Previous releases

Administrators can now personalize their chat experience, including changing the chatbot name, to create a more customized and engaging user experience. This increased flexibility improves user satisfaction and engagement by accommodating individual preferences.

Features

• Admins can change the chatbot name  in the 8x8 Configuration Manager by navigating to the Webchat design > Window page.

• Admins can create an identity for the chatbot, which adds a human touch to its presence in the interaction.

• The chatbot updated name will be used in all customer interactions with the chatbot, including:

  • ICA

  • Quick replies

  • Gateway

Limitations

Admins can define the chatbot name only in 8x8 Configuration Manager, not via API.

• The chatbot window displays the new name, while other areas, such as interactions retrieval, keep the chatbot name as BOT.

• The default chatnot name shows as BOT.

• To ensure optimal functionality and user experience of the webchat feature, you need the webchat v2 version.  To learn more about the webchat v2 version, see Webchat v2.

To personalize a chatbot’s name:

1. From the Configuration Menu, open Chat Design.

2. Go to the Window tab.

3. Select the desired window and click Edit   in the row.

4. Under Chatbot name, enter your preferred name.

5. Save your changes.

Note:

The chatbot window shows the new name you entered in the 8x8 Configuration Manager, while the chatbot’s name remains the same in other contexts, such as during customer interactions with an agent.

To learn how to customize the window, see Design a chat window.

Customers using 8x8 web chat can easily see when they have received a new message, enabling quicker responses and improving communication efficiency. Customers are still notified even if they close or minimize the web chat window.

This new feature is designed to improve user experience by reducing delays in conversation, ensuring that essential messages are not missed. This update lets users engage more effectively with their agents, making it a valuable tool for business interactions.

Features

• The alert notification can be both audio and visual.

• When a new message is sent to customers via web chat, notify the customer with an alert in the 8x8 web chat.

• While a customer is in the conversation panel, the new message alert appears before the unread message, making it easier to find the unread conversation. The alert notification disappears once customers read the unread conversation.

• If a customer minimizes or closes the web chat window or leaves the website, an alert notification is displayed on the site tab, and a notification sound also plays.

• Admins can enable the notification in the 8x8 Configuration Manager, by navigating to the Webchat design > Window page.

Limitation

• Customers may not receive notifications on their mobile phones if they have closed their web chat.

• To ensure optimal functionality and user experience of the web chat feature, you need the webchat v2 version.  To learn more about the webchat v2 version, see Webchat v2.

To allow alert notifications:

1. From the Configuration Menu, open Chat Design.

2. Go to the Window tab.

3. Select the desired window and click Edit   in the row.

4. Under Features,  select Allow chat notifications.

5. Save your changes.

Customers receive both a visual and audio notification when a new web chat message arrives:

• A new message alert highlights unread messages in the 8x8 webchat window. This alert will disappear once the message is read.

  

• When sound notifications are enabled, an alert tone plays, and a visual notification appears in the website tab as well as in the web chat widget if the chat window is minimized or closed.

  

Customers can personalize these alerts within the web chat window. They can enable sound alerts by clicking More >  and enabling the Sounds option.

To learn how to customize the window, see Design a chat window.

After configuring your web flow, admins may modify their chat window settings. Although this can be done within the 8x8 Configuration Manager, it lacks the flexibility to theme all areas. Admins can adjust the theme related to the notification settings, including the size, colour, or position of the message badge or button. When changing the notification theme, remember to maintain a unified approach regarding the colour used for all chat window elements, such as buttons, wedges, and more.

See our API documentation to learn how to adjust the theming notification settings.

During 2024, we introduced a few enhancements that required admin configuration. Here's a summary:

Set up the Emergency lock mode - Limited Availability

Note:

Emergency lock mode is currently on limited availability. Contact 8x8 Support for more help.

As an admin, you can now control when agents' status changes while in Emergency mode.

You can prevent agents from automatically entering Lock mode after initiating an emergency call. This setting ensures that agents who make emergency calls on behalf of others can quickly return to their regular workflow.

To allow agents to change status in Emergency mode:

1. Go to Configure Manager Menu > Users.

   • Select the desired user and click Edit  in the row.

   • Go to the Phone tab.

   • Under Phone setup, control when agents' status changes while in Emergency mode:

     • Select the Allow agents to change status in Emergency mode checkbox to allow agents to change their status while in Emergency mode.

       Note:

       Allowing agents to return to the Available status in under five minutes will prevent Emergency Services from contacting them bac

     • Clear the Allow agents to change status in Emergency mode checkbox to prevent agents from changing their status while in Emergency mode.

Note:

The Allow agents to change status in Emergency mode checkbox is disabled (not active) if Agent Workspace is not enabled.

To learn more about configuring users' phone settings, see Configure phone settings.

Ability to configure  CC schedule permissions at the user level

8x8 Contact Center admins can customize which users can manage which schedules. Previously, admins could configure permissions only at the tenant level for all List, Create, Edit, and Delete schedules. Now, admins can select the Edit Individual Settings option to specify which schedules users can manage while configuring permissions.

To configure CC schedule permissions at a user level:

1. From the Configuration Menu, open Security.

2. Go to the Roles tab.

3. Create a new role or edit an existing role.

4. In the role settings Permissions tab, in the Schedule row for Agents, Queues, Scripts, or Channels, select the Edit Individual Settings check box.

   

5. In the Individual Permissions Assignment window, under the available item columns, assign the individual schedule permissions to be managed by the user, such as List, Details, Edit or Delete.

   

6. Click OK. The definition of individual settings is complete for the role.

7. Click Save to save the role and assign an administrator.

   Note:

   The Create option is unavailable if the Edit Individual Settings option is selected. Schedule creation is only available to users with unrestricted permission to manage all schedules.

For details about configuring admin roles with granular control for managing an individual agent, see Define a role with granular control.

Introducing the blended interactions feature

In the dynamic environment of modern contact centers, the ability to handle multiple types of communication media efficiently is crucial. The Blended interaction feature enables agents to manage combinations of different media types simultaneously. This flexibility is essential for catering to the diverse communication preferences of customers.

With Blended interactions, you can enable your contact center agents to simultaneously handle interactions of various media types, such as phone calls, emails, and chats. This flexibility is essential for catering to customers' diverse communication preferences and empowers agents to increase productivity and efficiency.

