Any 3CX customer knows two things: the company has an almost obsessive compulsion to offer fantastic value for money, with a “free forever” mantra that applies to small businesses in particular; and it matches that with its untiring desire to improve its products.
It does that by listening to what customers want, as can be clearly seen in the latest update: 3CX V20 Update 2. If there’s an overriding theme to this release, it’s about getting you closer to your customers. That means understanding them better, helping them reach the right people within your organization more easily, and protecting their privacy.
In this overview, we go through the key improvements, but it’s worth emphasizing that this isn’t everything that’s in the update. 3CX also has a new high-priority setting for better voice quality, while 3CX partners who host the service for companies should take a deep look at the new 3CX Multi-Tenant feature.
Adding AI magic
This isn’t about adding AI for the sake of it. Instead, 3CX has looked at how AI can help its customers solve real problems.
The solution in question is OpenAI’s WhisperAI tool, which transcribes speech. While automatic transcription has been around for a while, it can be difficult to configure properly, so by integrating it with this latest update 3CX is bringing such tools to everyone. No expertise required.
As well as summarizing your calls in a search-friendly manner, 3CX will also assign each transcribed call with a sentiment score. A “1” implies a mostly negative customer experience, while “5” means mostly positive. This is based on both the agent’s and the caller’s tone.
Combined with other data, such as how long people have been kept waiting in call queues, it’s possible to use this information to take action to stop negativity (and facilitate positive calls and higher agent proficiency) in the future.
You can also take advantage of 3CX’s new AI reports. With summaries and sentiment scores stored for each call, many reports have now been enhanced with a sentiment score average, allowing you to see the general sentiment of a particular queue, ring group or agent.
Presence in 3CX and Teams
We’re all well aware of how useful presence information can be within teams, especially those distributed across different locations, but it can be extremely challenging to keep presence information synchronized across software platforms. With V20 Update 2, you can easily synchronize Microsoft Teams presence to 3CX, or from 3CX to Teams.
Previously, this was possible – but only if you went through the arduous step-by-step process of configuring Microsoft Teams Direct Routing. Now, so long as you’ve integrated Microsoft 365 correctly, it will simply work.
Greater admin control
This update isn’t just great for users; it’s great for admins, too. You now have granular control down to the user level, in a way that wasn’t possible before. For example, you can now configure per user whether they can see call logs of other users in the group – and whether they can hide their calls from other users in that group.
You can also control whether the presence of other users is shown or not, and whether they can perform call operations. For example, whether they can transfer and divert calls, or perhaps pick up a call currently with the Digital Receptionist.
Admins can now see who’s connected to your PBX – and then terminate that connection if necessary. For the moment, only web client connections are shown, but this will include connections via apps in the future.
Private videoconferencing
3CX understands that some companies (and government institutions) will be concerned about sharing their IP and secrets with conferencing providers. In that situation, it’s vital that all voice and video calls stay within the organization.
In Update 2, you can now configure your own Video Conferencing Server, hosted and controlled by you, ensuring your organization is the only one to hear (or transcribe!) your calls. Learn how to configure a private video conference server by clicking here.
Improved apps
Quite apart from improving its main Phone System, 3CX constantly improves its software phone offerings too. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new in the Windows and iPhone applications.
New Windows softphone
If you like answering calls on a physical phone – rather than from your softphone – then the new Windows softphone allows you to do just that. You simply need to have a deskphone already configured to your account, with switching devices controlled from the Settings page.
You can also access an all-new, quick action panel for faster logging in and out of queues, while a simple ringer on/off feature is surely self-explanatory!
While smaller companies should still download 3CX’s secure Windows softphone app directly from the Microsoft Store, if you want to control the roll-out and updating of the software yourself then there’s now an option to deploy the Windows softphone using the MSIX app package format.
New iOS app
Apple iPhone owners can now make calls on the road using the updated iOS app thanks to support for Apple CarPlay. For example, say “Hey Siri, call Kate using 3CX” and it will work out who to call from your address book.
The new app also makes it simple to read and reply to messages: when you receive a message, a notification will appear on your dashboard and the message will be read out to you. To reply, tap on the notification, choose “reply” and Siri will prompt you to dictate the message and will then send it.
Finally, it’s now possible to access your voicemail using voice commands. And it couldn’t be simpler: just say “Hey Siri, call voicemail using 3CX”.
New Android app
3CX’s new Android app adds a bunch of features that will help you get closer to your customers. Top of the list, you can now add Microsoft, CRM, personal or company contacts while on a call to an unsaved number (simply tap on the Add Contact label from the dialer interface).
There’s also a new tool to monitor connection quality while on a call, which will generate a report afterwards, and the ability to quickly elevate an active call to a conference with colleagues – perfect for escalating a complaint or bringing in technical experts.
Try 3CX for free
Want to try 3CX for free? It’s easier than ever thanks to a new deployment wizard and a streamlined sign-up process for 3CX instances.
Whereas before all potential customers would go down the same route, 3CX has now separated smaller customers from larger enterprises. Small businesses still get 3CX free forever. However, Enterprise customers – who require more features than the free version offers – get a free two-month 3CX PRO trial with the options to self-host, hosted by 3CX or download on-premise.
3CX makes it easy for SMBs to get a free communications system, hosted by 3CX. However, one of its key strengths is catering to companies with 25 to 1,000 user installations who can self-host and who require a more advanced and sometimes complex communications system.
3CX offers a solution that can cost a fraction of its competitors while never compromising on features. Sign up today and you’ll see just how easy it is to set up and manage too.
