Overview
This article provides information about XF Workspace, a product solution designed to match the specific contact center needs of some Fuze customers who are migrating to 8x8.
Applies To
- 8x8 Work
- 8x8 Contact Center
- Fuze
Questions & Answers
What is XF Workspace?
XF Workspace is a combined implementation of 8x8 Work and 8x8 Contact Center.
It’s designed so that users who communicate externally with customers as a part of their job, but not their primary job focus, can do so via 8x8 Work apps instead of 8x8 Contact Center.
To facilitate this, 8x8 Contact Center is tied to 8x8 Work. Users will be assigned to queues in Configuration Manager for Contact Center, but will make and receive their calls in 8x8 Work applications.
Is Supervisor Workspace available for XF Workspace?
Yes, assigned supervisors can access Supervisor Workspace from 8x8 Work apps by clicking on the eye icon to launch Supervisor Workspace in a web browser tab. This icon appears only for assigned Supervisors.
The default layout of Supervisor Workspace for XF Workspace is different from that of our formal 8x8 Contact Center, with some widgets that would need to be purchased additionally.
Supervisor Workspace for 8x8 Work for Mobile
- Support for Supervisor Workspace in 8x8 Work for Mobile is available.
- 8x8 XF Workspace agents (including supervisors) using 8x8 Work for Mobile will still be able to see and log into or out of their assigned XF Workspace call queues in the mean time.
Is XF Workspace an inexpensive edition of 8x8 Contact Center?
No, it’s simply designed for the needs of different professionals. The price point can vary based on the amount of add-ons the customer requires to run their business.
Can XF Workspace become a full Contact Center through purchasing add-ons?
No, but it can reach the same price point and capabilities while keeping the agent persona experience flexible.
Can XF Workspace be paired with more management and supervision capabilities like Status codes reporting?
The capabilities included in XF Workspace should be tailored to the corresponding use-cases. If more control is required from the business department running a Contact Center, then 8x8 Contact Center is recommended, instead.
Can I run a formal contact center on XF Workspace?
No, XF Workspace is not built with this in mind.
Can queue Post-Processing timeout be set to Manual?
No, call queue Post-processing timeout must never be set to Manual for XF Workspace users.
This would permanently place those users into Post Processing after their first call, without a way to end post-processing. In this case they would no longer receive any queued calls.
Also keep in mind that agents will not see a countdown timer for Post-processing timeout when their current queued call terminates. From their perspective, they will be in Available status once a call ends, as the post-processing timer counts down out-of-sight in the background. To avoid confusion, we suggest that administrators either set this property to a reasonable (non-manual) value, or notify their agents of the value set, or both.
When I enable a Supervisor, their 8x8 Work status doesn't change
Supervisor entitlement updates take two hours to be reflected in 8x8 Work for Desktop/Web/Mobile.
This setting is cached for two hours from the time of first login to 8x8 Work after the supervisor flag has been enabled in the Configuration Manager for Contact Center.
Can I mix and match XF Workspace and formal Contact Center?
Yes, depending on the teams and their job responsibilities. Some teams could be using XF Workspace, while others might be better served using a formal Contact Center.
The mix and match applies for:
- clients that have Hybrid Tenants, a tenant that has both XF Workspace and Contact Center licenses.
- clients that have at least two Contact Center tenants. One of those tenants must have XF Workspace licenses and the other one must have Contact Center licences.
Is XF Workspace compatible with CRM integrations?
Yes, XF Workspace is compatible with the following 8x8 Work integrations for CRM:
- Salesforce CRM (Lightning and Classic)
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Sugar CRM
- 1CRM
- Bullhorn
- Copper
- FreshDesk
- Hubspot
- NetSuite+
- Pipedrive
- ServiceNow
- VTiger
- Zendesk
- Zoho
None of the additive functionalities of XF Workspace are available in the 8x8 Work integrations for CRM. Functionalities as:
- Logging in or out of queues
- Video elevation
- Pause reason
To access these functionalities use Work for Desktop or Work for Web.
What call recording and transcription options are available for 8x8 XF Workspace?
Two call recording policy and transcription options are available for XF Workspace. Note that both of these transcription options are add-on services, and require additional purchase:
- Conversation IQ (CIQ) is required for transcription of agent calls in UC (8x8 Work apps). For XF Workspace this includes all calls, including those from Contact Center Queues. CIQ is available on a per-user basis (not all agents) and includes both Quality Management and Speech Analytics.
- Speech Analytics (SA) is required for transcriptions of agent calls on the Contact Center side, or for XF Workspace if only Contact Center Queue call recordings and transcriptions are needed, instead of direct UC calls. When purchasing SA, it will be available for all agents (Contact Center and XF Workspace cumulative) who are provisioned in the selected tenant. Separate tenants require separate SA purchases. It’s available in several tenant service configurations:
- XF Workspace implementation, only.
