3CX Version 20 Update 8: New AI Agents, Features & What’s Coming
Find more info at:
https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/u8-...
https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/u8-...
https://www.3cx.com/blog/news/call-tr...
https://www.3cx.com/blog/news/basic-e...
Questions: https://www.3cx.com/community/forums/...
Key Additions in Update 8:
3CX AI Agents
Boss-Secretary functionality
Transcription engines, specifically the on-premise transcription capability
SIP Provider and SIP Trunk Checker
Two new licenses: Basic and Enterprise Plus
Features that were highly requested by the community include:
Microsoft 365 department syncing
New dashboards for PowerBI reporting
Department multi-tenant, multi-company phone book capability
Shared voicemail for queues and ring groups, allowing relevant people to receive voicemails
Sentiment from transcriptions is now available on the CRM journaling
Update 8 introduces agentic AI for the first time, allowing work previously done by human agents to be offloaded to AI agents. This uses OpenAI technology with a real-time WebRTC API for low latency and global coverage.
The two types of AI agent roles released are:
Personal assistant (released latest)
Receptionist (released earlier)
These agents offer 10 voices, 50 languages, and live language switching.
Other AI Agent capabilities and features include:
Intelligence: Agents can now be uploaded with documentation and policies to answer questions from a knowledge base before searching their general knowledge.
Prompt Engineering: This is described as a new programming language using English, which allows customization of the AI agent's prompt to unlock more power and make changes without writing code.
Spam Detection: There is a way to classify calls as spam.
Abusive/Non-Collaborative Caller Detection: The system can detect abusive or non-collaborative callers and tell the AI to take an action.
Confidentiality Mode: This feature acts as a "guard rail" to prevent the AI from leaking confidential information, such as roles, titles, or surnames of employees.
Busy Check Before Transfer: The system uses its own API to check if the destination is busy, unavailable, or out of office before transferring a call. If the destination is unavailable, it does not transfer, saving resources, and offers options like leaving a discrete chat message or transferring to voicemail.
A basic agent can be set up in two minutes.
Boss-Secretary Functionality
This feature is designed for C-level executives and bosses. The secretary (human or an AI personal assistant) is intended to shield the boss, who is always set as not available by default. The secretary handles all calls and activities to assist the boss.
Key aspects of this feature:
The secretary will have access to the boss's private directory.
If a number in the private phone directory calls, the secretary knows it's a VIP and handles it differently.
Selected callers can bypass the secretary completely.
It's an easy on-and-off toggle, enabled by the admin and controlled by each boss from all apps.
The feature respects the boss's office hours and holidays.
It is treated like an additional profile.
Transcription Features
The two available options are:
3CX Cloud Transcription.
3CX Onboard Transcription Engine: Can be installed on-premise or on a private cloud on the user's machines. This is particularly useful for people prioritizing privacy.
Both engines use state-of-the-art AI models:
Whisper for transcription.
LAMA for analyzing transcribed text to get the summary and sentiment.
Other transcription improvements:
Automatic language detection that can switch mid-call.
Proper speaker diarization using stereo recording, where each speaker is on a different channel for very accurate tracking of the current speaker.
Enhanced sentiment and summaries with newer models.
Improved accuracy and speed.
SIP Trunk Checker
This is a built-in tool designed to address the difficulty of supporting all SIP trunks and dealing with unsupported providers.
It acts as a SIP expert within the company.
It runs important tests on the system and network against the SIP provider.
The tool confirms if the provider will work with 3CX and if it works with 3CX in the user's specific network configuration.
Failed tests can be escalated to the SIP provider.
Update 8 offers two new license options:
Basic Edition: A no-compromise license with a fully-featured PBX'
Enterprise Plus: The new cloud package.
It combines Enterprise AI with 3CX Cloud Transcription.