New Features in Switchvox

Switchvox version 7.8 introduces several exciting new features that will benefit Administrators and Users. These features are summarized here in the 7.8 release notes, and additional information on feature configuration and use available in linked articles. These new features include:

New Feature: Emergency Dialing Rules

Switchvox now has the ability to flag an Outgoing Call Rule as an Emergency Dialing Rule. This means calls in addition to 911 may now be treated as an emergency call.

When a call is placed using an Emergency Dialing Rule, Switchvox will generate an Emergency Dialing Notification.

Setting an Outgoing Call Rule as an Emergency Dialing Rule is easy - an Administrator simply toggles this new setting to Yes. With the update to version 7.8, Switchvox will automatically flag any existing rules for 911 to become Emergency Dialing Rules.

For more information on Outgoing Call Rules and how to configure an Emergency Dialing Rule, please refer to Setup Outgoing Call Routing

New Feature: Phone Locations

Switchvox version 7.8 introduces a new Admin feature for organizing Sangoma phones: Phone Locations.

With this new feature, a Switchvox Admin can assign Sangoma phones (any D-Series and the new P31X phones) to a Phone Location, giving that Location a label, an Outgoing Caller ID Number to be used for emergency calls, and selecting which of the Emergency Dialing Rules is used by the phones at that Location.

Phone Locations is an optional feature of Switchvox. A Switchvox Admin must configure a Location and assign the specific phones to it in order to make use of this feature. No Phone Locations are created automatically, and behavior of existing phones will not be altered with the update to Switchvox 7.8.

Implementing Phone Locations is required to enable Hot Desking, discussed below. It is also useful to improve organization of many phones, and to benefit emergency dialing management.

When a phone is assigned to a Phone Location, that Location’s Outgoing Caller ID Number is used for all emergency calls placed from the phone. The phone no longer uses the extension’s outgoing caller ID rules when it is assigned to a Location. This enables deskphones that are assigned as an Additional Phone to present a caller ID number when placing an emergency call that is different from that of the user’s main phone assignment. Now, users who have multiple desk phones can now have unique e911 numbers for each, by using Phone Locations.

For more information on how to configure and work with Phone Locations, please refer to the article Switchvox Phone Locations.

New Feature: Hot Desking

Sangoma is thrilled to announce that version 7.8 introduces Hot Desking capabilities to Switchvox.

Switchvox Administrators are now able to configure phone models P310, P315, D60, D62 and D65 so that users are able to easily Log In & Out of these phones. Hot Desking is useful in any shared workspace environment - whether as part of a contact center operation, or any other flexible/shift-based scheduling scenario.

Hot Desking in Switchvox can be enabled for some or all users. And a user can have both their permanent desk phone assignment, and also be able to log in to other Hot Desking phones without affecting their normal office phone. When a user logs into a Hot Desking phone, they bring all their settings with them - it behaves just like their individually-assigned phone!

Setting up Hot Desking requires configuration updates for both the phones, and for the users who will make use of them. A new “Hot Desking” menu item is available in the Admin Web Suite, which helps facilitate this process, shown here:

For more information on how to configure and work with Hot Desking, please refer to Hot Desking with Switchvox.

New Feature: Queue Autofill

Queue Autofill is a significant improvement to Advanced Queues in Switchvox. When enabled, the queue will automatically serve multiple calls to multiple available queue members (agents) at the same time.

Using Queue Autofill reduces a caller’s waiting time in queue, and improves the productivity of your queue members. Queue Autofill works intelligently with all Ringing Strategies. We think it is desirable to enable it in most every use case.

For example, with a queue configured for Round Robin and no Autofill, currently Switchvox will only serve Thomas Miller’s call (illustrated below). First, Maria will be rung. Then, if she does not answer, Raymond will be attempted. Then Beth and finally Jack, before trying Maria again. Whomever answers, they are connected to Thomas, and only then is the next caller (Mark Baker) being served.

The same scenario with Queue Autofill enabled results in multiple calls being served simultaneously. All four callers (Thomas, Mark, Amira and Amy) are ringing the four available queue members. All four calls can be answered at the exact same time, as soon as they arrive in the queue with an available agent.

Less wait time. Less queue abandonment. More calls answered. Close more sales. Deliver a better experience.

Queue Autofill is easy to enable: Just toggle the “Autofill” setting in the “Advanced” area of the Queue Setup. As with all Advanced Queue features, an active Switchvox Subscription is required to use this new feature.

For more information on Autofill and working with Advanced Queue features, please refer to How do I use Switchvox Call Queues?

New Feature: Wrap-Up Time Cancel

Wrap-Up Time is a Queue option which provides queue members additional time at the end of their last call before being served the next queue call. This existing feature is useful to allow the user to complete notes and prepare for the next call. However, the queue setting is static and the same for all queue members. Not all users need the same amount of wrap-up time, and not all calls require the same amount of post-call note taking.

Switchvox now allows Queue Members to cancel their own wrap-up time and be immediately served the next queue call. This is accomplished by clicking the “wrap up” icon on either the My Queues or Queue Overview widget on the Switchboard.

Improvements:

Optimized routines used within the Manage Phones and Sangoma Phones pages in the Admin Web Suite to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to make phone assignment changes on systems with a large number of users. (SWVX-17694)
Queue Callback attempt duration was increased from 30 seconds to 60 seconds when configured for Member-Waits, allowing additional time for the call to reach the party or voicemail when the intended recipient has a longer ring schedule. The Queue Member may still elect to disconnect at any time, which will continue to have the expected outcome of recording the callback attempt as a failure. (SWVX-17844)

Issues Resolved:

Corrected an issue that caused the Outbound SMTP Server to become unexpectedly altered, causing email notifications to not be sent due to a malformed relay address. (SWVX-17756)
Corrected an issue that caused the queue Answer Now feature to fail if a Queue Announcement was being played for the caller when initiated, but had finished playing before the user actually answered the ringing queue call. (SWVX-17789)
Corrected an issue that caused the original Caller ID to be lost when a queue call which was answered via Answer Now is subsequently blind transferred to an extension. (SWVX-17728)
Corrected an issue that caused Call Log Details to unexpectedly enumerate all the extensions that ring in a Ring All queue, along with those extensions’ Ring All user call rules, if applicable. (SWVX-17765)
Corrected an issue that caused the Desktop Softphone display to become blacked out in certain circumstances. (SWVX-17848)
Corrected an issue that caused a JavaScript error to present in the Desktop Softphone in certain circumstances. (SWVX-17201)

Updating to Switchvox 7.8