- A full formal Contact Center implementation, only.
- A hybrid service with both XF Workspace and a full formal Contact Center.
Note that 30 days of recording hot storage are included in the base product, and additional hot storage can be purchased through your 8x8 CSM or account manager.
For instructions on managing your call recording storage policy, see Managing Call Recording Storage Policy in 8x8 Admin Console.
What Quality Management options are available for 8x8 XF Workspace?
Two quality management options are available for XF Workspace. Note that both of these quality management options are add-on services, and require additional purchase:
- Conversation IQ (CIQ) is required for transcription of agent calls in UC (8x8 Work apps). For XF Workspace this includes all calls, including those from Contact Center Queues. CIQ is available on a per-user basis (not all agents) and includes both Quality Management and Speech Analytics.
- Quality Management (QM) is required for quality assessment of calls on the Contact Center side or for XF Workspace if only Contact Center Queue call recordings and transcriptions are needed, instead of direct UC calls. When purchasing QM, it will be available for all agents (Contact Center and XF Workspace cumulative) who are provisioned in the selected tenant. Separate tenants require separate QM purchases. It’s available in several tenant service configurations:
- XF Workspace implementation, only.
- A full formal Contact Center implementation, only.
- A hybrid service with both XF Workspace and a full formal Contact Center.
Is Supervisor Workspace available for XF Workspace?
Yes, with a default layout for XF Workspace different from the formal 8x8 Contact Center, and more widgets that would need to be purchased additionally.
How to swap XF Workspace seat to Contact Center and vice-versa?
There is no official and automatic downgrade/upgrade option from Contact Center to XF Workspace licenses, or vice-versa.
When this is required, the recommended way is to do a license swap as follows:
- Important! This process is destructive for the user configuration on the Contact Center side and re-configuration is required after swapping the license
- The platform user profile is still preserved, recordings (including CC), call logs and UC messages are persisted
- The user's phone number and settings will be lost, so the Workplace phone number has to be configured again
- The agent has to be re-assigned to the CC queue
- Supervisor config has to be re-added
- For the user in the Agent Workspace tile will temporarily still be displayed in SSO Panel (cache for 2h) after the license swap
- Users are removed from user groups and all the configs are lost
- If the CC license is directly replaced with the XF Workspace license (so instead of remove X8 -> save -> add XF Workspace license -> save, just replace the CC license with the XF Worskpace one and save once), Admin Console automatically reverts the selected license to X8, so remove X8 > Save > add XF Workspace > Save is needed
- In Admin Console, select the user that is currently on a formal CC seat (e.g. X8)
- Note down the DID, UC extension and CC extension, if you want those to be restored for this user.
- Remove the licenses (both the VO and VCC parts) from the Services and permissions and Save
- Select the desired license ‘XF Workspace (CC)’ service, then press + to add the VO component of the XF Workspace, e.g. ‘XF Workspace Global.
- Ensure you select a DID, UC extension and a unique CC extension in the ‘Virtual Contact Center (VCC) agent settings’, the settings noted in step 1 could be re-used or new one. Then Save the user profile.
- At this step, configuration in CC Config Manager needs to be re-done as per Relevant user configuration section, add them back the Workplace phone number, queues, supervisors, agent group, display CLI.
At this point the CC user should be successfully re-configured as an XF Workspace user.
Should I use Business Hours as an XF Workspace user in 8x8 Work for Mobile?
This is not recommended, as the system will still consider you as Available for queue calls outside of business hours and will attempt to serve you queue calls in a continuous loop. This could also cause an artificial increase in a high volume of missed calls on the next day, from the assigned and enabled queues on your mobile app.
Instead, users should perform any of the following to avoid Work for Mobile calls outside of business hours:
- Log out of 8x8 Work for Mobile.
- Select Do Not Disturb in Work for Mobile.
- Sign out of assigned queues when you are outside of business hours.
Known Issues
- Rejected or Missed Calls affect In-Queue Treatment
- When agents remain logged into a queue (Available) but they reject or miss calls in that queue, the caller is not offered alternative action such as opting for a callback because in this scenario the In Queue treatment is not triggered.
- Workaround/Solution #1: Agents not taking queue calls should either set Do Not Disturb (DND) in 8x8 Work, or log out of their queues in 8x8 Work.
- Workaround/Solution #2: In Configuration Manager for Contact Center > Home > Profile, check Enable Enhanced Ringtone and Save. Callers will then continue to hear the queue audio stream (Music On Hold, pre-programmed announcements, etc.) until the call is actually answered, rather than receiving a ringback when their call interaction is presented to an agent. It's also suggested that the music audio file presented to the queue On Hold can be edited/spliced to provide more information or music while the caller is on hold waiting for an agent.
- When agents remain logged into a queue (Available) but they reject or miss calls in that queue, the caller is not offered alternative action such as opting for a callback because in this scenario the In Queue treatment is not triggered.