What’s new for 8x8 Contact Center agents in December 2025?

In this release, we have introduced the following enhancement:

Enhanced presence indicators in contact directory

Note: This feature is currently Off by default. To enable it for your account, contact your 8x8 Account Manager.

Access the enhanced directory from the side navigation bar by clicking Contacts. The new directory includes improved presence indicators that show availability across both 8x8 Contact Center and 8x8 Work platforms. This enhancement helps teams collaborate more efficiently by surfacing real-time presence status directly within both environments. Hovering over the status displays the status as set by the user on the platforms.

Let's say Robin needs to escalate a customer issue to Pat, a billing specialist who primarily uses the 8x8 Work app. With the unified presence indicator, Robin can instantly see if Pat is available to take the call, thus saving time and improving resolution speed.

Benefits

  • Streamlined collaboration: Agents can see whether a colleague who uses both platforms is available in 8x8 Work before initiating contact, reducing delays and missed interactions.
  • Real-time status updates: Unified presence ensures that status updates are synced between platforms in real time. The status displays both the status and sub-status codes.

  • Smarter call routing: If a contact is using both platforms and you initiate a call from the Contacts tab, the system intelligently routes the call based on availability, prioritizing 8x8 Contact Center presence.

What’s new for 8x8 Contact Center agents in November 2025?

In this release, we have introduced the following enhancement:

Ability to use 8x8 Work call forwarding rules with the embedded 8x8 Agent Workspace softphone

8x8 Work call forwarding rules are now applied when using the embedded 8x8 Agent Workspace softphone. Prior to this release, call forwarding rules were automatically disabled when using the embedded softphone.

This change brings greater flexibility when using both 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center tools, ensuring that calls are managed efficiently based on your existing forwarding preferences.

How it works

  • Users who want to switch to the 8x8 Agent Workspace softphone:
    8x8 Work call forwarding rules stay active by default. If you wish to disable them, turn them off manually from 8x8 Admin Console.
    To enable the embedded softphone, see Set up your workplace phone.

What happens when I receive a call and call forwarding rules are enabled?

 

Using the softphone with 8x8 Work apps closed Using the softphone with 8x8 Work apps open
Calls to your 8x8 Work Direct Inward Dialing (DID)/extension follow your call forwarding rules. For example, if you’ve set calls to go to voicemail on reject, they will now do so automatically. Incoming calls ring for 30 seconds. If unanswered, the selected call forwarding rules apply (e.g., voicemail, redirect).

For enhancements introduced prior to this release, see our content on previous releases.