What's new in the 8x8 Contact Center for Salesforce?

In this release, we have introduced the following enhancements:

Support for SMS channels

The 8x8 integration for Salesforce now supports SMS channels. With this new feature, agents can send and receive SMS messages to/from customers using the chat interface in the 8x8 Contact Center app.

Note: The cost of sending messages to different countries varies based on the country, with the US and Canada being the least expensive.

Limitations:

  • We currently don't support SMS messaging to short code numbers. We support messaging to toll-free and regular phone numbers.
  • We don't support MMS.
  • SMS messaging doesn't support images or emojis. 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.

To learn more, see Handle SMS.

Support for WhatsApp channels

The 8x8 integration for Salesforce now supports WhatsApp channels. With this new feature, agents can communicate with customers via WhatsApp using the chat interface in the 8x8 Contact Center app.

Limitations:

  • 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.

To learn more, see Handle WhatsApp.

 

Previous releases of 8x8 Contact Center for Salesforce

In previous releases, we introduced the following enhancements:

Extended regional support

To make the 8x8 integration for Salesforce more inclusive, we are including France to our list of supported regions. In addition to France, the 8x8 integration for Salesforce is available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), the Republic of Ireland, and France.

8x8 Contact Center app version 2.0

We are introducing an upgraded 8x8 Contact Center app for Salesforce. The 8x8 Contact Center app version 2.0 for Salesforce is a highly intuitive interface that streamlines customer interactions while delivering a simpler, more efficient, and more engaging way for agents to keep productivity high and customer experiences positive. This clean new interface allows agents:

  • To process interactions and manage their routine tasks with ease.
  • To see the system searching the CRM for matching records from the moment the interaction is offered to an agent.
  • To view a screen pop for single match records (if configured by the admin).
  • To match the interaction to the desired contact when multiple match records are found.
  • To search the CRM and match the interaction to the desired contact.
  • To add disposition codes before wrap up.

Ability to send and receive emails via the 8x8 Contact Center app version 2.0

8x8 Contact Center integration for Salesforce now supports Email routing via the 8x8 Contact Center app. Once this feature is enabled in your integration by your administrator, you are able to accept and reply to emails directly from the 8x8 Contact Center app. When an email is offered , the 8x8 Contact Center app searches for the customer info in your Salesforce CRM, and, if available in the system, screen pops the customer info in a new browser tab.

The support for email communication allows agents to:

  • Accept emails with contextual screen pops of customer records.
  • Review the list of matching customer records before selecting the right one.
  • Stay in busy status while processing the email to avoid any distractions.
  • Create a case automatically for the accepted email and linked to the customer record.
  • Reply, forward, close, and transfer emails quickly and efficiently.
  • Send new and follow up emails.
  • Keep track of the email thread through the case history.