We are excited to announce the latest addition to our OvationCXM platform - the Jira Service Cloud connector. This new feature aims to enhance the customer service experience by seamlessly integrating the powerful capabilities of Jira Service Cloud with the robust customer experience management platform of OvationCXM.

As a leading provider of customer experience solutions, we understand the importance of streamlining processes and providing efficient solutions for our clients. That's why we have developed this new connector to make the transition from Jira to OvationCXM smoother and more efficient for our users.

So, what exactly does the Jira Service Cloud connector offer? Let's dive into its key features:

1. Move Tickets from Jira to OvationCXM:

With this new connector, you can easily move tickets from Jira to OvationCXM Cases automatically. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and ensures that all customer interactions are seamlessly captured in one centralized platform. The connector makes sure the data is updated with every interaction. 

2. Auto Match to a Customer:

One of the most time-consuming tasks in customer service is manually matching customer information with their respective cases. With the Jira Service Cloud connector, this process is automated based on your unique IDs, saving you valuable time and effort.

3. Picklist mapping

Use our picklist mapper to map the complicated picklists between the two platforms, including status or resolution codes. 

Interested in using the new Jira Connector, reach out to your account manager today to get access. If you have any questions about how to setup a connector, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team who will be happy to help.

Release Date: September 2024 

CX Manager

• We improved our connection to our communication servers with enhanced indicators during the (re)connection process and we added additional automatic retries if the connection is lost. This will help improve the overall stability of sending communications from CXME and will make it more clear when a connection is not strong and will alert the user to this issue.
• We fixed an issue where the screen was not fully updated when a user navigated to a new Location under a single Customer profile. Now when a user selects a new Location from the Customer screen, the Location details and the URL will be properly updated to reflect the new Location being shown.
• We fixed an issue where creating a new Customer within the Case creation flow would result in an error. Now when a user creates a new Customer via the Create New Customer button after selecting Create > Case from the global Create button, the new Customer is saved and the Customer and Location fields are displayed in column 1. The 4 sections of column 1 load and the Case Add view is displayed in column 2 with all fields on the Case layout. 
• We fixed an issue where the Default Team was not being properly added to Team Associations when creating a new Location with no Team Associations selected.
• We improved the performance of loading lists of Teams within the application.

Integrations & APIs

We improved the performance of the Phone APIs.

Messenger (Web & SDK)

• We updated the generated embeddable code snippet in the Web Chat Channel to now integrate the Messenger app instead of the old Web Chat app. You can read about Messenger here.
• Web Chat instances that are added to Knowledge Libraries have been updated to the new Messenger product as well.

Admin & Settings

• We increased the number of of Tags that you can have in restricted lists by Category. Previously you could only have 6 Tags under each Category. Now you can add up to 20 Tags per Category.
• We updated the list of Alert Templates under Teams > Alert Templates to display the Alert Template Name instead of only displaying the Subject of the Alert Template. This will make it easier to identify the Alert Template you are looking for without needing to click into each one.

Release Date: 08/29/24

CX Manager

• We fixed an issue where the scroll bar didn't work on the left folder navigation under Reports. You will now see a scroll bar when you have more folders than fit on a single screen.
• We fixed an issue where navigating to the Events timeline immediately after creating a Case could somtimes display a blank panel.
• We fixed an issue where sometimes a user sending an email could experience the message successfully being sent but not showing in the messaging panel. 
• We fixed an issue where the browser tab title would sometimes display the wrong screen name. When a user navigated to a Case, the browser tab title would show the correct ID and name of the Case, but when the user went back to the Cases list, the broswer tab title would not update. The browser tab title will now properly update for the screen you are viewing.

Knowledge

We fixed a bug where Users were periodically being logged out without any notification. We also added a confirmation modal to let Users know they have been logged out instead of just taken directly back to the login screen. 

Journeys

We fixed an issue where a Task Action would periodically not start on the Journey timeline due bad formatting of the Due Date.

Virtual Assistants

We improved the performance, intent matching, and predication capabiltiies of the Virtual Assistants.

Reporting & Dashboards

We fixed an issue in Reports where the Status filter would display a numerical number rather than the actual name (string) of hte status selected by the user.

Admin & Settings

We fixed an issue where Tags and Category dropdowns were not always populating when using them for conditional logic in Layouts.