By configuring settings in the 8x8 Contact Center, agents can handle various combinations of media types, such as phone calls, emails, and chats. These configurations determine the types of interactions an agent can take at any given time. The system intelligently aligns with these settings, ensuring that agents receive a mix of interaction types based on their current capabilities and workload. This approach enhances the agents' efficiency and provides a seamless and responsive customer experience across different communication channels.

Through the Blended interactions feature, admins can set up the maximum number of concurrent customer digital chat interactions and allow agents to handle up to six interactions on different channels, such as voice, chat, email, and voicemail. Agents can handle any combination of interactions simultaneously, but not more than the maximum number configured for concurrent interactions. These settings apply to each agent.

Currently, agents in the 8x8 Contact Center can handle up to six customer interactions through the chat channel simultaneously but only a single interaction through the other channels.

By using the Interactions tab in 8x8 Configuration Manager,  admins can now configure for each agent multi chat/interactions by allowing an agent to handle the following:

• Agent-to-agent chat - There is no limit on the number of simultaneous chats among agents.

• Concurrent interactions - Set up the maximum number of inbound and outbound chat interactions an agent can handle simultaneously in their agent workspace panel. You can set up to six concurrent interactions on digital or email channels simultaneously:

  • Maximum number of concurrent chats and SMS interactions - Set up the maximum number of digital chat interactions an agent can handle simultaneously, such as Webchat, SMS, WhatsApp, Chat Gateway, Facebook, or Twitter.

  • Maximum number of emails - Set up the maximum number of emails an agent can handle simultaneously.

    Note:

    For an agent to work with this email feature, the agent must use email in the 8x8 Agent Workspace app.

• Blended interactions - Configure how can an agent mix different media types, such as phone calls, chats, and emails. Agents can handle any combination of interactions simultaneously, but not more than the maximum number configured for concurrent interactions. These settings apply to each agent:

  • Configure if the agent can handle blended emails and chats while working on phone calls.

  • Configure if the agent can handle blended emails and phone calls while working on chats.

  • Configure if the agent can handle blended chats and phone calls while working on an email.

For details about configuring the multi-contact handling functionality, see Configure multiple chats.

Ability to enable an embedded agent avatar in web chat

We have enhanced our digital customer service by allowing customers to personalize their web chat experience. Now, they can display their profile picture and add a bio in the company logo section during web chat interactions.

Let’s say a customer uses the web chat on a company's website. Upon being transferred to an agent, the customer will view the agent's avatar and biography instead of the company logo. Agents can customize their web chat appearance through the My Profile section from the 8x8 Agent Workspace app. To learn more about how to personalize an agent’s avatar and biography, personalizing an agent’s avatar and biography, see 8x8 Agent Workspace - Ability to personalize your avatar and biography.

Features

• This feature allows the avatar and biography to be displayed in web communications with agents in the logo section.

• Agents can customize a different avatar for each tenant.

• Agents can customize their avatar and biography via 8x8 Agent Workspace on the My Profile page.

To learn how configuring web chat interactions in 8x8 Configuration Manager, see Web chat interactions.

Enhanced Text to Play parameter of the Say phone script object

The character limit for the Text to Play parameter in the Say phone script object has been increased from 210 to 1250, offering admins more control over the Text to Speech feature. Additionally, a counter shows the remaining characters when typing.

Note:

This change will not affect existing customer scripts. Customers can use up to 1250 characters when making changes or creating new scripts.

To find more details about the Text to Speech feature, see Enable Text to Speech. To find more details about the Say object available in 8x8 Contact Center phone scripts accessed via 8x8 Configuration Manager, see Summary of phone IVR script objects.

Introducing quick replies for web chat

In this release of 8x8 Configuration Manager, we have introduced the Quick Replies feature for a web chat. This feature enables customers to receive guidance through a web chat journey using quick replies buttons. In addition to the pre-chat form on web chat, agents can now gather valuable information directly on the web window by using quick replies to better understand the customers' needs.

Let’s say the AcmeJets company wants to route customer interactions efficiently to suitable agents who can quickly resolve their issues. To achieve this, AcmeJets plans to collect customer information to identify their queries and the nature of their queries. The data is transferred to an agent when a customer sends a message and agrees to interact. Once the data is transferred, the customer may receive a response directly through the chat window or be directed to the appropriate agent to assist them with their concerns.

As an 8x8 Contact Center administrator of your business, you can now configure quick replies for a web chat in 8x8 Configuration Manager. To use quick replies in a web chat, you must define a social script, then define a web chat script and forward chat interactions to the social script for an enhanced experience.

To configure quick replies, follow the next main steps:

1. Define a social script dedicated to quick replies. To learn how to configure a social script for quick replies built for web chat, see Configure social scripts for quick replies.

   

2. Define a web chat script that forwards chat interactions to a social script. This can be done by forwarding a query to the specific social script you defined in Step 1. The query will then be directed to the appropriate queue in the social script. By doing this, agents can use all the features in the social script and enjoy an enhanced experience. To learn how to configure a web chat script, see Configure web chat scripts for replies.

   

The Quick Replies feature allows 8x8 Contact Center admins to link quick replies to Quality Management and Speach Analytics (QM/SA) to create quick replies as topics in Speech Analytics (SA). To learn how to do that, see Link quick replies to Quality Management and Speach Analytics.

Enable an improved email experience in Agent Workspace

This improved email experience in 8x8 Agent Workspace enables agents to handle emails from the Control Panel in 8x8 Agent Workspace, in addition to the previous experience of taking emails from the Display Panel. This new capability aims to improve how emails are handled in the 8x8 Contact Center by allowing agents to:

• View the sender’s email address in the same panel.

• Handle emails and view the thread in the same panel.

• See attachments and the email they are associated with easily.

• Have their productivity reported in 8x8 Analytics for Contact Center.

To learn how to process email interactions from the Control Panel in 8x8 Agent Workspace, see our content about process email interactions.

To allow agents to use the improved email experience in 8x8 Agent Workspace:

1. Log in to your 8x8 Configuration Manager account.

2. Go to Home > Profile.

3. Select the Enable full email integration in Agent Workspace (External CRM only) checkbox.

4. Click Save.

To learn more about profile settings, see Configure profile settings.

During 2023, we introduced a few enhancements that required admin configuration. Here's a summary:

Introducing 8x8 Intelligent Customer Assistant

8x8 Contact Center introduces Intelligent Customer Assistant (ICA), a powerful, user-friendly conversational AI solution that enables businesses to create simple to complex automated self-service experiences across channels. 8x8 Intelligent Customer Assistant makes it possible to build highly scalable, always available experiences across multiple regions and languages. ICA offers a convenient way to quickly resolve routine and common customer inquiries while saving time, reducing costs, and reserving agent resources for more complex, high-touch interactions.

