Release notes for May 18, 2024
New and enhanced features
- Admin features
- PCI Pal payment integration
Zoom Contact Center now provides PCI compliance to customers by integrating with providers who work on behalf of business customers to take payments over voice and digital channels securely. Zoom Contact Center has integrated with PCI Pal to provide one such solution that can be leveraged by customers. This integration allows Zoom Contact Center agents to take payments over voice or using payments links digitally. Digital payments links are supported for a variety of Zoom Contact Center channels including Video, Chat, SMS, Facebook and WhatsApp. The payment is retrieved and processed directly by PCI Pal in a compliant and secure manner. PCI Pal voice infrastructure has been integrated with Zoom Contact Center SBCs to allow PCI Pal to securely capture credit card DTMF tones from consumers. Zoom Contact Center call recordings do not capture any credit card details. This feature must be enabled by Zoom. - Enhancements to Real-Time Queue Performance tile
Account owners and admins can see additional metrics in the real-time queue performance wallboard tile. New metrics include longest wait duration, longest talk duration, longest wrap-up duration, and longest reply delay for each queue. There is also a summary view with total engagements waiting across queues and longest durations across queues. This provides greater visibility into real-time queue performance to identify queues needing help. - Events for Preview Dialer
Account owners and admins can use new events for the Preview Dialer feature for outbound dialing. By using existing events when applicable and creating new ones for specific cases, supervisors can monitor engagements, distinguish between dialer and agent calls, manage call lists, handle voicemails, track IVR interactions, and observe agent actions. These enhancements provide valuable insights into Preview Dialer operations, enabling better decision-making and optimization of outbound calling strategies. - Allow SVG files for bot avatar and campaign header image
Account owners and admins can upload SVG image files for bot avatars and campaign headers. SVG allows using transparent backgrounds to showcase company logos. This improvement gives users the freedom to tailor campaigns and bot appearances to align with their brand identity. - Enhancements to Work Sessions for email engagements
Zoom Contact Center agents would be able to end their work session if they have inactive email engagements i.e. email engagements marked as awaiting reply, assigned to them. When an agent ends their session with inactive email engagements, those engagements will be automatically reassigned to available agents, if the end-consumer responds when the agent is not available. This provides agents with more control over their work hours. - Sound alerts for new unread messages
When enabled, agents will hear a sound notification when they receive a new unread message for a background engagement they have open. This helps ensure agents receive audio reminders of messages needing a response when they are multitasking between engagements or applications. By notifying agents of messages requiring their attention, this improves agent productivity and consumer satisfaction. This feature must be enabled by Zoom.
Note : This feature will not be immediately available, as it is dependent on the client release currently scheduled for May 19, 2024 - Enhancements to button display
The Zoom Contact Center user interface has been improved with regards to displaying buttons to end users. Previously, buttons appeared unaligned and disorganized. They are now displayed stacked vertically and aligned for a cleaner and more intuitive interface. This enhancement provides end users with a better experience when presented with multiple button options to select from within Zoom Contact Center . - Enhancement to overage calculation logic
The Zoom Contact Center Concurrent Seat Model has been enhanced to provide customers with greater flexibility in connection with short-term overages. Prior to this enhancement, overage charges were incurred immediately when the number of users concurrently exceeds the purchased seats, even if this overlap was only for a brief period, such as during shift changes. Eligible customers will now enjoy a 30-minute grace period for overage calculations when users sign in. This means that if the number of concurrent users exceeds the purchased seats during this grace period, eligible customers will not be charged for the overlapping seats. Instead, overage charges will only be applied if the excess usage extends beyond 30 minutes. This enhancement will better align the billing practices with the dynamic nature of customers' operations.
However, it's important to note that while Zoom strives to offer flexibility, Zoom is also committed to preventing abuse of our system. Therefore, Zoom plans to implement an internal flagging system to monitor usage patterns. If any instances of abuse are identified, such as deliberate logging in and out to circumvent overage charges, Zoom reserves the right to adjust the grace period accordingly for that account.
Additionally, Zoom may modify or discontinue the grace period concept and/or customer eligibility criteria at any time in its sole discretion. - Support for Video Channel in Zoom Contact Center Smart Embed
Account owners and admins can enable Zoom Contact Center to integrate with third-party web applications like CRM, ticketing systems, EHR, and ERP systems through a smart embed. This feature allows users to handle video interactions, manage their status, and opt in/out of queues directly from the third-party application. It also provides developers with methods to perform screen pops, save engagement logs, relate interactions to specific objects, and invoke APIs based on contact center events. This integration enhances the user experience and streamlines workflows by combining Zoom Contact Center functionality with existing third-party applications. - Configure CRM setting
Account owners and admins can configure CTI connector settings through a new Configure CRM settings screen. Admins can enable channel configuration for agents, configure caller and context search criteria, and view configuration status per channel. The new setup flow provides a more intuitive experience for configuring CTI connector integrations for Salesforce, MS dynamics 365 and Zendesk. - Control agent conference options by queue settings
Admins can configure if engagements in a queue can be conferenced to other queues, Zoom Contact Center users, or external phone numbers. This prevents agents from accidentally conferencing engagements to incorrect destinations. The feature also allows exempting queue supervisors from the restrictions. Overall, it enables admins to tailor voice conference permissions to the specific needs of each queue. - Route engagements to specific agents with variables in flows
The Route To widget in Zoom Contact Center flows has been enhanced to allow routing engagements to specific agents defined by a variable. Admins can select a variable that resolves to an agent's email address to dynamically route engagements. This provides more flexibility compared to routing to predefined agents.