Release Date: 08/06/24: 

CX Manager

• We improved the processing performance of our email IMAP integrations.
• We moved our core application to new load balancers to enhance performance and resiliancy.
• We fixed a bug that was causing the names on some dialog modals were being cut off.
• We fixed an issue where the list of files in the Case panel of the CX Manager screen did not properly scroll when the files went past the bottom of the screen.
• We fixed an issue where email history in certain email clients was displaying ‘Boomtown’ instead of the customer’s name when showing who wrote the previous emails.

Knowledge

• We fixed an issue where Articles were sometimes not rendering inside the Solutions panel on the CX Manager screen due to increased security restrictions. All Articles will now properly load in the Solutions panel.
• We fixed an alignment issue on the search results page in the extenral knowledge libraries.

Journeys

We launched our new journey builder that introduces a new canvas for more flexible and dynamic journeys. You can read the full release notes here.

Connectors

We released an updated Salesforce Managed Package with improved permission sets and improved load times. You can read the full release notes here.

Virtual Assistants

We improved the performance of training large virtual assistants.

Reporting & Dashboards

We fixed a bug where the value in the MID field in Reports was not showing for the latest Case on each Location.

Admin & Settings

We improved the load performance of the Teams page in settings as well as loading any object that relates to Teams (e.g. a Location or a Case).

Security

We improved security on hosted screens (such as forms) with enhanced content security policies.

We are excited to announce the latest release of our OvationCXM Salesforce Application v2.5, packed with new features and improvements.

We are pleased to share with you some of the key updates included in this release:

Fixed Issues:

• Resolved a bug where workflow rules were throwing a validation error when a read-only field was mapped from OvationCXM to Salesforce.
• Fixed an issue with data matching using OvationCXM’s external ID field.
• Corrected a bug where admins did not have permission for all configuration tabs when the package was installed only for administrators.
• Addressed a problem where users with admin permission sets were unable to delete workflow rules and log errors.

New Features and Improvements:

• Added a new minimal user permission set with permissions within Account, Contact, and Case objects.
• Renamed OvationCXM Permission sets within Salesforce to represent the associated package name.
• Improved page load times for the package configuration and settings.
• Enhanced load times for the picklist mapper.
• Added APEX class permissions to the respective permission sets.
• User experience updates for the package administrator.

You can update the package from AppExchange to take advantage of these new features and improvements.

You can now create more dynamic, personalized Customer Journeys more easily with the release of our new Customer Journey Builder! This update empowers you with a brand new interface and powerful functionality. 

The centerpiece is the all-new canvas screen, an interactive workspace that allows you to:

• Visually map customer journeys: Enhanced drag-and-drop journey elements to create a clear visual representation of your customer's touchpoints alongside your internal processes.
• Design dynamic experiences: Trigger conditional actions and content based on real-time customer data like profile information, behavior, and previous journey interactions.
• Seamlessly orchestrate across systems: Connect your journeys with thire party systems and platforms you use, breaking down silos and ensuring a unified customer experience.

Benefits of the new Journey Builder:

• Greater Journey customization: Craft journeys that adapt to individual customer needs, leading to more relevant and engaging experiences.
• Enhanced collaboration: The intuitive visual interface simplifies driving alignment between teams and departments involved in the customer journey.
• Easier and faster Journey building: Streamline the journey design process with a larger drag-and-drop building space for each Stage, saving you valuable time and resources.

Upcoming Features

Watch for new functionality over the coming weeks, too, including:

• Using context to guide journeys: save data received during a Journey and use it to influence the future Steps and Actions in a Journey.
• Personalized customer paths: define conditional logic within a Journey to create dynamic and personalized experiences for each customer.
• Selection & Wait Actions: manually make decisions during a journey and place pre-defined pauses or validations based on duration and field values.

Getting Started

The new Journey Builder will be rolled out automatically over the next two weeks. If you or your teams have any questions, please reach out to us. We would be happy to walk you through the latest set of updates.