Benefits and features

• Faster resolution that delivers personalized engagement and end-to-end automation for fast service

• Reduce agent workload to focus on more high touch, impactful service interactions

• Minimize ongoing maintenance costs with simple admin and tuning tools

• Take action with powerful analytics that provide insights and recommendations for 360° performance optimization

Key features include:

• Out-of-box templates

• Graphical, click and add scripting tools

• Built-in comprehensive analytics with performance recommendations

• Build bots once and apply flows across any channel

• Rich media content widgets

• Customizable dashboards

• Real-time translation in 100+ languages

• Turnkey integrations to CRMs and other systems

For details, refer to the following links:

• Configuring the chatbot using the 8x8 chat widget

• Handing over a chat session to an 8x8 agent

• Configuring the 8x8 Extension for ICA

• Configuring the Agent Handover from Cognigy to 8x8

8x8 partners with Cognigy Inc to empower you with Intelligent Customer Assistant. Refer to the following documentation links from Cognigy:

• Virtual Agents

• Insights

Enhanced callback expiration time

The cancel callback time can now be set to a maximum of 72 hours. The expiration time for callbacks is increased from 6 hours to 72 hours, to avoid customers missing out on being contacted because callbacks expired too early. The minimum callback time remains 120 seconds. Learn more about queued callback.

Web chat widget enhancements

We have improved the look and feel of our web chat widgets which offer your customers a channel of communication. These improvements include:

• An increased size of the chat window and the introduction of a send button along with minor enhancements to other chat elements
  

  Note:

  To access this new feature, admins must log into 8x8 Configuration Manager, create new web chat components, and apply them to the chat script.

• Ability to integrate with our chat gateway so you can use conversation Artificial Intelligence vendors

• Ability to keep session - When a customer using the web chat navigates to another page on the website, they are still able to continue that conversation with the agent. This prevents a conversation from refreshing when a customer using web chat navigates to different pages on the web site. This offers continuity in conversation in situations such as the following:

  • Agents can guide customers to different pages in the web site and still keep the web chat conversation ongoing

  • If a customer's Internet connection drops, they can continue the conversation when it comes back online

  • A customer accidentally closes the browser, when reopened, they can continue the conversation

End of life - Wallboards

We have reached the end of life of Wallboards offered previously through 8x8 Configuration Manager. As of 2/28/2023, please use the dashboards to access metrics for your contact center using the 8x8 Analytics for Contact Center.

During 2022, we introduced a few enhancements that required admin configuration. Here's a summary:

Ability to route emails based on content

When customers send inquiries via emails, they expect a quick response. But as the volume of email interactions increases, it can be challenging to provide timely and helpful responses. With 8x8 Contact Center advanced email filtering, you can now automatically distribute emails to the best-fit queues and agents based on content analysis and keywords. As an administrator, you can set up rules to handle emails that contain content that matches text strings and one or more expressions. 8x8 Contact Center email routing streamlines your response process using advanced filtering based on email content thus enhancing the customer experience. Learn more.

Support OAuth2 authentication for email channels

Email service providers like Microsoft announced plans to stop supporting basic authentication for Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), and potentially for outgoing server setups (SMTP). To prepare for this security improvement, 8x8 Contact Center introduced OAuth2 authentication for users of Microsoft last year. Microsoft is removing basic authentication for email soon. So, moving forward, to connect your mail servers using OAuth, please do the needful. Learn more.

Display Calling Line Identifier(CLI) while ringing agent workplace phone

We have introduced the ability to display the Calling Line Identifier information on the agent's end point. This allows agents to identify the caller before answering the phone. In 8x8 Configuration Manager, under the tenant profile (Home > Profile), we introduced a new control—Display customer CLI when call offering, to manage this feature. By default, the feature is disabled. If you wish agents in your contact center to see the caller's phone number, you will need to enable it.

Note:

In this release, the configuration to display CLI is available at the tenant level only. We are working to extend this configuration to agent group and individual agent level offering more flexibility.

Note:

The product version in 8x8 Agent Console and 8x8 Configuration Manager may show up as 10.0 instead of 9.14 while we are working to fine-tune our 8x8 Contact Center applications.

In 8x8 Contact Center for administrators, we have introduced the following enhancements to improve the productivity of agents, supervisors, and administrators in our new release.

Introducing 8x8 Agent Workspace

8x8 Contact Center now offers a streamlined experience for all agents by introducing the brand new 8x8 Agent Workspace. This highly intuitive interface streamlines customer interactions while delivering a simpler, efficient, and more engaging way for agents to keep productivity high and customer experiences powerful. This clean new interface allows agents:

• To process interactions and manage their routine tasks with ease

• To focus on the task at hand by minimizing distractions

• To collaborate and engage with other agents and experts quickly

• To handle customer interactions more efficiently and effectively

Existing 8x8 Contact Center customers can switch to the new agent experience and back to classic workspace without any delays. Admins can allow access to the 8x8 Agent Console or 8x8 Agent Workspace or offer flexibility to switch between the two. Learn how to activate 8x8 Agent Workspace.

Ability to set up DTMF blacklist

As an 8x8 Contact Center administrator, you can now manage your DTMF blacklist by adding, editing, and deleting phone numbers as well as SIP URIs in your DTMF blacklist. The DTMF blacklist is an existing service to stop recording a call once connected to a blacklisted destination. It also masks any key presses in the customer experience call flow.  For details, see our content on how to set up DTMF blacklist.

Introducing the Chat API 2.0

The 8x8 Contact Center Chat API allows third-party companies to connect directly to an agent from their own system, this enables them to use their interface to speak to their customers, such as enabling their clients to communicate with an agent from mobile app-based chat, Desktop web chatbots, and messaging via integrations with other apps or platforms.

Features

• Enhanced documentation in developer portal

• Introduction of frontend logging

• Introduction of new user interface for maintaining Chat API channels

• Sending secure webhook callback requests

• Standardizing API to fit in with 8x8 public API approach

For details, see our content on chat workflow for developers.

Support OAuth2 authentication for email channels

The 8x8 Contact Center authenticates email channels via basic authentication, using the simple username and password. Email service providers like Microsoft announced plans to stop supporting basic authentication for Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), and potentially for outgoing server setups (SMTP). This requires integrators to migrate their current email client to use modern authentication methods like OAuth2. To prepare for this security improvement, 8x8 Contact Center now introduces support for OAuth2 authentication for users of Microsoft. We continue to support basic authentication for existing users. For details, see our content on how to use OAuth2 authentication for email channels.

