Today's customers want to connect with businesses through any communication channel of their choice. Webex Connect allows the Contact Center business and its customers to interact using digital channels such as email, chat, and SMS.

The Contact Center Enterprise (CCE) solution integrates with Webex Connect to create a seamless omnichannel experience for your agents. This integration helps your customers to interact across voice and digital communication channels as one unified solution.

Webex Connect offers a rich self-service and bot integration to empower your customers to get answers to some common questions. It provides a unified solution for integrated routing, Agent Desktop, and reporting service. Webex Connect provides a simplified framework that helps partners and customers interact through digital channels.

For details on how to configure the digital channel interaction using Webex Connect, see the Digital Channels Integration Using Webex Connect chapter in the following documents:

• Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide

• Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide

For information on the design considerations, see the Digital channels integration using Webex Connect considerations section in following documents:

• Solution Design Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise

• Solution Design Guide for Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise

For information about how to configure the Manage Digital Channels gadget, see the Manage Digital Channels gadget section in the Cisco Finesse Administration Guide.

For information about how to use the Manage Digital Channels gadget, see the Cisco Contact Center Enterprise Manage Digital Channels Gadget User Guide.

Contact Center Enterprise integrates with Webex Connect, empowering businesses to connect with their customers across multiple digital channels. In addition to its existing support for Email, Live Chat, and SMS, this feature has now expanded its digital channel offerings to include WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Apple Messages for Business.

For details on how to configure the digital channel interaction using Webex Connect, see the Digital Channels Integration Using Webex Connect chapter in the following documents:

• Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide

• Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide

For information on the design considerations, see the Digital channels integration using Webex Connect considerations section in following documents:

• Solution Design Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise

• Solution Design Guide for Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise

For information about how to configure the Manage Digital Channels gadget, see the Manage Digital Channels gadget section in the Cisco Finesse Administration Guide.

For information about how to use the Manage Digital Channels gadget, see the Cisco Contact Center Enterprise Manage Digital Channels Gadget User Guide.

To set up a WhatsApp Business account (WABA) and connect it with Webex Connect for interacting with Contact Center agents via WhatsApp on mobile, desktop app, or WhatsApp web, see WhatsApp Integration with Webex Connect User Guide.

To set up a Facebook page and connect it with Webex Connect for interacting with Contact Center agents via Facebook Messenger on mobile, desktop app, or web page, see Facebook Messenger Integration with Webex Connect User Guide.

CCE's digital channels include chat and email via ECE, as well as SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Apple Messages for Business, via integration with Webex Connect.

Now, CCE supports both Webex Connect and ECE in a single deployment, allowing agents to use both platforms. Each agent can communicate via Chat and Email through ECE, and also use social channels such as SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Apple Messages for Business through Webex Connect from a single Finesse Desktop interface.

If you're using ECE as your main digital channel and plan to switch to Webex Connect digital channels, this new feature enables training for your agents in batches, making the transition smoother.

For more information on how to configure and use this feature, see the ECE and WebexConnect in Same Deployment for Same Agent chapter in the Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-feature-guides-list.html.

Note

This feature is not supported in Packaged CCE deployments. A maximum of 400 agents can handle tasks from both ECE and Webex Connect Digital Channels at the same time. This 400-limit only applies to agents with both ECE and Webex Connect channels enabled, regardless of whether ECE is in a co-located 400 agent deployment or a distributed 2500 agent deployment. Ensure that ECE is configured within the configuration limits defined for your deployment type. This also means that the limits that apply to ECE also apply to the combination of ECE and Webex Connect. For more information on the configuration limits, see all limits defined for ECE in the Configuration Limits and Feature Availability for Reference Designs chapter in the Solution Design Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-feature-guides-list.html

The Agent Request or Web Callback feature allows customers to request a call from the Contact Center through the web. You can use the Webex Connect platform to allow customers to submit a form with their preferred phone number to receive a callback from a Contact Center agent.

Use this feature to switch between media channels when wait times are long. For example, if Live Chat has high wait times, you can offer customers a voice callback option instead of making them wait.

For more information, see the Agent Request or Web Callback using Webex Connect topic in the Digital Channels Integration Using Webex Connect chapter in the Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide, Release 12.6(2) at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-feature-guides-list.html.

Note	This feature is available to customers on request and only after necessary review and agreement. Please contact your Partner or Customer Success Manager or Cisco Support for details.

Cisco Contact Center Enterprise leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to provide transcription services that assist agents. These services are available for the agents in the Cisco Finesse desktop gadgets.

