Product Update - v6.3.0, July 2023

Webex Connect v6.3.0 release brings multiple new capabilities to help you continue delivering seamless customer experiences. Here’s a list of the key updates:

• Authorization for Outbound Webhooks
• Ability to send emails using SMTP and receive emails using email forwarding
• Ability to log in to Webex Connect using Webex Common Identity
• Support for Global Number Format (+E.164)
• Export Logs enhancements
• Email node configuration options
• New reports for email channel
• 10DLC process changes
• SMS Reporting
• SMPP Interface
• Flow builder enhancements for Apple Messages for Business channel
• Increased size limit for flow import and export
• Limit for number of node executions in a single flow execution
• Logs for unresolved messages in new Debug Console
• Delinking flow versioning from enabling/disabling of descriptive logs
• Push, In-App Messaging, and Live Chat related enhancements



Please refer to the details below to learn about all the changes and enhancements.

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Release Date

The date of release will be communicated separately over an email.

Details

Added – Authorization for Outbound Webhooks

We have enhanced our Outbound Webhooks by introducing the option to add the authorization details. This new feature provides an added layer of security by enabling you to confirm that data posted to your Webhooks is coming from an authorized source. Various authorization mechanisms such as OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code, OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials, AWS Signature, Digest Auth, Basic Auth, and API Key are supported.



Added – Ability to send emails using SMTP and receive emails using email forwarding

We’ve extended the ability to send emails using SMTP and receive emails by configuring a forwarding rule (refer docs after the release for more info) to Webex Connect standalone tenants. This capability is already available for clients who use Webex Connect for supporting email channel for Webex Contact Center and Cisco Contact Center Enterprise products. Currently, a tenant can have only one type of email service enabled (either of ‘AWS SES’ or ‘SMTP’). Please note that currently we do not support delivery receipts for emails sent using SMTP route.

Added – Ability to log in to Webex Connect using Webex Common Identity

We are introducing the option to log in to Webex Connect using Webex Single Sign-On (SSO) in addition to the Webex Connect specific login credentials. Clients who use Webex SSO to log into other Webex products can avail this option. Please reach out to your account manager if you would like to get this feature enabled for your tenant.

Added – Support for Global Number Format (+E.164)

To meet global standards, we are announcing a modification to the phone number format that is currently used on our platform. From now on, all destination phone numbers when using Webex Connect to send outbound messages must adhere to the enhanced E.164 internationally recognized phone number formatting system, which includes adding a plus sign (+) and the specific country code, area code, and local phone number.

For existing tenants, we will be rolling out a transition plan at a later point in time; however, new Webex Connect standalone tenants created after this release will have this change applied right away. This mandate applies across all relevant channels SMS, Voice, MMS, RCS, and WhatsApp in our platform. A couple of other things to note are:

• All new Webex Connect standalone tenants are required to use the global phone number format (+E164) in the API requests (Mandatory in the “To” parameter, no change in the “From” parameter). 


• Platform Modules impacted by this change are Platform UI, Debug Logs, Outbound Webhooks, Messaging API, SMS API, Rules, Send nodes, Event Scheduler, Master Profiles & Receive Node. However, there is no change in the Export Logs content or format as a result of this change.

Changed – Export Logs enhancements

We’ve made the following enhancements to Export Logs module as part of this release:

• Removed the need to configure an end date for Export Logs schedules. We now offer the option to select ‘Do Not Expire’ instead of an end date while scheduling automated log exports. This would eliminate the need to refresh the date every time the previously configured end date has been hit.
• We've added the option to add a new column in Outbound Logs called "Request Origin Time Stamp" to your Export Logs configurations. Existing Export Logs will remain unchanged unless the configuration is updated, and the "Request Origin Time Stamp" column is selected. Refer documentation after this release to know more.

Changed – Email node configuration options

We’ve enhanced Email node to support a number of features that are supported by Messaging API v2 for Email channel. These include:



• Support for configuring multiple email ids (comma separated) in the Destination ID field: A single email will be sent to all recipients mentioned in Destination ID, Cc, and Bcc fields similar to using Messaging API v2 for Email channel with ‘multipleToRecipients’ set to ‘True’.
• replyTo field configuration: There’s now an option to add replyTo email address in the Email node, and the behavior is like Messaging API v2, i.e., the email recipient(s) see the configured reply-to email id in the email they receive.
• HTML email content configuration: Like messaging API v2, now the Email node also allows you to configure the HTML email content.
• Track Opens (only applicable to tenants with AWS SES based email set-up): You will now be able to choose to track email opens by selecting this option like Messaging API v2. This is a must for enabling Read receipts, and when you select Read receipts, Track Opens is automatically selected. However, when Track Opens alone is selected, the email opens/reads are counted in reports, but read receipts are not posted on the configured notify URL.
• Dynamic Attachments: Email node now provides an option to send a dynamic payload for attachment(s). The Dynamic Attachments Payload can be a variable or JSON payload representing the attachments block as can be configured in Messaging API v2. Also, within the existing option, a variable is now allowed in the Mime Type field. 


  Please refer documentation for specific information on the field configuration formats, etc.

Added – New reports for Email channel

We’ve enhanced reporting for email channel to show granular delivery stats. With this upgrade, you will be able to see counts of hard bounce, soft bounce, and email complaints. We’ve also added a new card that shows the sub-category level count of messages bounced or complaint emails. This will give you better visibility into the top reasons behind email failures.

Changed – 10DLC process changes

• Today there is no option in Webex Connect to de-provision a number once the brand and campaign is assigned to a number. The workaround available is that you can delete the number and the number will automatically be de-provisioned from the assigned brand and campaign. However, with the new 10DLC flow we have rolled out a feature to deprovision the number from the assigned brand and campaign by removing the 10DLC assignment.
• As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our services and comply with industry regulations, we have removed the support for 10DLC campaign creation for the following use cases:
  • Machine to Machine
  • Agents and Franchises
  • Proxy

    These are special use cases that require a separate approval process. Please contact your account manager if you wish to send the campaigns for the above-mentioned use cases. 
 