Ability to adjust post-processing time for direct agent calls

Post-processing time is the duration agents are allowed, after terminating the calls, to wrap up any pending notes or actions related to the call. Prior to this release, while processing direct-to-agent calls, agents had a limited duration of five seconds for post-processing. Depending on your business needs, agents may require more time to wrap up notes on calls. In this release, we are introducing the ability to adjust post-processing time for direct-to-agent calls from five seconds to a maximum of 60 minutes helping to meet your business needs. For details, see our content on how to adjust post-processing time for direct agent calls.

8x8 web chat is now WCAG 2.1 compliant

When websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them, they are considered web accessible. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) offer recommendations on how to increase the usability of your website, and how to make it accessible to people with disabilities. Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual.

Prior to this release, 8x8 Contact Center customers who are WCAG 2.1 compliant were restricted from using the web chat solution due to the lack of compliance. In this release, we have enhanced the 8x8 Contact Center web chat experience to comply with the WCAG 2.1 guidelines allowing better readability, navigability, and interactivity with our web chat elements. For details on how to make your chat WCAG compliant, see our content on chat design enhancements for WCAG 2.1 compliance.

Note:

WCAG Compliance is limited to 8x8 Contact Center web chat only. All other features and applications in the 8x8 Contact Center are not yet WCAG compliant.

To comply with WCAG 2.1, 8x8 Contact Center introduces enhancements to the web chat experience, thus allowing 8x8 customers to be WCAG 2.1 AA compliant. (Learn more about the compliance levels > Level A: Minimal compliance; Level AA: Acceptable compliance; Level AAA: Optimal compliance)  

We have introduced the following enhancements to improve the productivity of agents, supervisors, and administrators in our new release of 8x8 Contact Center.

Introducing 8x8 Contact Center new APIs

8x8 Contact Center introduces the Call API allowing 8x8 Contact Center customers to place outbound calls for agents from an external (desktop-based) system. Agents can simply log into the 8x8 Agent Console, place it on a persistent connection, and handle calls from their external system.  Prior to this release, click-to-dial was used to place outbound calls for the agent. Click-to-dial calls were initiated by agents from within the 8x8 Agent Console application.  

The call API allows placing calls, dropping calls, dropping agents from a conference call, and more. It works in conjunction with the Agent Status API to change the status of the agent, and the SAPI API to publish events on the 8x8 platform. We have also added the following attributes to the SAPI API in this release:

• Additional granularity of the call status

• Additional granularity of the customer hung up reason

• Additional granularity about reasons for call abandonment

For features and limitations, see our content in release notes. For details about API, refer to Call API, Agent Status API, and SAPI API.

Enhancing outgoing email settings for channels and agents via SMTP

As an 8x8 Contact Center agent, when you email customers via email channel, you want to ensure that customers receive the emails without being blocked by your outbound email servers, or the spam filters of the customer’s email servers.  

To ensure the delivery of emails sent by agents, 8x8 Contact Center now supports an enhanced configuration for outbound mailing systems, only available for custom SMTP servers.  This enhancement allows specific configuration for each and every channel or agent, so that emails actually get signed and sent using the individual accounts.  When sending out emails, the “From” section in the email header must match the actual address used for sending out that email, which implies using correct accounts and credentials, and the actual sender. When an agent sends an email via a channel, it uses the channel address. When an agent sends an email via their own address, it uses the agent's individual email address.

Prior to this release, emails were sent from a unique address and user account configured on the SMTP server. The email address on the email header did not match the email address used to send the email, causing emails to be blocked by spam filters. For details, see our content on how we enhanced our outgoing email settings for channels and agents via SMTP.

See our content on all Previous releases.

About 8x8 Auto Dialer: 8x8 Contact Center now introduces progressive and predictive dialing modes to better manage outbound telephone-based campaigns to meet your business needs. Automate your outbound dialing and maximize the productivity of your contact center agents. Empower your agents to connect with prospects and customers more effectively, and boost conversion rates as well as customer satisfaction. The progressive and predictive dialing modes call numbers automatically from campaign calling lists, screen for busy signals, voicemail, no-answers, and disconnected numbers, connecting agents to only live-answered calls.

Learn more about the 8x8 Auto Dialer and its benefits.

• Controlling call recording on third-party transfers: As an 8x8 Contact Center administrator, you can choose to stop call recording on the third-party transfers when your last contact center agent leaves the call. Let's say the contact center agent transfers the call to a customer or a third-party caller who is outside the contact center, via a warm or cold transfer. Or, the agent decides to drop out of a conference call as the last contact center agent. Using this feature, stops the call recording to avoid sensitive information to be recorded.   Calls to 8x8 Work extensions are also considered third-party calls and therefore affected by this rule.

  The call recording control is enabled at the tenant level and cannot be modified per agent. Once enabled, it becomes the default setting for call recording of the tenant and overrides the existing settings such as agent's ability to pause recording. Contact 8x8 Support for more information and to enable this feature. For details, see our content about Agent's Recording Controls.

• Introducing 8x8 Contact Center SMS: In this release, 8x8 Contact Center introduces communication via SMS inbound channels. SMS has become a popular channel of communication in customer service.   Let’s say customers of a car insurance company want to check their claim status or send related inquiries, they can simply send SMS messages to an SMS number published by the insurance company. These messages are routed via SMS channels and chat queues to agents, and offered to them as  chat interactions for responses. Agents can look up customer records if the message is from an existing customer. They can look up outstanding cases and history of interactions to handle the conversation effectively.

  For details, see our content about SMS channels and how to set them up.

• Introducing agent whisper for phone queues: In this release, 8x8 Contact Center agents can now hear an audio message (whisper) about the context of the call they have dialed or received via a queue. Agent whisper is an audio file that can be uploaded  and assigned by the tenant administrator to an inbound or outbound queue to inform the agent, upon connection, about the connected call. Let’s say John serves support calls as well as sales calls. Upon receiving calls, the system plays a brief message stating if it is a sales or a support call. Agent whisper can be implemented for both inbound and outbound calls such as campaign calls. For details, see our content on how to create Agent whisper for phone queues.

  

• Transferring a chat interaction with contextual information: When your agents know who your customers are, what they’re looking for, and what they’ve already spoken to another agent about, they can give better service, faster. Contextual information informs live agents so they can have more productive conversations while handling customer issues. 8x8 Contact Center introduces the ability to hand off the conversation with interaction details when transferring a live chat.

