance, facilitating better oversight and operational efficiency. The clear separation of private and public chats, along with transcript management, ensures compliance and transparency.
Agent Whisper lets agents and chat managers have a conversation without the requester knowing.
During a chat between a requester and an agent, the agent may want to privately ask a chat manager for assistance or a chat manager and an agent may want to converse without the requester knowing. Using Agent Whisper, the agent can request help and the chat manager and agent can send messages to each other without the requester knowing.
For example, if an agent is newly hired, still in training, or unsure about how to proceed with a requester's request, the agent can ask a chat manager to join the conversation to help walk the agent through the steps of the procedure privately.
Another scenario is if an agent needs to escalate a customer conversation to a chat manager. Agents can request help and chat managers can join the chat conversations publicly to communicate directly with the customer to help deescalate the situation.
You activate Agent Whisper in Agent Chat settings. For details, see Setting up Agent Chat.
Using the Help quick action
Agents can ask chat managers to join chat conversations with requesters by raising the help flag. Agents can open the Quick Action menu or enter /help to request for help. When using the help quick action, agents can also type a brief private message explaining what they need help with. This way, when a chat manager enters the conversation, they already know what the agent needs.
Chat managers can view the conversations with help requested from different views: interactions list view, manager dashboard, and lists.
- Interactions list view: Agents can navigate to the interactions list view and add in the help requested column to see which conversations agents have requested help in. From here, managers can click directly into the interaction record and join the conversation with the agent and requester.
- Manager dashboard: With the Workforce Optimization for Customer Service (com.snc.wfo.csm) plugin installed, managers can see that the Help requested tile on the manager dashboard homepage.
- Lists: From Conversation Monitoring > Help Requested, managers can view a list of chat interactions in which agents have requested help.
Sending and receiving messages in Private Chat
The agent and chat manager can converse without the requester knowing that they are having a conversation. Messages that only seen by the agent and chat manager are private messages. The requester does not see private messages. The agent and chat manager can toggle between the public and private messages using the Public Chat and Private Chat tabs. The Private Chat tab has a yellow background with "Message only visible internally" and private messages appear on the yellow background. When someone types in the Private Chat tab, the typing event indicator does not display. For example, when the chat manager types in the Private Chat tab, the agent's and requester's screen do not display the typing event indicator.
The tab that the agent types on and sends the message from determines whether a message is posted privately or publicly. If an agent starts typing a message on the Public Chat tab and then switches to the Private Chat tab, the Private Chat tab does not display the message. If the agent then goes back to the Public Chat tab, the message is still there. However, agents can see private messages regardless of whether they are on the Private Chat tab or the Public Chat tab.
| Example of Public Chat | Example of Private Chat |
|---|---|
Joining a chat conversation in Private Chat
The first time a chat manager switches from a private conversation (on the Private Chat tab) to a public conversation (on the Public Chat tab), a dialog box displays. The dialog box informs the chat manager that they are about to join the public conversation and the requester will be notified that the chat manager is joining the conversation. The chat manager can select Yes, I'm sure to join the public conversation or select Cancel to remain in the private conversation.
Sharing attachments in Private Chat
If agents send an attachment while on the Private Chat tab, the attachment is sent only to the agent and chat manager. Message Sent confirmation messages do not display for private message conversations.
Private messages stored in internal chat transcripts
Once the conversation ends, one external transcript and one internal chat transcript are generated.
The public chat transcript does not include private messages and is accessible for the requester to download if the Download Transcript capability has been enabled.
The private chat transcript is shown on the interaction record by default and does include private messages exchanged between agents and managers. Private messages are prefixed with the word [PRIVATE] to clearly indicate when a message came through the Private Chat.
To learn more about downloading the chat transcript, see Chat transcript downloads for requesters.
Custom report
Admins can build a custom report to track the number of help requests, see Build a report to track the number of help requests for instructions.