Chat App – The ability to utilize chat functionality in the Cireson Portal

IT Monkey · May 2016

Kinda like Lync/Skype for Business (S4B) but better...

Judy_Vernon · May 2016

We have multiple user-community requests for a web chat feature. We vote YES.

Jonathan_Boles · May 2016

Integration of SFB would be even better - especially if it shows the presence "bubbles" with the current employee status.

Mathias_Vandendriess · May 2016

This feature gets my vote too!

Adrian_Mataisz · May 2016

Yeap Skype integration like in SharePoint.

Conner_Wood · May 2016

It would be amazing for Analysts to see all the end user accounts logged in, and can then send them a message! Obviously I vote yes for an internal chat dependant on the CiresonDB, however if messages are getting stored in the CiresonDB then obviously input must be sanitized against SQL Injection Attacks, as in, whatever string input is given, it is added to a SQL statement via SQL parameters.

"The only proven way to protect a web site from SQL injection attacks, is to use SQL parameters." - w3schools

Also when retrieving stored input from a database would need to be looked at carefully when displaying it on the website, y'know, formatting it correctly by escaping characters like '<' and '>' in said string (but Cireson should already be doing that part when displaying the title, description, and comments of a ticket).

Cindy_Boyer · June 2016

I vote yes as well.

chelsea_alonso · December 2016

A co-worker and I were discussing how cool it would be if there was Slack type functionality that we could tie into the portal. Our vision was something like making "Team Chat" functionality for the various support groups to be able to coordinate their work. The chat would indicate inbound tickets and possibly have commands like "!IR456123 mine" would assign a ticket to themselves and other similar tasks.

Even if it isn't that extravagant, I totally vote for chat functionality.

Cindy_Shetler · December 2016

We have many requests for web chat in our organization. We vote yes

Gary_Herber · December 2016

Yes.

Billy_Wilson · February 2017

So the functionality for a Cireson Chat App that we are considering at this point would be as follows:

Exclusively integrated with the Cireson Portal. No dependency or integration with Skype for Business (we already have an app for that).
End User initiates a chat to an Analyst from various points in the Self Service Portal ("Need help now?")
Chat requests are queued and assigned Analysts are notified when a chat is requested (pop-up, email, etc). Multiple queues (Support Groups) can be supported and Analysts can be assigned (or sign into) multiple queues.
Analyst side of chat session includes End User Info
End User side of chat session shows queue connected to, configurable header info (chat availability hours?) and Analyst can be set to anonymous or named by Admin
Chat content can be attached to existing Work Item as Action Log or attachment
Chat session can generate a new Incident, Service Request, etc. Work Item form (either from scratch or using templates) where End User = Affected User, queue = Support Group, Analyst is default Assigned User, Source is Chat App, and content could be either Description, Action Log, or attachment. Analyst fills out the rest

So the question on the table is would this be something you would be interested in? As with our other apps, functionality and features would grow over time but we would most likely begin with the listed functionality only.

If you consider such an application a must have, please vote up this thread so we can measure interest.

Thanks.

Jonathan_Boles · February 2017

Hi @Billy_Wilson, it's great to see that Cireson is looking into this, however, the lack of SFB status bubbles in the portal and the inability for the portal to interact well with SFB is not helpful. From my perspective it's hard to justify yet another interface to deal with when we already have SFB.

Since most modern enterprises are utilizing SFB, is there going to be an effort to improve that product offering from Cireson as well?

Billy_Wilson · February 2017

Great feedback Jonathan! SFB WebChat is one of the avenues we are looking into as a way to go. We are looking to see if it can be used to fulfill the requirements above. Right now we are trying to gauge the appetite for an ITSM integrated web chat app in general.

As to the SFB Status Bubbles in the Portal, I'll see where we are at on that.

Thanks for your input.

Cindy_Shetler · February 2017

We see a lot of value in this. We would be in favor of SFB Web chat. Integrating to ITSM is important to us.

Jonathan_Boles · February 2017

Thanks @Billy_Wilson, glad to see that SFB Web is being considered with this functionality. Looking forward to seeing what your team comes up with!

Adam_Dzyacky · February 2017

Second to @Jonathan_Boles and @Cindy_Shetler, I'm in favor of building out the Skype functionality rather than a wholly new "thing" which requires its own training, shift in user experience (analyst and end user), etc.

Brian_Wiest · February 2017

Agreed with everyone but as a two step solution.
One to show presence information in the portal with the ability to kick of an IM session.
Two to add a feature to SfB app that you can add the conversation to the action log of the request.

Jonathan_Boles · February 2017

For anyone that may have missed it, I put in a request for SFB status bubbles way back when - it's gotten some traction but still needs some love to get it higher on the wish list - https://community.cireson.com/discussion/461/allow-skype-for-business-office-365-presence-bubbles-to-appear-in-cireson-portal#latest

Sean_Terry · April 2017

Billy_Wilson said:

So the functionality for a Cireson Chat App that we are considering at this point would be as follows:
Exclusively integrated with the Cireson Portal. No dependency or integration with Skype for Business (we already have an app for that).
End User initiates a chat to an Analyst from various points in the Self Service Portal ("Need help now?")
Chat requests are queued and assigned Analysts are notified when a chat is requested (pop-up, email, etc). Multiple queues (Support Groups) can be supported and Analysts can be assigned (or sign into) multiple queues.
Analyst side of chat session includes End User Info
End User side of chat session shows queue connected to, configurable header info (chat availability hours?) and Analyst can be set to anonymous or named by Admin
Chat content can be attached to existing Work Item as Action Log or attachment
Chat session can generate a new Incident, Service Request, etc. Work Item form (either from scratch or using templates) where End User = Affected User, queue = Support Group, Analyst is default Assigned User, Source is Chat App, and content could be either Description, Action Log, or attachment. Analyst fills out the rest
So the question on the table is would this be something you would be interested in? As with our other apps, functionality and features would grow over time but we would most likely begin with the listed functionality only.

If you consider such an application a must have, please vote up this thread so we can measure interest.

Thanks.

This would be great for us!

Eric_Krasner · April 2017

Would love this

Billy_Wilson · April 2017

Great feedback! Vote it up!

Scott · April 2017

Great idea

Stephen_Cranfield · April 2017

This would be a great addition to your products. It would have a big impact on the way support is handled .

Jonathan_Boles · April 2017

We've been taking a look at the LiveChat offering in demo form (same one that's being used on the cireson.com website). It integrates with the Cireson Portal very well from what I've seen thus far. If the chat solution is not going to integrate with SFB would love to see it have some of the same feature set as LiveChat - especially the ability to monitor what page the user is on and able to send the end user a message after they've been on the portal for a set period of time.

Kathy_Hust · June 2017

Great Idea.

Conner_Wood · September 2017

Ohhh, How the old ideas fade away!

Luke_S · November 2017

Great idea - we would love to see this feature introduced. Does the dev team have any updates to share?

Charles_Burton · May 2018

Chat feature would be a significant benefit to connecting better with customers using the Service Portal. I see that the Skype integration was stated as not an option but I do see it on the roadmap as a potential for future. We would utilize either one but Skype/O365/Teams integration is preferred for this customer as it fits into our future plans for our organization.