  This feature is available to all agents by default. It does not require admin configuration. Learn more about how agents benefit from contextual information during chat transfer.

• Intelligent routing of chat interactions based on customer data: Before initiating a chat interaction, customer information such as account numbers or case numbers collected via the pre-chat form, can now be used to determine routing of the chat interaction. You can now collect customer data, store them into system and user-defined variables, and use values stored in these variables to direct the interaction to the appropriate queue. This improves the efficiency of handling chat interactions.

  Let’s say your company wants to route interactions based on the customer language. Collect the preferred language choice in a variable, and use this data in the IVR to direct them to the appropriate language queue.  Let’s say your company wants to route interactions based on the department such as Sales or Support, you can collect this information during the pre-chat, and use it to route the interaction to the right queue.

  Learn more about how to define custom variables and use them in chat channels.

  These variables can be used to store data in advanced interaction routing involving external IVR. To learn more see our content on enhanced data augmentation.

  You can also use variables to present personalized greeting messages based on the customer input. If the customer enters their name, then greet them by name.

  Note:

  The variables are also supported in the Embedded Chat API.

  Let’s say your contact center has implemented the 8x8 web-chat solution. Your  users log into the website so you already have information about the customer based on their account, e.g. language of the account or the browser language. You do not have to ask the customer for this information in the pre-chat form again. Use the 8x8 Embedded Chat API to post this information using variables. The contact center admin has to make sure to define the same name for variables in the IVR script as used in the API, to ensure routing based on this customer information.

• Enhancing data augmentation: Data collected by External CRMs and third party integrations can now be used in a meaningful way. The data augmentation API allows you to tie data between external applications and call data. This facilitates greater resolution on what drives call volumes and handling times. Prior to this release, the two nodes: 8x8 IVR , and Forward to External IVR, have been limited in terms of data variables. To forward calls to an  external IVR such as intelligent IVR, you need to forward an incoming call to the external IVR,   assign a queue ID, check the queue ID in the phone script, and forward the call to the right queue. For details, see our  enhanced data augmentation example workflow and the required steps to forward calls to an external IVR.
  

• Announcing end of life for Support Center functionality: In this release, 8x8 Contact Center is retiring the Support Center functionality. Support Center previously offered communication channels and information services for your customers to reach your contact center agents and get help. We offered direct URLs to the default or custom Support Center which could be embedded in your company website.

  

  In this release, access to Support Center functionality is not provided through Support Center, but through new tools and interfaces as seen below:

  Feature	Description	Access
  FAQ	FAQ was a repository of frequently-asked questions and answers for customers which was accessed via a user interface.	Use the CRM API to add, modify, get, delete, and list FAQs. For details, see our CRM API documentation.
  Collaborate	Collaborate was a mechanism for agents to remotely access and control a customer's computer.	The control functionality is no longer available, however, the remote access and user guidance functionality is replaced by the improved Co-browsing feature to offer remote customer access.
  Chat	In the Support Center, chat provided a user interface for customers to initiate a chat with live contact center agents.	We now offer chat, SMS, and social media channels with better chat workflow and design. For details about chat, see our documents for the  Embedded Chat Channels. To take advantage of social media to service customers, such as Facebook and Twitter, see our guide about  Social Media Integration.
  Email	The Email functionality in the Support Center offered a user interface for customers to send emails to agents.	Customers can now publish the email addresses for support, as configured in the email channels on Configuration Manager. Or,  implement their own email submission forms on their websites and forward them to the inbound email server as configured for 8x8 Contact Center. For details, see how to set up email channels.
  My Account	My Account was a portal for customers to submit information requests or open cases and receive responses to requests. Customers could check the status of their cases, or close their cases using this portal.	We are no longer offering My Account, by default, for Local CRM. However, for more advanced implementations we offer the CRM API which can be used by Contact Centers to implement their own portal similar to My Account. For details, see our CRM API documentation.

• Introducing 8x8 Secure Pay: 8x8 Contact Center now offers customers a secure integration to support the processing of bank card information via our partner PCI Pal. 8x8 Secure Pay enables an agent and customer to stay in contact on a call while masking the card input from the customer's handset so that the sensitive card data stays secure and out of the contact center. The service can be integrated with a CRM, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), or a billing system and the customer's payment gateway to process the payment. The service can also feed information about the payment back to the originating system.

  This new integration offers agents a secure payment page for processing customer transactions. The secure payment page can be configured to include pre-populated data or data that the agent adds manually. When this page is opened, the customer audio is rerouted via PCI Pal, which allows them to mask the keypad input both visually and audibly.

  The agent hears the conversation and controls the card input, but only hears a single-tone DTMF and sees starred out digits for the card number, date, and Card Verification Value (CVV). In the event of erroneous data input by customers, agents can reset the relevant data field in the payment page, allow customers to fix the input, and facilitate a successful transaction.
  

  When on an active call during the card payment, the agent hears the conversation and controls the card input, but only hears a single-tone DTMF and sees starred out digits for the card number, date, and Card Verification Value (CVV). The agent can reset any field if a mistake is made, and once the data is ready they can take a payment and receive the confirmation or rejection of the transaction. For detials, see our content in the release notes.

• Introducing the Answer Machine Detection (AMD) Service: In 8x8 Contact Center when the dialer is used in its aggressive mode, it can call more numbers than available agents to maximize agent efficiency. The dialer needs a service which detects the calls answered by a machine instead of people, and to filter them. We have now introduced the Answer Machine Detection (AMD) service to identify such calls and allocate  the calls answered by people to the available agents. When the AMD service identifies a machine-answered call, it sends a one-way message to the call routing to end that call and resolve it automatically. AMD is a learning service and it needs some time to build an effective library of known audio samples before it reaches the maximum efficiency. Once this is done, the AMD service resolves a machine-answered call quicker than the manual effort of an agent.

  Once AMD is provisioned for your tenant, the contact center administrators can activate it for the desired campaigns. For details, see our content on the Answer Machine Detection (AMD) service.
  

  AMD works in conjunction with our new Auto-TCL. The transaction code for such calls appears as Answer machine detected in CRM Cases or under Historical reports.
  

  Note:

  The AMD service is only applicable to the calls routed via campaigns, but not the outbound calls placed by an agent.