Release Date: 06/25/24: 

CX Manager

• We fixed an issue where opening a Case from the Chat Tile would sometimes display the Contact field on the Case Details screen as blank, even when a Contact was assigned to the Case. The Contact field will now always populate when opening a Case from a Chat Tile.
• We fixed an issue where a user creating a new Case using the global Create Case button from an existing Case would see the Case Details from the previous Case while selecting the Customer for the new Case. The Case panel will now be blank while going through the Create Case workflow.
• We fixed a bug where navigating from an open to a closed Case would periodically show the messages from the previous Case. Now when you access a Closed Case, no messages will show in the communications panel and the communications will be available in the Transcript files on the Case.
• We fixed an issue where users would paste a new Case link into the URL bar and press enter while currently on a different Case and the case screen would not update to the new Case. Now the user will be directed to the new Case after entering a case URL and pressing enter.
• We fixed an issue where the Events panel on a Case would periodically fail to load the events. 
• We fixed an issue where users would periodically experience inconsistent loading of Case details and communications while navigating between multiple chats via the chat tiles.
• We fixed an issue where a user seraching for a Case Ref ID in the global search bar would see 'undefined' in the search results when they navigated to the Cases tab. Users will now see the correct matching case(s) when navigating to the Cases tab on global search results.
• We fixed an error where some users on Windows using version 126.x of Chrome would experience a fatal error when opening and creating Cases inside CXME.

Knowledge

• We fixed an issue where after bulk editing Knowledge Articles, the order of the list would change, but the order of the selected Articles would remain the same. Now after you bulk edit Articles, the selected Articles will remain the same. This will make it easier to make multiple bulk edits in a row to the same Article set.
• We fixed an issue in the Article Editor where using shift + arrow keys or ctrl + shift + arrow keys was not properly highlighting text. 
• We fixed an issue in the Article Editor screen where a user was unable to press the left arrow key at the beginning of a line to go to the end of the line above it.

Settings

• We fixed an issue where after a user accessed Alert Templates in Settings and then navigated to My Profile, they ran into an error requiring a page refresh.

Releasing June 2024

We're excited to announce that our product is now fully compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at the AA level, following the guidelines set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This achievement signifies our commitment to providing an inclusive and accessible experience for all users, regardless of their abilities. This work applies to the Knowledge, Reports, Settings, and Messenger products. 

What does this mean for you?

By achieving ADA WCAG 2.1 compliance, our product offers a variety of benefits for users with disabilities, including:

• Improved Color Contrast: Enhanced color contrast ensures text and graphics are clearly visible for users with low vision or color blindness.
• Enhanced Screen Reader Compatibility: Our product now seamlessly integrates with screen reader software, allowing users who are blind or visually impaired to navigate and interact with the content effectively.
• Optimized Keyboard Navigation: Full keyboard navigation allows users to access all features and functionalities without relying on a mouse. This is particularly helpful for individuals with motor impairments or who use assistive technologies.
• Clear and Concise Language: We've strived to use clear and concise language throughout the product, making it easier for users with cognitive disabilities to understand the information presented.

Benefits of ADA Compliance

Beyond its ethical importance, ADA compliance offers several advantages for your organization:

• Increased User Base: A more accessible product opens doors to a wider audience, potentially increasing your user base and customer satisfaction.
• Reduced Legal Risk:  WCAG compliance helps mitigate potential legal risks associated with accessibility lawsuits.
• Enhanced Brand Reputation:  Demonstrating a commitment to accessibility strengthens your brand image and positions you as a leader in inclusive design.

We believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to access and benefit from our product. This update reflects our ongoing dedication to creating a user-friendly and inclusive experience for all.

For any further questions regarding our ADA WACG 2.1 compliance, please don't hesitate to contact our support team.

We are excited to announce the addition of a new activity type in our Journeys product: API Activity.

This powerful new feature significantly enhances the functionality and flexibility of the Journey builder. Users can now seamlessly integrate external APIs into their journey flows, enabling the automation of data transfers and actions between OvationCXM and third-party systems directly from Journey Timelines. This integration ensures smoother operations, reduces manual intervention, and ultimately leads to faster and more efficient customer service.

Sample Flow:

1. Creating an API Endpoint with API Library

2. Adding the API Endpoint as API Activity on Journey Builder

3. Journey Timeline Progressing with API Activity on a Case

Key Features:

• Integration with API Library: API endpoints created from the API library are now available as activities within the Journey builder. This allows users to seamlessly incorporate API calls into their journey flows and enables them to send data from OvationCXM to any third-party system. This feature supports various business processes by automating data updates and actions without requiring agents to log into external systems.
• Configuration and Customization: Users can choose from various Cases, Customer, Contacts, and Locations data fields to map as part of the data payload sent through the API endpoints. These fields are automatically populated from the data retrieved from the Case to which these Journeys are attached for a customer.
• Automated Journey Progression: The Journey automatically progresses once the API activity is completed. This ensures a smooth and efficient workflow, enhancing the overall experience for both internal agents and customers.

