Call coaching - listening in on calls

The following short article provides guidelines for 'call coaching'. This is where call center managers would like to listen in on certain calls, effectively being in the call at the same time as the agent and caller.

Here are two solutions:

Perhaps the most effective way of achieving this is a USB sound card or headset amplifier. These are cheap and easily available on Amazon. You must only make sure that it has 1 audio input and 2 audio outputs (i.e. one for a manager headset and one for the agent.
The other option is to make use of the conference call option on a SIP softphone, if it is supported. On a Bria 4 client, for example, it is possible to merge a call with another. When an incoming call has been bridged with an agent, the agent can then call the manager/coach and merge this call with the first by clicking on the options button and clicking 'Invite to conference call'.

The coach/manager can use their own PC and must be logged in/available on any other SIP phone. The agent can also merge the coach/manager in on a landline or mobile number. The inbound call will remain live the whole time; the caller will experience no interruption or broken experience, as the audio channel is not put on hold.
Some operating systems allow to connect multiple audio-devices. In Windows, this needs some setup steps as for instance described in this article: https://appuals.com/output-audio-multiple-devices-windows-10/. However, this allows you to do listen in to a call without having to buy more equipment.