• We’ve enhanced the Number Listing module to display the status of 10DLC Number Assignment. You can now view the following statuses for your 10DLC number assignments:
  • Pending
  • Success
  • Failed 

    Previously, you could only see a blue "10DLC" label if the number was successfully assigned. However, with the addition of these new statuses, you will have greater visibility and control over the number assignments.
• Further, with this release we have deprecated the “Campaign Vertical" and “Affiliate Marketing” attribute from the Campaign registration flow.

Changed – SMS Reporting

We are excited to announce the following changes to the SMS reporting in our platform with this release:



• Updated Reporting Labels: We have updated some of the reporting labels to make them more descriptive and intuitive. This change is designed to provide greater clarity and consistency. 


• Message Counts: We have also made some changes to our SMS channel reports, where we now display the actual number of messages delivered and failed (instead of estimated), including the number of message segments. This feature will provide you with a more accurate picture of your SMS messaging usage and performance.

Changed – SMPP Interface

The current SMPP interface allows you to create and leverage a single ESME bind for all your use cases. However, with this release we are excited to announce that our SMPP interface now supports the creation of multiple ESME binds. You can create up to two ESME binds directly from the platform.

If you require more binds, please contact your account manager. Once configured, you will be able to manage all the binds from the Webex Connect platform.

Changed – Flow builder enhancements for Apple Messages for Business channel

We’ve added variables to include the payloads for inbound and outbound messages in the Start node and the Apple Messages for Business Send node respectively. We’ve also added some of the common output variables for all message types in Start and Receive node in consistency with the corresponding outbound webhook parameters. Please refer to the node documentation for more information.

Changed – Increased size limit for flow import and export

We're raising the limit for flow file size imports and exports from 4MB to 10MB. The enhancement allows for larger files to be imported and exported without any limitations.

Added – Limit for number of node executions in a single flow execution

From this release onwards, Webex Connect will allow up to 1000 nodes to be executed in a single flow execution, including ‘Call Workflow’ based node executions or nodes spread across different pages within a single flow. While we don't restrict the number of nodes configured in a flow, we recommend that you modularize flows that have huge number of nodes across flows or pages within a flow as per the best practices mentioned in the documentation. Flow transactions crossing 1000 node execution per session will be terminated and we will showcase a ‘limitReached’ error in ‘Debug Logs’ for such executions.

The above default limits will apply only to new flows and will not impact previously published flows.

Added – Logs for unresolved messages in new Debug Console

We've added a filter to the new Debug Console to allow you to view all incoming messages that did not match the trigger conditions for any of the flows and/or rules. With this enhancement, you can quickly and easily identify messages that didn't trigger a flow or rule, bringing in better visibility into all incoming messages.

Changed – Delinking Flow Versioning from enabling/disabling of Descriptive Logs

We have made an enhancement to the flow settings section to delink the enable/disable functionality for 'Descriptive logs' from flow versioning. This means that you no longer need to create a new version of the flow just to change the status of descriptive logging. With this enhancement, you have the flexibility to enable or disable descriptive logging without the overhead of managing multiple flow versions. The descriptive log status will be turned off by default for new flows created using the Import and Copy options irrespective of the status of the descriptive logs of the flow used to import or copy being on or off.

Changed – Push, In-App Messaging and Live Chat related enhancements

We are releasing the following SDK updates as part of Webex Connect v6.3.0 release:

• Android SDK v2.19.0
• iOS SDK v2.18.0
• JavaScript SDK v1.5.3
• Android UI SDK v1.4.1
• iOS UI SDK v1.4.1

Here’s a summary of the changes:

• We have decoupled the user registration process from the process of seeking push notification permissions from the app users in our Android SDK v2.19.0 and iOS SDK v2.18.0. This allows you to register your customers (i.e., app users) first and provide them better context about the app before you seek their permission for sending push notifications so that they can take a more informed decision.
• We have made enhancements to the iOS UI SDK to let app users navigate to the latest message in a single tap if a new message is received while they are scrolling through old messages in a thread.
• We have also made improvements to the Generic Template messages available in our Android UI SDK v1.4.1and iOS UI SDK v1.4.1. You can now customize size, color, and font size of the buttons available in the Generic Template messages.
• We have enhanced our iOS SDK to enable you to test apps built using our iOS SDK on iOS ARM-64 simulator.
• Finally, there have been various technical enhancements like upgrading the libraries used by the SDKs internally to the latest stable versions to improve overall performance and stability of the SDKs.
  For more details, please check the SDK release notes available in our public documentation.

Important Additional Notes

• Previously Apple Messages for Business allowed clients to send an authentication request to consumers (iOS 12+) using an OAuth 2.0 provider. The consumers then respond to the authentication request with their user/password credentials which can be validated against the OAuth 2.0 provider. This message type has now been deprecated and users are required to use New Authentication Message instead.
• For clients who are using Export Logs feature, we recommend configuring a unique file name for each of the export logs configurations.
• We’ve noticed that the onTimeout transitions on pre-built integration nodes are getting routed through the onError edge. We will be fixing this issue as part of an upcoming release. Please make sure to update your flow configurations and configure both onError and onTimeout edges correctly.
• Please note that the Sender ID that was available by default for sending test SMS traffic in some of the tenants will no longer be supported from the next release onwards. We highly recommend that you start using the Sender IDs available within your Webex Connect tenants specifically only to send or receive any messages, as the default Sender ID will not work after next release.

Changelog