Overview: Virtual Office for G Suite
Virtual Office for G Suite offers improved connectivity and communication with your contacts via Gmail and Google Calendar. Whether it is a phone call, or an email from a contact, you instantly get the contextual information to enable effective communication.
Features
- Access the 8x8 Communication Panel inside Gmail and Google Calendar to access contextual information to support your interaction with contacts.
- Enable effective communication by searching for relevant information in the context of a phone call, email, or meeting, or by searching manually.
- Search and access contacts from the 8x8 and Google contact directories, and from Salesforce contacts in one easy-to-search screen within the G Suite native environment.
- Call contacts instantly using the click-to-dial links within G Suite applications, such as Gmail, Google Docs™, and Google Calendar™.
- Present key contextual information in Gmail when you place phone calls and check emails from contacts within Gmail conversations.
- Open an email to search for contact details of the individuals in the email, as well as access past emails with the contact.
- Present the 8x8 context panel with contextual links to business applications (such as Salesforce) within Gmail.
Limitations
- Integration with G Suite works only in Chrome. Other browsers are currently not supported.
- Integration with G Suite only works with enterprise Google accounts. Personal Google accounts are not supported.
- Outbound calls using the integration are two-legged calls. You must first answer the call on your desk phone or from the 8x8 Work. the call then dials out to the desired destination.
- Chromebook users cannot install the 8x8 Work, and therefore cannot use the integration.
- Real-time presence is limited to contacts from the Google directory. The presence status of contacts from the 8x8 contact directory is currently not supported.
Audience
G Suite and 8x8 Virtual Office users who often interact via phone and email with company contacts and a wide population of external contacts benefit from the contextual information offered by the integration.
If you are a field sales agent interacting via email with many contacts stored in Salesforce, the integration searches and presents contact information from Salesforce.
Use case
Robin, a small business owner, gathers potential contacts for her business at a trade show. She adds these contacts in her Salesforce account. A few days later, she receives an email from Sam, who she met at the trade show. When she opens the email, the Communication Panel searches and lists the existing Salesforce contact record for Sam.
Upon continued communication (via email and phone) with Sam, Robin can access email history, call logs, and meetings set up with Sam, all in a single screen. Robin is now spared the extra effort to look for information in multiple places, and can work more efficiently than ever! Additionally, when Robin handles calls, click-to-dial phone numbers enable more effective communication.