• Ability to Detect TCPA-Listed Phone Numbers via  Carrier Call Blocking (CCB): 8x8 Contact Center is now able to detect TCPA-listed phone numbers via Carrier Call Blocking (CCB) service. This feature is available for US customers only. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) designed to safeguard consumer privacy restricts telemarketing communications via calls, SMS texts, and fax. To comply with TCPA, we have introduced Carrier Call Blocking (CCB) service for campaign calls which allows the campaign manager in the Dialer to apply special routing to two carriers: Brightlink and RSquared. They will then run dialer calls through a service that checks whether or not the phone number is listed on a Do Not Call (DNC) or mobile block list. If listed, the call is terminated by the carrier and an appropriate Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) code response is sent back to the interaction router. The call is then handled by our Auto-TCL and completed.  Once provisioned, CCB can be enabled at the campaign level.  If CCB is enabled, the campaign dialer checks whether the outbound call’s phone number is listed on TCPA list.

  Once CCB is provisioned for your tenant, the contact center administrators can activate it for the desired campaigns.  If CCB is enabled, the campaign dialer checks whether the outbound call’s phone number is listed on TCPA list. For details, see our content on Carrier Call Blocking.
  

• Improved Call Handling via Phone Connection Mode and Auto Answer:  

  Note:

  Auto Answer is currently on limited availability. Contact 8x8 Support for more help.

  8x8 Contact Center has improved the existing call handling capability via two features: Phone Connection Mode and Auto Answer.  With Phone Connection Mode, agents set up their phone connection before they start working on calls and remain connected throughout their working day. It allows them to respond to incoming and outbound phone calls with a simple click on the user interface improving their call handling efficiency. There is no audio indication with the Phone Connection Mode. For details, see our content on Phone Connection Mode.

  With Auto Answer, however, every phone interaction that is offered to an agent is automatically connected eliminating the need to accept it manually. Agents receive an audio prompt to alert them of a call as it connects.  Auto Answer is paired with Workplace Setting Validation and is configurable at the tenant level. To enable Auto Answer, you must also enable workplace setting validation. For details, see our content on Auto Answer.  

  

  Once Phone Connection Mode is provisioned for your tenant, the contact center administrators can activate both Phone Connection Mode and Auto Answer for your tenant. Auto Answer is only supported on line 1 for phone interactions.

• Introducing Workplace Setting Validation: When changing workplace setting (Workplace Phone and Workplace SIP URI), agents must validate their changes to be able to handle the calls. When they click to validate the change, it triggers a phone call to the updated phone number. A PIN code is then communicated to the agent. The agent must enter the PIN code to validate the changes and continue. If they are unable to confirm the PIN, they must exit and revert to their last validated setting. The workplace setting validation is offered as a mandatory security feature with Auto Answer, or it can be deployed as a stand-alone feature. For details, see our content on Workplace setting validation.

  

• Ability to Automatically Apply Transaction Code (Auto-TCL): 8x8 Contact Center automatically assigns transaction codes to campaign calls when the destination party is not available to answer the call, or the call cannot be completed, such as when there is a busy tone or dead line. The new feature also identifies the calls that are answered by a machine.   Auto-TCL works with Answering Machine Detection (AMD) service  to identify such calls and  automatically disposition them. It then moves onto the next call with minimal agent disruption. This feature allows agents to be more efficient with their time.

  Once Auto-TCL is provisioned for your tenant,  the contact center administrators can activate it for the desired campaigns. For details, see our content on how to Automatically Apply Transaction Codes (Auto-TCL).
  

• Dynamic Campaigns: Ability to Update Live Campaigns: Dynamic Campaigns allow you to add or remove records from an active campaign via API. Prior to this release we could not add or remove records from a campaign after it started running. This supports integrated lead capturing systems which feed new prospects into the corresponding campaign in real time so they can be dialed within five minutes. Removing a campaign record will not delete it from the list but will keep the record for future reports.

  For details, see our content on dynamic campaigns. For API configuration details, see our support article on how to configure 8x8 Contact Center Dynamic Campaign API.
  

• Allow Agents to Skip Campaign Calls While on Auto Answer: 8x8 Contact Center is now offering agents the option to skip the campaign calls during a campaign. To give the agents this capability, you must enable this option under Campaign > Properties .

   For details, see our content on how to skip campaign calls while on Auto Answer.
  

• Ability to Clone Queues: 8x8 Contact Center now offers customers the ability to clone queues. With this new enhancement, administrators can copy   inbound phone queues, outbound phone queues, chat queues, email queues, as well as voicemail queues with a simple click. Cloning queues allows Contact Center administrators to create multiple queues in a short time.

  When you clone a queue, the queue properties, members, interactions, SLA, and email settings are copied. A queue name is automatically generated. You can modify or make changes to the new queue, if required. To clone a queue, in 8x8 Configuration Manager, go to Queues/Skills to display a list of queues, select a queue and click  Copy.  For details, see our content on how to clone queues.

  

• Enhanced Usability of Co-browsing: With Co-browsing, you offer live, hands-on assistance to customers, take control of their cursor, and demonstrate how to perform the action while the customer observes. Via co-browsing, you can securely connect to remote computers, access, and troubleshoot problems over the 8x8 Contact Center platform. For details, see our content on how to get remote customer assistance.

  Customers, who use 8x8 Co-browsing for remote assistance, can now enjoy better usability with the following enhancements.  

  • A refreshed user interface.
    

  • Better visibility to the status of co-browsing session on customer side.
    

  • The auto-minimized status window allows the customer to keep an eye on the status of the shared screen at all times. The customer can move the status window to the desired location while in a live session.
    

  • Agents receive feedback when the co-browsing session is interrupted, or takes time to load.
    

• Ability to Reset the Agent's Idle Timer: In 8x8 Contact Center, idle time refers to the length of time agents have been idle and is measured for each agent by the agent's idle timer. By default, an agent is considered idle from the time he ends post processing of a system-delivered, queued interaction and becomes available. When multiple agents with the same queue and skill level assignments are idle, the system routes the call to the agent who has been idle the longest. The agent’s idle timer is reset every time they end post processing of a system-delivered, queued interaction. Agent-initiated interactions do not reset the idle timer.

  To supplement the default behavior, in the new enhancement we allow 8x8 Contact Center administrators to reset the idle timer when agents transition from one status to another. For example, The idle timer resets when agents change their status from On Break to Available when they log in. For details, see our content on reset agent's idle timer.

  

• Ability to Autodial Campaign Calls after Preview: In this release, we have introduced the ability to autodial campaign calls when an agent has spent all the preview time without taking an action. Autodialing campaign calls after previewing a campaign record is controlled by a campaign setting.

