Introduction
This document explains the process of Email integration with PBXware. This feature is available in PBXware Contact Centre edition for versions 7.1 and above.
Omnichannel is a robust application that extends the power of Contact Center features, allowing your customers to interact with your business across multiple communication channels like emailing, live chat messaging, SMS texting, Facebook and Whatsapp.
Channels serve as the mediums through which customers can establish communication with Agents. The Channels section of the Omnichannel software provides a user-friendly and efficient way to manage and organize the different communication channels that your customers use to reach out to your business. It helps to streamline and simplify the process of receiving and handling customer messages, ensuring that all customer inquiries are promptly and effectively addressed.
Email channel
The Email Channel page empowers Administrators to set up IMAP and SMTP configurations, designate a Destination Queue for incoming emails, and tweak other settings like attachment size limits or email check intervals. This facilitates the integration of email into your omnichannel system, allowing agents to manage customer emails efficiently. With email added, agents can explain things well, share files, and give organized responses. They can also follow up on past talks, which keeps customers happy and stops them from repeating things.
The first step is to create a new channel. When adding a new channel, select 'Email' from the drop-down menu. A new window will appear where we can configure the email channel settings.
When adding an email channel, you have three options to choose from the drop-down menu under the 'Email Provider' field:
Custom server
Google
Microsoft
Custom server
When "Custom Server" is chosen from the "Email Provider" dropdown menu within the Email Channel settings window, you will be presented with detailed configuration options:
Email Address: Input the email address designated for this channel.
IMAP Connection:
Username: Provide the username for IMAP.
(e.g., [email protected])Password: Input the password for IMAP.
Host Name: Specify the IMAP server host name.
(e.g., imap.gmail.com)Port: Define the port for the IMAP server.
(e.g, 993)
SMTP Connection:
Username: Input the username for SMTP.
(e.g., [email protected])Password: Input the password for SMTP.
Host Name: Specify the SMTP server host name.
(e.g., smtp.gmail.com)Port: Define the port for the SMTP server.
(e.g., 587)
Fill out all the required fields, referencing the example images if necessary.
From the "Destination Queue" dropdown menu, select the Queue where you want the emails to be directed.
After setting up both the SMTP and IMAP connections, click "Save" and utilize the "Check Connection" buttons to validate if the IMAP and SMTP connections are functioning correctly.
Configuring Email Channel Settings for Microsoft Integration
Upon selecting "Microsoft" from the "Email Provider" dropdown menu within the Email Channel settings window, the interface adapts to facilitate a streamlined integration with Microsoft services:
Microsoft SignOn Button: This button will become visible. Clicking on it initiates the Microsoft authentication process.
Microsoft Login Window: After clicking the "Microsoft SignOn" button, you'll be directed to a Microsoft login page. Input your Microsoft credentials to proceed.
Permission Authorization: Once logged in, a subsequent window will appear, listing the required permissions that PBXware needs to access your Microsoft account. It's crucial to review and grant these permissions by clicking "Accept" or a similar confirmation button. This step ensures seamless email integration between PBXware and Microsoft.
Automatic Field Population: Post-authentication, the need to manually input password details on the PBXware side becomes redundant. Fields related to email configuration (like SMTP and IMAP) will automatically be populated based on your Microsoft account settings.
From the "Destination Queue" dropdown menu, opt for the Queue to which you'd like emails to be routed.
Once this is set by clicking on ‘Check connection’ buttons for both, IMAP configuration and SMTP configuration, we can check if our integration with Microsoft is successful.
By integrating with Microsoft services in this manner, you can ensure a hassle-free setup, eliminating manual configurations and benefiting from Microsoft's secure authentication processes.
When the customer sends an email to the email address which is being set in Email address field, agent which is logged in to the destination queue will receive that email and email will be shown in Email tab on gloCOM app.
Following picture shows how it will look on the agent's side. Agent will get notification that new unassigned email arrived and email will be shown under Unassigned emails tab:
Once the agent clicks on the email he will be able to see the content of the email and assign a ticket to himself in case when manual assignment is set on the messaging queue.
Once the agent assigns the ticket to themselves, they will be able to reply to the ticket. The "From" email address will be the one set under the channel.
The agent will be able to change the status for this ticket, add other email addresses into conversation, forward email, link conversations, check conversation history and create or edit profile for this user.
Configuring Email Channel Settings for Gmail Integration
Upon selecting "Gmail" from the "Email Provider" dropdown menu within the Email Channel settings window, the interface will adjust to provide an easy integration with Gmail services:
Gmail SignOn Button: This button will be prominently displayed. Initiating the Gmail authentication process is as simple as clicking on it.
Gmail Login Window: After pressing the "Gmail SignOn" button, you will be redirected to a Gmail login page. Here, enter your Gmail credentials to continue.
2. Permission Authorization: Post-login, a window will pop up, delineating the permissions PBXware requests to access your Gmail account. Carefully review and consent to these permissions by hitting the "Allow" or equivalent confirmation button. This action ensures a smooth email linkage between PBXware and Gmail.
3. Automatic Field Population: Once the authentication phase concludes, PBXware will automatically fill out certain fields related to email configuration, removing the need for manual password entry.
To confirm your Email channel setup with Gmail integration, click on "Save" button.
After saving the settings, you can verify both IMAP and SMTP by clicking on "Check connection" for each.
If the test for ‘Check connection’ is successful, Google integration is completed.
This setup enables your customers to send emails to your Google account, which you have integrated with PBXware. When customers send an email, it will arrive in your Google account mailbox. Simultaneously, it will also be sent to the designated queue, where an agent will receive it in the agent panel and be able to send a reply. This seamless integration streamlines communication between your customers and agents, ensuring efficient handling of inquiries and support requests.
Email will arrive in Gmail account:
And at the same time, the same email will arrive in the agent panel under unassigned emails tab.
Agent will be able to assign this email to themselves if manual assignment is set in the messaging queue.
Emails that the agent assigns to themselves will be shown in the "My Emails" section. The agent will be able to change the status of the ticket, add other emails to the conversation, forward the email, link conversations, check the conversation history, and create or edit the profile for this user.
Once the agent sends a reply, a reply will arrive on the sender’s mailbox and also will be shown in Gmail of the account which we are using for this integration.
