What’s Cooking in our Remote Kitchens? The 3CX Road Map

[ENCOM-GEFFRAY]

@Nick Galea Have answers for us, about our last post ?

 

[N_G]

@ENCOM-GEFFRAY Thank you for your feedback. These features are not easy to implement, in fact few features are in a complex system like 3CX. But here goes my feedback:

• The ability to put a precall message on an extension

Yes, i know its much requested in France.... Certainly something that we can look at at some point.

• Change the ringtone of the webclient

Yes, good point, matter of time

• Allow to have a ringtone for internal/external calls and queue

Yes, good point, matter of time

• No HOLD in the webclient in CTI mode.

This is unlikely to happen, and if you are answering it from an ip phone press on the hold button from the IP phone.....

Exemple for large accounts and customer relationship services :

• Exports too limited

In what way?

• No automatic passage of agents not responding by absent creating significant losses of SLA

Can you please explain more I did not understand

• Inability to play the waiting music that queues when an agent puts a call on hold from a queue

Yes... Nice to have, but is it really a massive issue?

• No LDAP connectors in Linux versions

For contact look up?

• No Active Directory connector

For user import/sync?

• No SSO

For the web client? Yes this is something we are looking into but not an easy thing at all.

• No contacts directory segmentation by user group

Yes this is in our road map

• No mass agent management

In what way?

• No distinction between abandoned and deterred calls

You mean rejected?

 

[ENCOM-GEFFRAY]

@Nick Galea thank you for your answers.
Below my comments end clarifications.

When you answer "Yes, good point, matter of time " I'm hopeful again. However, time in our industry is the key. Especially since in a market like France it is impossible to pass on to a customer a functional regression. All the features I'm talking about are present at the competition (Wildixx, Asterisk, RingCentral, Aircall, 8by8, Alcatel, Mitel, Avaya ...) I hope we can have a more precise return.

For hold a line in webclient in CTI mode I'll make a reason ...

• Export to limited
  • We have in our park, a number of customer relations services. They report daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, biannual, and annual. In these reports they need to be able to get out the overall number of all-queue calls in terms of total and average call duration numbers. We are talking about services that handle more than 1200 to 2000 calls per day. With the limit to 20,000 entries the monthly report is not even possible...

• No automatic passage of agents not responding by absent creating significant losses of SLA
  • You'll understand very easily. You have two agents in a queue. The scrutiny strategy is competency-based. The agent with the strongest competence is not absent while he is not in his position. A call comes in. The 3CX will ring this agent's position on a loop and will never switch to skill 2 because the agent is still eligible. In all the other ACD systems I have used, there is an option that allows an agent to automatically pass in absent when he is not answering a call with a popup in his client to warn him of this forced absence.

• Yes... Nice to have, but is it really a massive issue?
  • Most key relations services today are no longer single-brand or single-service. Call centres in particular work on behalf of contractors. It is important that the musical identity of the order-giving brand can be respected throughout the customer relationship and telephone communication. This is indeed a recurring demand from many of our prospects and customers.

• No LDAP connectors in Linux versions
  • Yes for contact lookup. and especially the ability to customize the pointing fields. Indeed, French universities, hospitals and administrations have LDAP directories imposed so that the system that will connect on it must be able to adapt and not the other way around.

• For the web client? Yes this is something we are looking into but not an easy thing at all.
  • Yes for the web client. It's already a good thing you're looking at. Be aware that the need for SSO is focused on large accounts and jurisdictions that include this request in call for tenders. Not having it is therefore closing in beautiful references.

• No contacts directory segmentation by user group
  • Great news for roadmap

• No mass agent management
  • Assume that you have, for example, 10 queues. In those queues you have the same 30 agents. It is impossible to duplicate an existing queue and just change the name, the number and the strategy, you have to recreate everything every time. It is also impossible to manage them through import exports, which would be sufficient. So it is very long to manage his queues. Similarly, it is impossible to quickly see which agents are part of which queues. An import/export of queues and their agents would therefore be appreciated.

• No distinction between abandoned and deterred calls
  • In managing the statistics of the queues a call that would hang up by the caller, or a call sent to the non-response destination are counted in exactly the same way. Apart from that has nothing to do with it. In the first case, the caller decides to get out of the wait. In the second case, the system pulled the caller out. Similarly it is impossible to have the share of call dropped from 0 to 30 sec, from 30 sec to 1min etc...

I look forward to your answers.

 

[ENCOM-GEFFRAY]

@Nick Galea I forgot a point

• No Active Directory connector
  • Yes for users management. Synchronisation

 

[house1]

Appreciate your continued work on Windows Client. Will you also add a Windows Client Subforum for it?

 

[[email protected]]

Can you please give us a list of top 3 usability issues or reasons Zoom was used? Zoom is not cheap and I simply cant see what makes it better but happy to hear feedback of course.

@Nick Galea - our entire team completely and 100% agrees with all points made by @accentlogic.

Also, my team wants to kill me because of all the 3cx audio issues that are stated so well by @accentlogic. I also use Zoom for personal meetings with friends and also for meetings that I host for my church group meetings. Users with very little computer skills are able to use Zoom. And it just works!

 

[cobaltit]

For those of you having problems, can you list your MCU location and date/time? I've had a little bit of exposure with web meeting and it's been good. I broadcast a service via 4G hotspot with about 70 participants for a little over an hour with no issues, and I recently setup web meeting for local zoo to use with their teen program and it's worked well for several meetings. The only issue I ran into each time was the iOS app issue where it just closes when you try to join, but no audio issues. I'm on the US West Coast for reference with MCU set to auto.

