ChanSpy, Whisper, and Barge: The Agent Coaching Features Nobody Uses Right

VICIdial has three real-time coaching modes built in: silent monitor, whisper, and barge-in. They're free. They work on every VICIdial installation. And most call centers use them for maybe 30 minutes a week, if that. Then managers wonder why agent performance stays flat quarter after quarter. The technology isn't the hard part. Building a coaching process that supervisors actually follow — that's the hard part. How ChanSpy Works Under the Hood Every time a supervisor clicks "Monitor" in VICIdial's real-time report, a specific chain fires inside Asterisk. VICIdial's PHP layer originates a new channel to the supervisor's phone, then bridges it into Asterisk's ChanSpy() application targeting the agent's active channel. The three modes differ in their ChanSpy flags: Silent Monitor: ChanSpy(SIP/agent_phone,qw) # hear both sides, nobody hears you Whisper: ChanSpy(SIP/agent_phone,qwW) # your audio goes to agent only Barge-In: ChanSpy(SIP/agent_phone,qwB) # 3-way conference, all parties hear