# Omnichannel Messaging Administrator Guide

Omnichannel messaging lets your contact center take in conversations from text and social media platforms and work them alongside your voice channels. This guide walks administrators through the pieces you configure to get messaging running: connecting channels, routing sessions to agents, sending outbound campaigns, and keeping a record of every conversation.

## Who this guide is for

These instructions are written for the system administrators who configure and maintain omnichannel messaging on Cloud Voice.

## How omnichannel messaging comes together

Setting up messaging is a four-part process. Work through the stages below in order, following the linked topics for the requirements and step-by-step instructions specific to each channel or task.

### 1. Connect your message channels

Before your contact center can handle digital conversations, add each communication channel to Cloud Voice and tune its settings, the message sending rate, the routing rule that decides where inbound messages land, and so on.

:::tip
Set each channel's message sending rate to stay within the limit your provider allows. Sending faster than the provider accepts can cause messages to be throttled or rejected.
:::

**SMS channels**

SMS (Short Message Service) is plain text messaging sent to a mobile number. To message customers directly on their mobile phones, connect an SMS channel through one of the supported service providers:

- [![Apidaze](/images/pbx/omnichannel-apidaze.png) Apidaze](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-apidaze/)
- [![ASPSMS](/images/pbx/omnichannel-aspsms.png) ASPSMS](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-aspsms/)
- [![Bandwidth](/images/pbx/omnichannel-bandwidth.png) Bandwidth](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-bandwidth/)
- [![Flowroute](/images/pbx/omnichannel-flowroute.png) Flowroute](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-flowroute/)
- [![SIPTRUNK](/images/pbx/omnichannel-siptrunk.png) SIPTRUNK](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-siptrunk/)
- [![Telnyx](/images/pbx/omnichannel-telnyx.png) Telnyx](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-telnyx/)
- [![Twilio](/images/pbx/omnichannel-twilio.png) Twilio](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-twilio/)
- [![VoiceMeUp](/images/pbx/omnichannel-voicemeup.png) VoiceMeUp](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-an-sms-channel-for-voicemeup/)

:::note
Using a provider that isn't on the list? Connect its SMS service to Cloud Voice through the SMS API (Application Programming Interface, the way two systems talk to each other) first. Once the integration is in place, you can create an SMS channel for that provider on your system. See [Integrate an SMS Service Using the SMS API](/pbx/contact-center-guide/integrate-sms-service-with-cloud-voice-using-sms-api/) for the integration details and how to add the channel afterward.
:::

- [![Custom SMS channel](/images/pbx/omnichannel-general-itsp.png) Custom SMS Channel](/pbx/contact-center-guide/integrate-sms-service-with-cloud-voice-using-sms-api/)

**Social media channels**

To reach customers on the platforms they already use, connect a social media channel:

- [![Facebook](/images/pbx/omnichannel-facebook.png) Facebook](/pbx/contact-center-guide/facebook-messenger-integration-guide/)
- [![Live Chat](/images/pbx/omnichannel-live-chat.png) Live Chat](/pbx/contact-center-guide/live-chat-integration-guide/)
- [![WhatsApp](/images/pbx/omnichannel-whatsapp.png) WhatsApp](/pbx/contact-center-guide/set-up-a-whatsapp-channel/)

### 2. Build a message queue

A message queue is the group of agents that receives inbound messages. When an agent in the queue accepts a session, the conversation is assigned to that agent, and they handle the customer's messages from there.

For the full setup, see [Create a Message Queue](/pbx/contact-center-guide/create-a-message-queue/) and [Manage Message Queues](/pbx/contact-center-guide/manage-message-queues/).

### 3. Create a message campaign

When you need to send the same message out to many recipients at once, use a message campaign. Campaigns let you plan and run bulk messaging jobs, delivering a single message to a list of target numbers in one pass.

For the steps, see [Create an SMS Campaign](/pbx/contact-center-guide/create-an-sms-campaign/) and [Create a WhatsApp Campaign](/pbx/contact-center-guide/create-a-whatsapp-campaign/).

### 4. Keep track of message history

Every messaging channel leaves a record. Reviewing these logs gives you a full view of each customer conversation from start to finish, session details, the actions taken on a session, and the complete chat transcript. You can also download the logs, which is useful for legal compliance, dispute resolution, agent training, and similar needs.

For more, see [Check and Manage External Chat Logs](/pbx/contact-center-guide/check-and-manage-external-chat-logs/) and [Download External Chat Logs](/pbx/contact-center-guide/download-external-chat-logs/).