- Agent and consumer features
- Preview phone numbers before dialing with Zoom CTI Connector
A new option allows agents to preview phone numbers before dialing when clicking on a phone number in CRM systems like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zendesk, and Microsoft Dynamics 365. This helps agents avoid incorrectly dialed numbers stored in CRM. The CTI Connector dial pad shows the previewed number so agents can edit it before manually dialing if needed. - New searchable skills drop-down when transferring to queue with routing profile
A new search capability to the skills drop-down has been added so agents can quickly find the appropriate skill to complete the transfer. It allows faster completion of transfers to queues with routing profiles. This applies to Zoom Contact Center channels where the skills modal is shown such as Zoom desktop and Zoom Web App.
Note : This feature will not be immediately available, as it is dependent on the client release currently scheduled for May 19, 2024 - Persist outbound caller ID selection for agents across sessions
Agents can now persist their last used outbound number when sending SMS. Once an agent selects their outbound number, this selection will be remembered across clients within Contact Center. This enhances the agent experience by removing the need to re-select the same outbound number every time they log in or switch clients. Overall, it saves agents time and simplifies workflows when handling outbound SMS.
Note : This feature will not be immediately available, as it is dependent on the client release currently scheduled for May 19, 2024
Resolved issues
New and enhanced features
- Admin features
- Allow SVG files for bot avatar and campaign header image
Account owners and admins can upload SVG image files for bot avatars and campaign headers. SVG allows using transparent backgrounds to showcase company logos. This improvement gives users the freedom to tailor campaigns and bot appearances to align with their brand identity. - Enhancements to knowledge base setup and third-party integrations
Account owners and admins can easily view and configure all available third-party integrations for knowledge bases from one centralized landing page. The new setup flow allows admins to choose from manual setup, web sync, or integrations with various CRM platforms. Once an integration is selected, admins can configure sync settings and choose which knowledge base information to include. The simplified, guided setup makes it easy for admins to get knowledge bases connected and integrated with existing systems. - Add knowledge base content using custom API
Admins can generate a custom API key, enabling them to systematically integrate additional content from other data sources. The new API provides a simple way for admins to automate population of the knowledge base from external content repositories. This saves time by eliminating the need for manual entry of articles and results in more comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge bases. - Maintain the table format during the knowledge base sync
The formatting has been improved during web sync's for manual knowledge base type when the article source is PDF. This update captures a wider range of formatting such as headings, deep links, bold, italics, and underlines more accurately so that customer knowledge base information can be presented as intended. - Ability to link to specific steps in subflows
Conversation designers can now link from one bot subflow to a specific widget in another subflow. This allows skipping ahead in flows instead of always linking to the start widget. For example, a Collect Input widget can route to the 5th widget of subflow A. This provides more flexibility to customize the end-user experience by skipping unnecessary steps when linking between subflows. The enhancement is available for Condition widgets, Collect Input widgets, and other widgets that link subflows. - Inline opening of ticket forms in chat window
An enhancement has been made to the form input experience for Zoom Virtual Agent bots. Previously, forms opened in a side panel which could disrupt the conversation flow. Forms now open inline within the chat window so users can fill out the form without leaving the conversation. This enhancement allows users to continue the conversation after submitting or canceling the form. Inline forms simplify the interaction and keep users focused on the conversation. - Enhancements to button display
The Zoom Virtual Agent user interface has been improved with regards to displaying buttons to end users. Previously, buttons appeared unaligned and disorganized. They are now displayed stacked vertically and aligned for a cleaner and more intuitive interface. This enhancement provides end users with a better experience when presented with multiple button options to select from within Zoom Virtual Agent. - Support for dynamic image carousel
The new dynamic carousel feature allows admins to present a customizable carousel of images to consumers, providing an interactive and personalized experience. This feature offers visual previews of products or solutions, along with customizable call-to-action (CTA) buttons for each image. Consumers can navigate through the carousel, expand images for a closer look, use quick replies for faster interaction, and even download images for offline viewing. This new feature aims to improve engagement and drive faster dialog resolution. This feature must be enabled by Zoom. - Enhancements to manage agent availability hours for support channels
Account owners and admins can configure office hours and breaks for support channels to specify when agents are available. The bot flow will check agent availability before routing users to a support channel. If agents are unavailable during non-office hours, the chat channel option will not be shown, and users will be informed about the support channel availability. This feature ensures transparency and manages user expectations when seeking live agent assistance. - Support for RSA-256 encryption in consumer authentication
Account owners and admins can choose between ES-256 or RSA-256 encryption method for the JWT public key when enabling consumer authentication. This enhancement allows enterprise customers who use RSA-256 encryption to utilize the authenticated chat solution. The rest of the consumer authentication functionality remains the same, with the selected encryption method applied to the public key. This feature provides greater flexibility and compatibility for enterprise customers with specific encryption requirements.
Resolved issues