Use-Case Examples:

• Automatically provision a customer account when they sign the necessary forms.
• Directly send required customer data to a KYC platform for validation.
• Keep your internal systems in sync with the latest customer information.
• Update your pipeline in Hubspot for sales team visibility when the onboarding is complete.
• Trigger an AdobeSign document to be sent to the customer as part of their sales or activation journeys.
• Trigger an email campaign on Marketo as part of your marketing outreach.
• Create and send shipping labels for a product that needs to be delivered.
• Schedule a training session via Calendly as part of your go-live activation.
• And many more..

These use cases illustrate the versatility and power of the API Activity feature, enabling seamless automation and integration across various platforms and workflows.

Benefits:

• Increased Efficiency: Agents no longer need to log into third-party systems to update data or trigger actions. API Activity handles these tasks automatically, saving time and reducing the potential for errors.
• Improved Customer Experience: By automating data transfers and actions, customers receive quicker and more accurate service, leading to higher satisfaction levels.
• Enhanced Business Value: Organizations can streamline their operations and ensure that all necessary data updates and actions are performed consistently and accurately through automated workflows.

We believe that the API Activity will significantly enhance your workflow capabilities and improve the overall efficiency of your processes. As always, we are committed to providing you with the best tools to support your business needs.

Roll Out Plan:

The following feature is part of our New Journeys Suite. We are rolling out the new Journeys product in waves, and if you would like to get early access, please let us know by emailing product@ovationcxm.com.

Thank you for choosing OvationCXM!

Release Date: 05/16/2024: 

Knowledge

This release enhances the accessibility of interactive elements across the Knowledge editor, ensuring consistent and clear announcements through screen readers. All checkboxes, toggle switches, buttons, input fields, and other controls now properly announce their names, roles, values, and available actions when focused. This includes elements like the Restore button on previously published versions, checkboxes in filter menus, title/subtitle fields, embedded article options, token insertion, thumbnail navigation in File Manager, and related article controls. Proper keyboard accessibility has also been implemented for previously inaccessible components. These improvements align with WCAG 2.0 guidelines for providing programmatically determinable information, allowing users to effectively understand and interact with on-screen elements through assistive technologies. The standardized announcements create a more inclusive and seamless experience for all users.

This release further enhances the accessibility of interactive elements throughout Knowledge Home by standardizing announcements for screen readers and other assistive technologies. Clear buttons in filters now convey their associated actions. The Page field at the bottom of the list is accessible via keyboard with proper announcements. On the Templates page, the clear button in the search bar, column headers, and row actions are all properly announced. When modals open, the auto-focused close button correctly states its purpose. The buttons within modals like Clone, Archive, and Delete are accurately labeled for clear communication. These improvements ensure users can effectively perceive the available interface components and interactions through auditory cues, aligning with WCAG 2.0 guidelines around providing programmatically determinable names, roles, and values. The consistent and descriptive announcements create a more inclusive experience across all user workflows.

This release standardizes the announcements for interactive form fields throughout Knowledge Home, improving accessibility for users of screen readers and other assistive technologies. Dropdowns like Libraries, Status, Visibility, Tags, Products, and Shared With now properly announce their label, role as a collapsed or expanded listbox, current selection state, and available operations like text editing or navigating options. This consistent pattern of "Label, Role, State, Operation" ensures fields are comprehensively conveyed, allowing users to easily identify and interact with them solely through audio cues. These enhancements align with WCAG 2.0 guidelines for providing programmatically determinable name, role, and value information, creating a more inclusive and seamless experience across all user interfaces.

This release introduces significant improvements to the accessibility of the tree element across Knowledge. Previously, these interactive components did not adhere to WCAG standards for keyboard operability and screen reader announcements. With this update, the tree elements in the Details tab and the Insert Article modal when editing an article now fully comply with the recommended keyboard navigation patterns and programmatic announcements. Users can seamlessly traverse the tree structures, expand/collapse nodes, and understand the current context through clear and consistent screen reader feedback. 