 

[perfect-touch]

A very basic one Nick - and I sound like a broken record - I cannot convince users that the loss of the MWI on the main panel of the new iOS app is an improvement when, patently, it is not. So much good stuff coming and I fear my user base will not allow the installation of the new IOS client for this reason alone And of course, with the new Apple push tech, no upgraded app, no push notifications... I feel like, once again, (last time 2017) I'm going to have to abandon 3cx and find another solution. So depressed about this again.

 

[house1]

Appreciate your continued work on Windows Client. Will you also add a Windows Client Subforum for it?

Many Thanks

 

[N_G]

@perfect-touch - When you have a new voice mail then there is a notification in the voice mail icon at the bottom? This is the standard...
@house1 - we already have one....

 

[ENCOM-GEFFRAY]

@Nick Galea any news ?

 

[perfect-touch]

@perfect-touch - When you have a new voice mail then there is a notification in the voice mail icon at the bottom? This is the standard...
@house1 - we already have one....

The iOS softphone doesn't have a voicmail icon at the bottom - maybe you thought we were discussing the windows 3cx client? The original iOS app had an envelope icon at the top of all screens - the beta iOS app only has a "badge" on the voicemail menu, which isn't visible without selecting the menu at the top left - Vali has since assured me that there will be an indicator on the menu button to highlight that a voicemail badge may be being displayed on the sub-menu. Much the same functionality although for the life of me, I don't get why it's better than what was already in-place.

Regardless - at least there is a solution coming - I was beginning to feel that the beta had removed a basic (and for me, essential) item

 

[N_G]

@perfect-touch - yes you are right, i was looking at my android client. on iOS we are limited to 5 icons at the bottom. We are discussing what to do.

@ENCOM-GEFFRAY Thank you for your feedback. Noted. I dont agree with your evaluation of the competition. Yes of course there are a few things you can find in a platform that we don't have. That's easy. But i can give you 100+ they don't have. You have to make some trade offs now and then and look at the overal picture.

 

[Juan Marriott]

@juan Marriot - https://www.3cx.com/blog/voip-howto/video-conferencing-diy/

Hello Nick,
I had seen that article, the numbers are little different in other countries; but I was talking about a "room software". Some way to use an iPad or trio as a controller, instead of mouse/keyboard.

We ARE preparing to leave zoom, I am thinking to use anydesk on an ipad as a"controller" for our conference room when can have room meetings again...

Anyway I like to thank you all for the great effort you guys are doing, we can tell for the many improvements the new 3CXmeeting has.

 

[ENCOM-GEFFRAY]

@Nick Galea

Hello Nick. Concessions we do only that ...
Not being able to have a pre-decroche is a concession, which costs us in France.
Not having AD sync to minima or SSO at best is a concession that costs us between 1 and two big files per month.
Not having directory segmentation is a concession that costs us 2 to 3 files per month, because all the big companies need to make sure that the accounting does not have the same directory as customer service, management etc... Not to mention multi-site societies.
Not having the opportunity to play waiting music corresponding to the entry queue makes us lose beautiful references as well.

I am a faithful among the faithful on 3CX. My commitment to the brand is quite unique, I think you will agree. And yet you're giving me a look back, take a step back.
I have been in telecoms for 17 years and have held management positions.
I am just humbly alerting you to the fact that in recent years the markers are moving, and not necessarily in the right direction for the positioning of 3CX on the French French market.

Can I still get your feedback on my last points?

 

[prcom]

My personal wishlist:

- Recurring meetings (currently we’re doing this by setting the meetings start date way far in the future)
- An Api Endpoint to create webmeetings. This would allow us to develop a slash command app for RocketChat/Slack/Teams

For me 3CX WebClient should become an alternative to Slack, Lark, Teams...
Obviously it would still be developed..

 

[ENCOM-GEFFRAY]

Agree with @Kai Alexander Fischer and @prcom

 

[Cascada]

@Nick Galea
SMS features for 3cx.... I know this features has been requested multiple times. Could you provide us with an update about when SMS will be available for 3CX?
We've been trying to move several of our customers (even our own system) from Jive / 8x8 / Fusion and other providers over 3cx. However, SMS is a must have feature for the majority of our customer. I really don't understand how 3cx have felt behind in this feature, when almost every other VoIP provider offers it. With the work force highly mobile, business owners (and customers) prefer a quick SMS to a phone call.

 

[N_G]

@Cascada - planned for update 7 as per the blog post..... Cant give exact timings I am afraid but we are working on it as we speak.

 

[blue12]

@Nick Galea and the team at 3CX
Firstly all, really great job. I was using the new system today and it is very smooth and noticed the change when joining a meeting.
I also see that when i am sharing my screen now in the 3CX Webmeeting window it comes up telling me that I am sharing my screen in big box in the centre that i cannot close.
It would be good to be able to close this as I am currently creating tutorials in Webinar format to teach end users how to do things.
I think the main things to cover for Webmeeting side of things to be visually and practically comparable to Zoom are:

• Blur or change background
• Recurring meetings (weekly toolbox meetings)
• Ability to change a scheduled meeting without having to delete and re-create
• Ability to lock the meeting so no one else can join
• Ability to mass enable/disable audio/video/chat for rest of participants
• When sending email out thru 3CX direct, include the open link in conference details so it can be shared if needed without going into the meeting to get it
• Add and remove users prior to meeting start from scheduled conference area without going into meeting
• Better attachment handling
• Transmission of sound from pre recorded media to participants (movie sound / powerpoint sounds etc)

Thanks again everyone

Recurring meeting is a must for me and my clients. Especially the schools.