If a customer has interacted with a virtual agent at the beginning of the call and then the call gets routed to an agent, the Transcript gadget displays the transcript of the voice conversation between the customer and the virtual agent along with the live transcript. It helps in gathering context from the earlier interaction with the virtual agent and capturing high level summary points for wrapping up the call. In addition, there is a Highlights panel that displays the intents and intent parameters based on the customer's query. This helps the agent to assess the overall interaction and how satisfied the customers are.

For details on how to configure VAV call transcription, refer to the following documents:

• Virtual Agent–Voice Call Transcription chapter in the Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide.

• Virtual Agent–Voice Call Transcription chapter in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Features Guide.

For instructions about how to view the transcript, see the Transcript section in the Contact Center AI Gadgets User Guide for Cisco Contact Center Enterprise.

Unified CCE Deployments that are unable to share license utilization data with Cisco SSM on a regular basis due to regulatory requirements can now use the Specific License Reservation (SLR) feature. Using this feature, you can reserve licenses (including add-on licenses) for your product instance and share the license utilization data with Cisco SSM.

For information about Specific License Reservation, see the Smart Licensing section in the Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise.

In this release, the Unified CCE web applications such as Diagnostic Portico, CCE Administration, and Websetup will support HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS). The Unified CCE web applications will use the HSTS header to instruct the browsers to use only the HTTPS connections.

The Internet Script Editor (ISE) will use the HTTPS connection to communicate with the Administration and Data Server.

The interface to download the ISE client from the Administration and Data Server will happen only over the HTTPS connection and any attempt to download using an HTTP connection will be forbidden.

The following additional security hardening measures are added on the ISE installer location:

1. Disabled directory and wildcard listing.

2. Disabled anonymous authentication, and enabled basic or windows authentication.

3. Disabled the following unused HTTP methods: PUT, POST, and DELETE.

For more information, see the Internet Script Editor section in the Scripting and Media Routing Guide for Cisco Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-user-guide-list.html.

Starting Unified CCE 12.6(x), a new custom truststore is created under the Unified ICM Installation directory <ICM install directory>\ssl\cacerts to store all the component certificates. With this new custom truststore, you don't need to export and import the certificates each time Java is updated in the system.

After upgrading from Unified CCE 12.5(x) to Unified CCE 12.6(x), you should export the certificates from the Java truststore to the custom truststore under the Unified ICM Installation directory <ICM install directory>\ssl\cacerts.

Export the certificate from the Java truststore:

• Run the command at the command prompt: cd %JAVA_HOME%\bin.

  Important

  Use CCE_JAVA_HOME if upgrading from Unified CCE 12.5(1a) or Unified CCE 12.5(1) with ES55 (mandatory OpenJDK ES).

• Export the certificates of all the components imported into the truststore.

  The command to export the certificates is keytool -export -keystore <JRE path>\lib\security\cacerts -alias <alias of the component> -file <filepath>.cer

• Enter the truststore password when prompted.

Import the certificate to the custom truststore:

• Run the command at the command prompt: cd %CCE_JAVA_HOME%\bin.

• Import the certificates for all the components that you exported from the Java truststore.

  The command to import certificates is keytool -import -keystore <ICM install directory>\ssl\cacerts -file <filepath>.cer -alias <alias>.

• Enter the truststore password when prompted.

• Enter 'yes' when prompted to trust the certificate.

UCCE 12.6(2) ES35 supports Agent PG encrypting the JTAPI credentials which can be configured , if required . To use the Agent PG encryption feature, install UCCE 12.6(2)_ES35 on Agent PG and follow the instructions in the ES35 reference document.

UCCE 12.6(2), with ES 04 and ES 25 , supports an increased scale of up to 48000 concurrent agents on a single UCCE instance . It is based on the 24000 and 36000 reference models and needs reconfiguration of the router. For more information about moving to the 48000-deployment model, see the ES-specific Release Notes.

• 12.6(2) ES04

• 12.6(2) ES25

The outbound enhacement improves agent productivity and customer experience by preventing agents from being assigned to unanswered PCB calls and by restricting redialing. It also disables rescheduling of unreachable personal callback records with call results 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, or 16. Additionally, the list of unanswered calls for manual rescheduling can also be retrieved.

Contact Center Enterprise now allows you to use the PersonalCallbackReattempt registry on both the Campaign Manager and Dialer to control redial attempts for unanswered Personal Callback (PCB) calls.

You can prevent retry of unanswered PCB calls by disabling the PersonalCallbackReattempt registry on both the Dialer and Campaign Manager. This configuration stops the Dialer from redialing unanswered PCB calls and ensures that the Campaign Manager does not reschedule them, instead marking the records with a closed status (C).

Note	To leverage this feature in the Unified CCE 12.6(2), install the Unified CCE 12.6(2) ICM12.6.2_ES85 for Router or Logger, or install the Unified CCE 12.6(2) ICM12.6.2_ES86 for PG.

