Question
What is an 8x8 Contact Center platform switch?
Applies To
- 8x8 Contact Center
- Platform Switch
Answer
A platform switch occurs at our datacenter. It is an event where a tenant (the instance of the Contact Center agents log into) is moved from a primary platform to a secondary platform within the datacenter. There is no downtime associated with a platform switch since all logged-in agents are only required to log out and log back in. End customers calling/chatting/emailing to the tenant see no impact.
Why is a platform switch necessary during off-hours?
A platform switch for scheduled or emergency unscheduled maintenance during off business hours is done in order to complete software/hardware upgrades and other general system maintenance. These events are normally communicated in advance with upgrades that have a change to the user environment or to introduce new features. System maintenance can also happen during normally scheduled maintenance windows of Sunday and Thursday nights between 9:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m. Pacific Time for general system upkeep such as adding system memory or other capacity related issues.
Why is a platform switch necessary during business hours?
In order to provide business/operational continuity, a platform switch for unscheduled maintenance during normal business hours may be inevitable and required to address an issue that cannot wait for an off-hours maintenance window. These switches are only done during business hours to proactively address an issue that could potentially disrupt services if not addressed immediately or to address issues that are alerting or reporting to be impacting ongoing services at that time.
What to expect, and what do agents need to do?
During scheduled maintenance events, logged in agents will receive a pop-up message 15 minutes prior to the maintenance event as a courtesy reminder. The pop-up message does not interrupt service and the agent should simply close the message after reading it. In addition to the notification message, a red alert bar also shows up at the top of the control panel alerting agents and reminding them to exhaust the interactions waiting in the queue. No other actions are necessary.
If the end users are not logged in at the time when the broadcast notification message is sent, they will see the message next time when they log in, advertising about the platform switch in the next 15 minutes. The time will need to be correlated with the email received 5 days prior to the platform switch.
If the end user encounters any login issues please have them clear their browser cache and try again to resolve any issues. Contact 8x8 support if you have any questions or need help with how to clear browser cache.
What happens when the switch takes place?
When a platform switch is initiated, all logged-in agents receive an on-screen pop-up message notifying them to complete any calls in queue and to log-off and back on to the system.
What will happen to interactions that are currently connected in the IVR or in Queues?
- After the final notification, agents should complete the remaining interactions in the queue, log out and back into the system. Agents who do not log out eventually may experience a non-responsive Agent Workspace and see the status of Connection Lost. Note: Unattended calls in queues are abandoned at the expiry of final notification.
- Calls and Chats that are connected to agents will not be disconnected and will continue until either party ends.
- Calls that are in the IVR or queue will be offered to any available agent in that respective queue. Agents should accept all interactions in queue before logging out and logging back failing which those interactions will be ‘dropped’.
- Chats, Emails and Voicemails in the queue will be automatically redirected to the new platform and will be presented upon logging in as well as any new callers that call into the queue after receiving the platform switch message.
- Reporting is unaffected however the agent log-out and log-in activity will be reflected.
Additional Information
Monitoring and wallboards will be resetting after the platform switch.