Hi Ben,
Interestingly enough our primary/preferred configuration for agents is to route direct calls both on their DID and extension number to VCC, it also blocks outbound calls made from 8x8 Work endpoints, forcing the agent to make all calls via 8x8 agent workspace.
It was a design which dates back to the inception of our contact centre solution with 8x8 many years ago (before my time), however this functionality has never made it out of limited availability, only possible for pre-existing users of the feature.
I think the irony is that this concept is the closest to try to realise the XCaaS "One Platform" idea that has been marketed for many years, yet it doesn't appear to be on the road map in any shape or form.
Agent Softphone and 8x8 Engage seem to be trying to get there, but the product teams don't seem to realise their likely hitting all the same hurdles which led us to use the limited availability dedicated agent feature all along.
The nice thing about fully containing agents inside VCC while keeping some of the PBX level functionality like DID call routing is that the contact centre supervisors and managers can be assured that by looking at the VCC analytics, they see all their agents' activities in a single pane of glass, no other current configuration, unless it's leveraging a third party softphone like Bria for workplace phone calls can guarantee this.
I firmly believe agent softphone should actually be the above feature fully developed into a more capable and fully supported release, but with the twist that you can embed 8x8 Work for Web inside 8x8 Agent Workspace and turn on and off access to the other endpoints, such as desktop, mobile and hard phone on an individual basis.
You also mentioned call forwarding rules, it is one of my biggest bugbears with the 8x8 system that call forwarding rules appear to be so badly thought out and poorly implemented.
For example, for starters, I've never encountered a product where the "Always forward" calls feature doesn't actually do the same thing as all other vendors do, including mobile phones.
You may have noticed that ticking "Forward all calls" greys out the other options, even if they are ticked, suggesting they are "locked out/inactive", oh no, they are still there, active, in parallel to the forward all calls rule, without any warning/guidance to the user!! MADNESS!!!
Also, another logical concept, to your point of trying to avoid VCC calls/direct calls hitting an agent's 8x8 Work extension voicemail box, first of all, because it's 8x8 system, of their own design, they should be able to prevent any VCC calls from reaching a workplace phone's voicemail box, in my opinion, this feature should be enabled by default (keeping the control at the administrator side, allowing edge cases to be made possible of course).
Why you would ever want an agent's workplace phone calls to be answered by their 8x8 work voicemail box is beyond me, it must cause a significant number of caller complaints across the user base if my experience is anything to go by.
And finally.. for now, the idea that unticking call forwarding rules to avoid the unexpected behaviour like I described above, somehow this isn't recommended, and some rules should always be left in place (without any warning of this at the UI) otherwise bad things happen, is also crazy!
For example, if you think, what's the logical approach to avoid the agent workplace calls being answered by the mailbox, in my head, untick "When user does not answer the call within..." rule, nope, best to leave that ticked, but make it longer than the agent offer timeout??
It's a shame that the unique position that 8x8 have as the UCaaS and CCaaS full stack vendor, the two platforms don't really seem to co-exist in a way you'd expect, and new features being developed seem to miss the bigger picture in how to bring the best of both worlds to the customer.
I don't usually come to this forum to rant like this, but these issues are such a pain point, your message was a trigger. ��
Original Message:
Sent: 7/8/2024 11:58:00 PM
From: Ben Fischer
Subject: RE: How do you manage Direct and Queue Calls
Yes, the Workspace Softphone will solve this for one agents, but we also have sales reps who take calls directly AND via queue which the workspace softphone will not resolve.
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Ben Fischer
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2024 20:56
From: Ben Fischer
Subject: How do you manage Direct and Queue Calls
We have some agents who get direct calls to their 8x8 as well as Queue calls.
When they get a direct call, 8x8 work changes to In Call but VCC stays Available. When a queue call comes in, it gets redirected to their 8x8 work voicemail which, to be honest is a rubbish experience for the customer. Most of the time it's
"Welcome to our voicemail system. You have the reached the mailbox of #extension. Sorry, this mailbox is full and cannot accept any more recordings. Thank you for using the voicemail system. Goodbye.." *hang up*
a) CAN you make 8x8 update vcc status when work status changes?
b) how are you managing direct and queue calls?
c) am I missing something?
Cheers
Ben
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Ben Fischer
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