This release resolves multiple accessibility issues identified across Knowledge when using the JAWS screen reader. Checkboxes throughout Knowledge are now operable via keyboard and announced correctly by JAWS. When visiting a page within Knowledge that contains a table with JAWS enabled, pressing "T" properly announces the table contents. Additionally, all main pages (Knowledge, Reports, Settings) now have an H1 header that is announced when pressing "H" with JAWS on, helping users identify their current context. Lastly, the sub-menu options accessed through the three-dot menu throughout Knowledge are fully keyboard accessible and announced accurately by JAWS. 

This release introduces significant enhancements to the accessibility of modals across the Knowledge, Settings, and Reports areas of the application. Previously, screen readers did not provide any announcements when modals were opened, limiting the ability for users relying on assistive technologies to effectively navigate these interfaces. With this update, the focus is now properly set to the first interactive element within each modal, and the modal's title is clearly announced.

We fixed an accessibility bug with the "Discard Changes" modal in the Knowledge editor. Previously, when using a screen reader, the modal's contents were announced incorrectly, with the title, description, and buttons being repeated multiple times. With this fix, the screen reader will now properly announce the modal's title and description, followed by each button's accessible name individually. This ensures users relying on assistive technologies can clearly understand the purpose of the modal and interact with its controls in a logical, streamlined manner. 

Journeys

Over the next few weeks we will be rolling out the new version of our Journeys product. This will include access to the Journey API Activity powered by the API Library as well as new backend engine with improved reliability at scale.

Messenger (Web & SDK)

We updated Messenger to be loaded from a CDN, improving the load performance of Messenger on websites and in applications. 

Reporting & Dashboards

We improved the loading performance for the reporting tables that power the Customer and Case data in our dashboards. This will ensure the dashboard data is updated on a more timely and consistent cadence.

This release addresses accessibility issues across the Reports section of the application Teams section in Settings by providing descriptive and unique labels for all interactive elements, ensuring compliance with WCAG 1.3.1 guidelines. Buttons such as "Add Team," "Search Filters," "Edit," "More Options," as well as various actions within team management modals like "Edit Team," "Add Hours," "Edit Additional Info," "Add User to Team," and "Add New User" now have clear labels that accurately convey their purpose. Additionally, the irrelevant tab label in the "Add New User" modal has been removed for clarity. These improvements create a more inclusive experience, enabling all users, including those using assistive technologies, to effectively navigate and interact with team-related settings and functionalities. The consistent labeling enhances the overall usability and comprehension of Reports interface.

Admin & Settings

We improved the performance of loading the Teams page under Settings.

This release addresses accessibility issues across the Teams section in Settings by providing descriptive and unique labels for all interactive elements, ensuring compliance with WCAG 1.3.1 guidelines. Buttons such as "Add Team," "Search Filters," "Edit," "More Options," as well as various actions within team management modals like "Edit Team," "Add Hours," "Edit Additional Info," "Add User to Team," and "Add New User" now have clear labels that accurately convey their purpose. Additionally, the irrelevant tab label in the "Add New User" modal has been removed for clarity. These improvements create a more inclusive experience, enabling all users, including those using assistive technologies, to effectively navigate and interact with team-related settings and functionalities. The consistent labeling enhances the overall usability and comprehension of the Teams interface.

This release addresses accessibility issues on the My Profile page in Settings, ensuring compliance with WCAG 1.3.1 guidelines for providing descriptive and unique labels across interactive elements. Previously, buttons such as "Edit contact info," "Switch role," "Add to team," and others lacked proper labeling, hindering users' ability to understand their purpose and relationships. Additionally, the "Back" and "Save & Exit" buttons on subsequent screens suffered from the same issue. With this update, all buttons now have clear, descriptive labels that accurately convey their functionality. The styling of the "Back" and "Save" buttons has been updated to align with the visual treatment of similar Settings options, further enhancing consistency and usability. These improvements create a more inclusive and seamless experience for all users navigating and managing their profile settings.

This release enhances the accessibility of the Knowledge settings interface by providing descriptive labels for interactive elements, addressing violations of WCAG 1.3.1 guidelines. On the main Knowledge page, the action buttons and search filters now have associated aria-labels for clear identification. When editing a Knowledge library, all buttons within that interface are properly labeled. Additionally, the "Browse" button for custom branding options has received an appropriate aria-label. These improvements ensure that all users, including those relying on assistive technologies, can effectively perceive and interact with the various Knowledge settings and configurations. The consistent labeling creates a more inclusive and comprehensible experience throughout this critical area of the application.