For more information about enabling or disabling the PersonalCallbackReattempt registry, see the Registry Settings chapter in the Outbound Option Guide for Unified Contact Center Enterprise at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-user-guide-list.html.

Administrators can now configure the inactivity timeout for a session to avoid being logged out after 30 minutes of inactivity. Navigate to the Unified CCE Administration Portal > Call Settings > Miscellaneous > Global > Login Session > Session Inactivity Timeout to set the inactivity time.

Note	This feature is only applicable for sessions where administrators are using the Unified CCE Administration Console and does not apply to agent sessions in Finesse Desktop and ECE.

For more information, see the following guides:

• The System Setting for Unified CCE Deployment section in the Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Release, 12.6(2) at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html

• The Miscellaneous section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide, Release 12.6(2) at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html

Note	This feature requires ICM_12.6(2) _ES9 to be installed on the 12.6(2) target system.

Note	This feature requires ICM_12.6(2) _ES9 to be installed on the 12.6(2) target system.

Administrators can now add third-party gateways to the inventory for routing calls. For instructions, see the Optional Configurations section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide.

Note	Cisco does not test or provide support for these third-party gateways.

Note	This feature requires ICM_12.6(2) _ES9 to be installed on the 12.6(2) target system.

Administrators and supervisors can now edit multiple attributes for a set of agents at the same time. Ensure that the agents belong to the same site and department. The agents can also be global agents.

For instructions, see the Agent Multi Edit Attribute section in the Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide.

For instructions, see the Manage Agents section in the Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise.

Note	This feature requires ICM12.6.2_ES68 to be installed on the 12.6(2) target system.

In 12.6(2), you can leverage the capabilities of graceful shutdown on Routers only if you apply the ICM12.6.2_ES68 patch.

Note

Maintenance mode is only supported when both Side A and Side B Routers are on version 12.6(2). Apply the ICM12.6.2_ES68 to both Side A and Side B of the Router to ensure that the maintenance mode takes effect. Failing to apply the patch to either side will result in the transition to maintenance mode getting rejected.

For more information, see the Graceful Shutdown section in the following guides:

• Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Release, 12.6(2) at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/unified-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html

• Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Administration and Configuration Guide Release, 12.6(2) at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/customer-collaboration/packaged-contact-center-enterprise/products-maintenance-guides-list.html

Cloud Connect 12.6(2) requires 16 GB of RAM. For details, see the Cloud Connect Virtualization page.

CCE 12.6(2) ES03 or later is required to optimize the functionality of Cloud Connect 12.6(2).

Ensure you increase the RAM and then apply the ES before upgrading to Cloud Connect 12.6(2).

Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and later includes a set of query optimizer enhancements. Under rare circumstances, queries against the Logger historical data have shown higher bandwidth and disk utilization. Interaction with the Logger VM becomes sluggish and the Windows Resource monitor shows close to 100 percent active time on the SQL Server database drive.

If you observe this issue, upgrade Microsoft SQL Server to the latest service pack. If you still experience this issue, run the following query against the database to set compatibility to Microsoft SQL Server 2014:

“Alter Database <dbname> set COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 120”

You can run this query while the system is in operation. For more information about this issue, refer to CSCvw51851.

The CCE 12.6(2) installer installs the OpenJDK version 1.8 (32-bit), update 432. If the existing Oracle JRE is not needed, you may uninstall it from the system manually.

Note	Install the most recent ES patch to obtain OpenJDK version 1.8 (32-bit) update 432.

For more information, see the following documents:

• Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise Installation and Upgrade Guide

• Security Guide for Cisco Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise

• Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise Installation and Upgrade Guide

For information about supported Java versions, see the Contact Center Enterprise Solution Compatibility Matrix.

Tomcat is upgraded to 9.0.96. For details on how to apply later security patches on Tomcat 9, refer to the Upgrade Tomcat Utility section in the Security Guide for Cisco Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise.

Note	Install the most recent ES patch to obtain Tomcat 9.0.96.

The account lockout mechanism is now supported for Microsoft Active Directory users of the following applications:

• Unified CCE Administration portal

• Web Setup tool

• Diagnostic Portico web service

For more information, see the following documents:

• The Active Directory Deployment section in the Security Guide for Cisco Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise.

• The Active Directory and ICM/CCE section in the Staging Guide for Cisco Unified ICM/Contact Center Enterprise.

CUIC Co-resident Live Data can be used on 12.6(2) when the CCE Central Controller/AW is on 12.6(1). However, if both Live Data and CCE Central Controller/AW are on 12.6(2), then the ports used in Live Data will change. Releases earlier than 12.6(2) use ports 12005 and 12008; 12.6(2) and later releases use port 443.