  Note:

  This feature enhancement is only applicable if your company uses 8x8 Contact Center campaigns.

  Prior to this release, agents handling a campaign could view the campaign record for the specified preview period and manually start, reject, or skip the interaction. They were not forced to take the interaction in the time allowed. Additionally, the need for a manual action to initiate a call was repetitive and inefficient. With the autodial feature, however, at the end of the preview time if no action is taken, calls are initiated automatically eliminating the need for manual action by the agent. The 8x8 Contact Center administrators can enable autodialing for each campaign when an agent’s preview countdown ends. The minimum preview duration is 15 seconds. For details, see our content on how to set up autodial for campaign calls.

  

• Efficient Voice Channel Workflow via off-Hook Mode: With off-hook connection mode agents can instantly and seamlessly connect to customers and improve their productivity. Off-hook is a persistent connection from the agent’s device to 8x8 Contact Center. It removes the need to connect the agent’s workplace phone for every call handled. Agents set up their voice connection before they start working on calls and remain connected throughout their working day. It allows them to respond to incoming and outbound phone calls with a simple click on the user interface.

  In the previous behavior, after agents  log in to 8x8 Contact Center and make themselves available, they have to accept the interaction for every call that comes through the queue. If they miss the ringing phone, they will no longer be available to take the interaction.

  To enable off-hook connection mode for the tenant, log in to 8x8 Configuration Manager as an administrator and click Enable Off-hook Connection Mode in Home > Profile. If enabled by the contact center administrators, agents can click Enable Off-hook Connection in their 8x8 Agent Console's user profile. For details, see our content on  off-hook connection mode.
  

We have introduced a brand-new look for 8x8 Contact Center applications in this release. Additionally, we have a new feature enhancements for administrators:

Ability to Filter Campaign Lists Based on Do Not Call Preferences:  While creating a campaign filter, you can filter those numbers from Local CRM records that are registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS)  and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS), to be compliant with TPS and CTPS. This feature is currently supported for UK phone numbers, but will be extended to other countries in future releases.

This feature helps customers to be TPS/CTPS compliant, but does not guarantee it. Customers are responsible for their own compliance. It is recommended not to run campaigns longer than 28 days. For details, see our content on Filter Campaign Lists Based on Do Not Call Preferences.

We have introduced the following new enhancements to improve the productivity of agents, supervisors, and administrators.

• Ability to Set the Browser Language as the Pre-Chat Language: In 8x8 Configuration Manager, administrators can now set the browser language as the language visible in the pre-chat form. A pre-chat survey form serves to gather information from a chat user before initiating a chat. Using the form, you can collect information from an existing user, such as their preferred language. With this enhancement, the customer's browser language can optionally overwrite the pre-chat default language, eliminating the need for the customer to answer an extra question. When the translation is not available for the browser language, the pre-chat selected language will be in effect. See Translation in pre-chat form.
  

• Ability to Bypass Automatic Translation in Greeting Messages: In 8x8 Configuration Manager, the administrator can configure the greeting messages to bypass the automatic translation. Greeting messages are routinely used to invite the customers to a chat session. You can type your message in the chat window, and select to automatically translate. With the new enhancement, however, you can bypass the automatic translation and let the user provide a customized translation instead. See Greeting Messages in the summary table.
  

• Refreshed New Look for 8x8 Contact Center: Whether you are an agent, a supervisor, or an administrator of 8x8 Contact Center, you will certainly love the new refreshed user interface of all our applications. Look out for the notifications when you launch your application. Please note that we have kept all our functionality workflows intact so there is no learning curve for you.
  

• Ability to Message Customers via Facebook and Twitter: Take advantage of Facebook and Twitter to service customers directly and increase customer satisfaction with 8x8 Contact Center Social Integration. By unifying the agent experience, 8x8 Social allows users to channel their messages from social media into 8x8 Contact Center. Customers can contact the businesses and receive support from within their social platform. 8x8 Contact Center Social supports messaging via Facebook and Twitter in this release.To receive chat interactions, agents must be assigned to an enabled chat queue and be in Available state. See Social Media Integration.
  

• Increased Length of Email Addresses: You can now save email addresses exceeding 55 characters. The maximum limit now stands at 254 characters. This change allows many areas such as saving longer email IDs of agents, customers in Local CRM, setting up email notification for voicemails, and more. See User Profile.
  For the complete list of areas that benefit from this enhancement, see below.
  

New features and enhancements to VCC-8x8 Configuration Manager impact supervisors and agents. Some of these features are available to agents and supervisors by default, while others need to be enabled by administrators to benefit from the functionality.

• Enhanced Queued Callback: Our phone IVR scripts can now provide increased callback time, time granularity, and efficiency:

  • Increased callback time: The cancel callback time can be set to an increased maximum of six hours. The requested callback remains in an outbound queue for the duration of that time. Any callback attempt is prevented after the time expires. The callback request is removed from the outbound queue after Cancel Callback duration has expired.

  • Improved granularity for callback retry delay: You can set callback retry attempts using minutes, and seconds.

  • Improved granularity for Cancel callback after: You can set the time duration to cancel call back using hours, minutes, and seconds.

  • Improved efficiency for selecting the callback channel number: Using the new option [Current Channel] for CLI/CN, you can display the original channel number, which the caller used as the caller ID for the callback. This option is selected by default.  If you wish to display any other channel number during the callback, you can select from the list of available channels.
    

• Ability to Reserve Idle Agents for Inbound Queues: This feature only applies to outbound calls that are assigned to go through an outbound queue. The Reserve Idle Agents feature allows a configurable number of agents to be reserved in available and idle state, to  improve the probability of quickly attending to a new inbound call.   While there are fewer than the assigned number of reserved “Available and idle” agents, no queued outbound calls will be presented to agents.  Whenever the “Available and idle” agents reserve is exceeded then the most idle agent will receive a queued outbound call.
  

• Enhanced Voicemail Email Notification: The voicemail email notification provides more data allowing you to track the queued voicemails better. The following information is captured in the voicemail email notification:
  Transaction ID, tenant name, cluster ID, phone queue ID, voicemail queue ID, calling name, interaction GUID of the inbound phone queue, transaction ID of the inbound phone interaction, voicemail begin offset, filename, agent name, and voicemail retrieval delay.
  

