What's new in the 8x8 Contact Center 8.4 release (with Unified Login and 8x8 Work)

In this release, 8x8 unites the customer service quality of 8x8 Contact Center with the global communication power of the 8x8 8x8 Work phone system. We introduce enhancements and new features that benefit agents, supervisors, and administrators. This release guide gives an overview of the features and helps you with the transition.

Audience

This release guide is for 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center users who have access to 8x8 Unified Login, and discusses features and changes introduced in this release.

Features

Unified Login: This key feature in 8.4 benefits both administrators and agents. Unified login is the ability to log in to all 8x8 applications with a single username and password. For example, if you subscribe to multiple 8x8 services such as 8x8 Work, Switchboard Pro, 8x8 Analytics for Contact Center, etc., you can access all these applications with a unified login. Go to the unified login URL, http://login.8x8.com, and log in with your credentials. The Application Panel launches, showing all the 8x8 applications to which you have been granted access. You do not have to log in to each application separately, or remember complex login URLs.

For Administrators

Administrators who serve 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center tenants have the following new and improved capabilities:

• Ability to add 8x8 Contact Center agents: Create user profiles in 8x8 Account Manager and assign agent capabilities to these users.
• Ability to add 8x8 Contact Center administrators: Assign administrator privileges to users to manage the contact center and/or PBX functionality.
  
• 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 manage phone scripts: Using IVR scripts, define the inbound dialing experience for customers and direct them to a skilled agent quickly.
• Enhanced 8x8 Contact Center dial plans: Use dial plans that handle private PBX numbers in addition to full public numbers. Users are able to use system variables and create user variables.

For Agents and Supervisors

Agents and supervisors who serve 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center tenants have the following benefits:

• Shared Directory: Provides a company directory for 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center users. Directory entries are managed through Account Manager.
• Shared Presence: The presence status of 8x8 Contact Center agents and users in the 8x8 Work for Desktop and 8x8 Work for Mobile is shared in both 8x8 Agent Console and 8x8 Work client applications.
• Assign Dedicated Extensions: 8x8 Contact Center agents are assigned to dedicated desk phones that are meant to exclusively handle inbound and outbound call traffic for agents.
• Extension-to-Extension Dialing: Users can call extension users across 8x8 Contact Center and 8x8 Work using extension numbers. This release supports click-to-dial and call transfers between contact center agents and other users in the company. Agents can get insight from experts, or connect the customer and the expert directly.
• Instant Messaging: 8x8 Contact Center agents can chat with each other and with 8x8 Work for Desktop or 8x8 Work for Mobile users.
• Call Parking: Agents can park a call to be retrieved by another agent or an extension user who may be currently busy.
• Improved Login Time for Agents: The time it takes to log in to 8x8 Agent Console has been greatly improved.
• Improved Chat Window Capacity: We have increased the chat window capacity to 5000 characters.
• Ability to Clone Tasks in Local CRM: Agents can replicate tasks quickly with a click on the task form creating a new task.
• Streamlined Access to 8x8 Analytics for Contact Center: Supervisors and agents can now launch 8x8 8x8 Analytics for Contact Center from 8x8 Agent Console, eliminating the need for a separate login.

Known Issues

We have a few known issues that will be resolved in the upcoming release. For details, see Known Issues in 8.4.