Many Cisco call centers are looking for a telephony extension for the remote agents. Cisco Finesse Webphone Gadget by Comstice helps agents to login and have telephony functionality inside the agent web interface, without installing anything on the computer. This solution supports Cisco UCCE, PCCE and UCCX. It works with or without any VPN on the agent PC.
Benefits of Cisco Finesse WebRTC with Comstice Webphone Gadget
Cisco Finesse Webphone Gadget by Comstice has the following benefits;
- It helps to avoid installing any software on agent's computer. Installed software apps often cause IT helpdesk tickets, support is lenghty and time-consuming for remote agents,
- It helps to avoid costly specialised firewall investments such as Cisco ExpressWay and simplifies the telephony network,
- It helps to move between Cisco phone and non-Cisco phones (Comstice Webphone) easily. This is particularly important for Cisco UCCX,
- It does not require any VPN on remote agent's PC.
- Everything is on-premise. There is no cloud-based component and this solution utilizes your existing investment.
- No need to re-train agents. Agents will login and use telephony functionality as before. There are training videos available, although in many cases, agents can start using Cisco Finesse Webphone gadget without any additional training.
Features of Cisco Finesse Webphone
Cisco Finesse WebRTC solution by Comstice uses Cisco UCCE Remote Agent feature in UCCE/PCCE and Cisco Extend and Connect feature in Cisco UCCX.
- Cisco Finesse WebRTC Softphone functionality is added as a Finesse gadget to agent and supervisor PCs
- All the communication is encrypted. Both signaling and media are encrypted for security.
- Comstice Mobility Server acts as a SIP Proxy and WebRTC Gateway. Cisco Finesse WebRTC sessions register to Comstice Mobility Server,
- Comstice Mobility Server establishes a SIP trunk with Cisco CUCM Cluster.
- WebRTC uses Opus and VP8 codecs. Comstice Mobility Server transcodes these codes to G.711 and H.264.
- Cisco UCCX; Comstice uses Cisco Extend and Connect feature with UCCX. This feature does not support outbound calls, transfer and conference features. Comstice supports these features as part of its Mobility solution.
- Cisco UCCX; Comstice offers a handoff service so that agents can change their IPCC extensions on their CUCM End User settings via web interface, without any admin-level access needed.
Technical Requirements
Cisco Finesse WebRTC solution by Comstice has the following technical requirements;
- WebRTC is a feature supported by modern browsers such as Chrome and Firefox. Microsoft Edge latest versions also support WebRTC, however Chrome and Firefox are more stable browsers, therefore recommended.
- Any Cisco Finesse version and Cisco CUCM version which is not "End of Support" by Cisco will be supported in this solution.
- Comstice Mobility Server runs on a virtual appliance which runs LinuxOS, similar to Cisco CUCM. It requires minimum 4GB RAM, 40GB HDD and 2vCPUs. You will need VMWare ESXi, Cisco UCS or Hyper-V environment to run the virtual server.
- This solution requires publicly signed SSL certificates. Locally-signed certificates are not accepted.
- Comstice Mobility Server works as active/active in high availability mode. Each server will need an external DNS entry to access without any VPN.
Security and Privacy
Cisco Finesse WebRTC solution by Comstice runs inside the Cisco Finesse Web Agent interface. Both Cisco Finesse Web Agent and Comstice Web Softphone offers secure connections via SRTP and HTTPS. Media stream is also encrypted.
- WebRTC feature by Comstice does not use Javascript-based WebRTC frameworks, which are considered as less-secure and prone to hacking. Comstice WebRTC uses API-based WebRTC technology on the browser.
In all the scenarions (inbound ACD call, inbound direct call, outbound call), Webphone always receives a call. It is not possible to make a call from the Webphone itself; Outbound calls must be generated using Cisco Finesse "Make a New Call" button. This eliminates the risk of malicious use of Comstice Webphone.
Comstice is a Cisco Solution Partner specialising contact center technologies and omnichannel customer service.