Overview: 8x8 integration for Microsoft Dynamics

8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center for Microsoft Dynamics brings phone communication through a dialer to your Microsoft Dynamics environment. The application launches conveniently from your Microsoft Dynamics dashboard, allowing you to combine the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics with the capabilities of 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center, and interact with your customers via phone without having to switch to another app.

Upon receiving an inbound call, the app tracks if the caller is an existing contact by searching your Microsoft Dynamics accounts and contacts, and pops the matching record for you to preview and prepare for the call. This way, you gain full insight into communications with any returning caller. You can be better informed and prepared to answer calls by previewing relevant caller record details before accepting a call.

Audience

This guide is intended for agents who use the 8x8 Contact Center integration with Microsoft Dynamics.

Availability

8x8 integration with Microsoft Dynamics is currently available in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Netherlands, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

About the 8x8 Contact Center app versions

You will see references to two version numbers in this user guide. The versions refer to the 8x8 Contact Center app versions. The 8x8 Contact Center app version number may differ from the 8x8 integration package version installed by the admin.

To identify the 8x8 Contact Center app version you are using, log into the 8x8 Contact Center app and look at the interface. Depending on the version installed, you will see:

8x8 Contact Center app version 1.0 8x8 Contact Center app version 1.1 8x8 Contact Center app version 2.0
For additional information on using the Contact Center app for this version, refer to Get started with Contact Center app version 1.0. For additional information on using the Contact Center app for this version, refer to Get started with Contact Center app version 1.1. For additional information on using the Contact Center app for this version, refer to Get started with Contact Center app version 2.0.

Features

The integration with 8x8 Contact Center offers the following features:

  • Integrate with the online implementation of Microsoft Dynamics.
  • Take advantage of phone, chat, email, and voicemail media support for communications.
  • Manage customer phone calls and chat requests from the integrated interface.
  • Increase agent productivity with integrated one-click dialing.
  • Get instant access to customer records via screen pop.
  • Track history of customer interactions via call logs and chat logs.
  • Set your status to accept or block interactions.
  • Check the status of other agents and communicate via phone or chat.
  • Use integrated functionality with the 8x8 Contact Center app via a floating integration window.
  • View real-time queue status and agent presence.
  • Log phone, chat, and voicemail interactions automatically based on account and contact.
  • View screen pop for web callback interactions.
  • Perform warm/cold call transfers between agents. This feature is only available in the 8x8 Contact Center app version 2.0.
  • Email routing via the 8x8 Contact Center app version 2.0. To have this feature enabled, contact 8x8 Support.

The integration with 8x8 Work offers the following features:

  • Communicate with users via the voice channel and serve customers faster.
  • Tap contextual information about the user and offer high-quality service. Be ready for any call by previewing matching contact record details before accepting a call, as well as see past interactions with the caller.
  • Reduce the waiting time for the caller while you look up record details.
  • Access contacts from the 8x8 Work contact directory for quick search and calling.
  • Increase agent productivity with integrated one-click dialing.
  • Quickly and intuitively log call details into Microsoft Dynamics and stay abreast of communication with users.
  • Improve customer service with advanced call handling capabilities, such as call transfer and multiple party calling.
  • Support for SMS channels.
  • Support for WhatsApp channels.

Limitations

  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premises installations are not supported.
  • The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online integration can only be launched in a floating window.
  • Automatic pop for new user creations is not supported yet.

  • The integration doesn't support finding Contacts with special characters such as a comma, hyphen, plus sign (+), minus sign (-), or spaces in the phone number.

  • Limitations related to email support: 
    • Ability to pull emails is not yet available.
    • Individual customer queued email is not supported.
    • The email support doesn't work with the 8x8 Contact Center app version 1.0, it is supported on the 8x8 Contact Center app version 2.0.
    • This functionality does not integrate with Local CRM.
  • Limitations related to SMS support:
    • We don't currently support SMS messaging to short code numbers. We support messaging to toll-free and regular phone numbers.
    • We don't support MMS.
    • Agents cannot send images or emojis via SMS. It is plain text only.
    • Customer responses to agent initiated messages are not directed to the agent unless a dedicated SMS queue is set up for the agent.
    • Group messaging is currently not supported for outbound SMS.
    • For outbound SMS, an SMS channel must be set up with a number for that region.
    • To send a message while on a call, there must be a disposition code set up.
    • Alphanumeric sender ID’s are not available.
  • Limitations related to WhatsApp support:
    • Agents cannot initiate outbound WhatsApp messages.
    • Agents cannot send images to customers; they can only receive images. The images sent by the agent will not be received by the customer.

For more information about requirements and limitations, refer to this 8x8 Support article.

Browser requirements

We recommend using Google Chrome to ensure a smooth experience.

Supported CRM objects

The following Microsoft Dynamics objects have been tested with 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center integration:

  • Account
  • Contact
  • Activity (used for auto call log generation purposes)
  • Lead (by default, this option is turned off)
  • Case (only supported for Microsoft Dynamics Customer Service)