• Ability to Prevent Agents from Rejecting Interactions: Improved the ability in 8x8 Configuration Manager to allow  or prevent agents from rejecting interactions. You can set up this ability for the entire tenant, an agent group, or. By default, this option is enabled allowing agents to reject interactions. When disabled, the Reject button in 8x8 Agent Console is disabled preventing agents from rejecting the interactions they are offered.
  

• Ability to Define Playback Speed of Text-To-Speech Prompts: You can define the playback speed of IVR Text-To-Speech (TTS) prompts when using the Say object. The Say object converts programmed text and variable objects such as phone number and queue position into speech. You can play these prompts slowly, at a normal speed, or at a faster pace. Using the playback rate option, you can control the speed of the speech that reads your text so your callers do not miss the important information such as names, numbers, or account balances. The default speed is Normal. The playback speed is set  per IVR Say node.
  

• Enhanced Email Routing Based on Customer Data: Emails can now be routed based on the CRM customer field of picklist type. For example, if a company wishes to prioritize their premium customers and offer to assist them quickly, agents can prioritize and route the emails from customers based on their account type, say Platinum, Gold, and Bronze. Emails received from Platinum customers can be routed to a dedicated queue for faster processing. Using the Check Picklist object in the email script,  you can filter emails based on the customer type and send them to their respective queues for better customer experience. To take advantage of the check picklist object, you must first define the desired customer field of picklist data type in the Local CRM and then select this field in the email script.
  

In this release, we have introduced a few enhancements and fixed many bugs:

• ImprovedTest Queue and Forward to Queue: Our scripts can now provide in-queue treatments, checking the status of a call in-queue, such as how long the current call has been waiting in the queue. We can also check the agent's availability in the queue at a more granular level in both Test Queue and Forward to Queue objects.
  

• Enhanced Edit and View inside scripts: The new enhancement adds double-click capability inside a script. This enhancement provides a quick way to view the object's details without opening it in the edit mode.
  To edit the object, click edit inside the View details window, or click the edit link next to the object inside the script.  This enhancement applies to all scripts including phone, email, and chat.
  

• Ability to generate  PDF images for scripts: You can now generate a PDF image of the script in a printable format and save it locally. It gives developers the ability and flexibility to review and design the script at a later time. This enhancement applies to all scripts such as phone, email, and chat.
  

• Allow agents to change Display Name: This new improvement allows agents to present themselves with a customized display name.  The new feature ensures agents privacy and helps them save time and effort to introduce themselves to customers every time they start a new chat. The display name also shows up in the chat log. Display Name can be modified by the 8x8 Contact Center administrator in the 8x8 Configuration Manager, or if permitted, by the agents in 8x8 Agent Console. The changes immediately appear in both applications.
  

Enhanced Control for CRM Reports: As an administrator, you have the ability to allow or prevent agents from creating or downloading reports for customers, cases, and tasks in Local CRM. By default, agents are allowed to create and download reports.

This release offers Global Reach for 8x8 Contact Center. The Single Tenant Global Reach initiative from 8x8 Contact Center provides best call quality on VoIP across  the globe. If your contact center has agents and customers distributed globally, serving your customers 24/7 with the right skilled agents and providing smooth call quality can be a challenge given the global operation. The last thing you want is to distress customers with poor call quality when they need help. The Single Tenant Global Reach initiative from 8x8 Contact Center provides best call quality on VoIP across continents.

With Single Tenant Global Reach, 8x8 Contact Center houses all your agents on a single platform and on a single tenant irrespective of their geographic location. The single-tenant architecture eliminates the need to log in to multiple tenants to manage traffic from different continents. An agent logging in from North America can service customer interactions not only from North America, but also from Europe and Asia Pacific with a single login and with little compromise on the interaction quality.

Benefits of global reach

• Single tenant for a global contact center

• Best call quality for global audience

• Availability of media servers in US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia Pacific

• Call flow based on the media server closest to the point of call origination

• Eliminated need for multiple tenants to serve geographically-distributed agents

• Smooth call quality and agent interaction experience

For details on Global Reach use cases, refer to Single Tenant Global Reach.

Improvements

In addition to Global Reach, the release offers key improvements in IVR capabilities, improving caller experience:

• In-Queue Treatments and Controls: Ability to provide better in-queue experience to callers.

• Queued Callback: Ability to call back customers who opted out of waiting in the queue.

• Text to Speech: Ability to announce free text or dynamically collected data using the text to speech engine.

• Agent Menu: Enhanced experience for callers in direct agent routed calls.

• IVR Variables: The ability to set variables allows programming abilities within IVR scripts enabling better caller experience. You can use variables to store the user input and use them to drive the call flow.

Other features and enhancements include:

• Time Zone Enhancements: Support for multiple time zones to better handle global operation of the contact center.

• Co-browsing via Chat: Ability to initiate Co-browsing via chat sessions.

• Improvements in Local CRM: The Local CRM now gives the ability to mark fields as mandatory, customize the display order of these fields, and even hide them.

• Optimized call quality and routing: We allow agents to input their country of location that helps optimize call quality and routing.

• Localization: We support European French and German languages.

• Browser Support: We support Microsoft Edge browser.

The  features and enhancements introduced in this release are:

• Unified Login: Allows you to log in to all 8x8 applications with a single username and password.

• Introducing Users tab: Go to the Users tab in the Configuration Menu to  configure users.

• Ability to add users: A user in 8x8 Contact Center can be an administrator, agent, or both.  You can or configure users in  8x8 Configuration Manager. Use a single username and password to log in to 8x8 Contact Center as an administrator or an agent.

• Ability to assign 8x8 Contact Center dedicated extensions: Use the hardware extensions dedicated to exclusively handle inbound and outbound call traffic for agents. They must be associated with a 8x8 Contact Center agent to receive, place, transfer, or make conference calls using the extension. Emergency services are not available with 8x8 Contact Center dedicated extensions.

• Manage phone channels and scripts: Using IVR scripts, define the inbound dialing experience for customers and direct them to a skilled agent quickly.

• Access to a default user group: Use the default group to create an agent quickly.

• Enhanced dial plans: System-configured dial plans now support extension-to-extension dialing.

• Multi-Chat

• Embedded Chat Design

• Enhanced Chat Script

• Direct Agent Routing

• Script Decoupling

• Single Sign-On Access for NetSuite Integration

• Single Sign-On Access for Zendesk Integration

• Handling Multilingual Chat

• Common Identifier for Pre-Chat Forms in Multiple Languages

• Enhanced Awareness of Queue Status

• Enhanced System Access Authentication

• Shared Wallboard Authentication