Twilio Releases: Q3 2021

This release Flex UI and WebChat UI upgrades Browser Notifications and Markdown to Generally Available. These features improve agent efficiency and customer experience for messaging interactions.

Markdown support allows agents to format Web Chat messages. This can improve the readability of longer messages. Using bold text, italics, or bulleted lists can create structure and emphasis in your agents' messages, and ensure that customers read and understand the message correctly.

Browser notifications help agents respond to tasks that require their attention in a timely manner and not miss any customer interaction when they are not focused on Flex.

To take advantage of these features, visit Flex settings to enable them for your account.

Other notable changes in Flex UI 1.26: 

• Error reporting - Flex now reports on errors that are generated within the UI. This will help us continuously improve the quality of the application and get more insights into issues that need troubleshooting. To read more about ways to troubleshoot Flex UI, including how you can opt out of error reporting, visit our Flex docs.
• Transfer directory hidden filters - Now you can programmatically pre-filter the list of agents or queues in the transfer directory. Agents accessing the directory to initiate a call transfer will view and search only within the prefiltered subset. For example, you can choose to only display agents who are available. To learn more about Transfer directory hidden filters, visit our Flex docs.

For more details on this release, please visit the release notes for Flex UI and WebChat UI.

We are excited to announce that the Plugins Dashboard and Plugins API are now generally available and covered by Twilio SLA and support plans. 

The Plugins Dashboard, powered by the Plugins API, provides visibility and control to admins outside of a developer’s command line interface. The Plugins API provides modern DevOps capabilities to plugin development, including:

• Control which plugins are enabled for your agents
• Track your version and release history as you update Flex
• Quickly revert to a previously known working configuration when troubleshooting agent issues

Review our dashboard guide and migration guide for more details.

Super SIM Connection Events allow you to follow a Super SIM connected device’s journey from when Twilio first sees it trying to connect to our mobile core, to when it gets connected and starts to use data, to when it ends its data session. Once a device has successfully started a data session, update events will be published while the device stays connected to give you near real-time usage information for each Super SIM.

Super SIM Connection Events are delivered via Twilio Event Stream, an API that allows you to tap into a unified stream of interactions across different Twilio products. You can stream your data to your existing systems by configuring a modern, persistent streaming technology like Amazon Kinesis, or to a webhook.

Please refer to the documentation for more details and guides on how to get started. 

You can now integrate Twilio SendGrid with identity and access management platforms that support SAML 2.0 such as Okta, Duo, and Microsoft Azure. Twilio SendGrid SSO integration allows you to securely and centrally manage account permissions, including password requirements, multi-factor authentication, and employee offboarding. Twilio SendGrid SSO provides access to those who need it by mapping new Twilio SendGrid Teammates to users in your SSO Identity Provider (IdP). Please note that each SSO user can access only one account or subuser during the Public Beta.

Visit our documentation for more information on how to access and manage SSO permissions.

Quick reply and call to action buttons can now be added to WhatsApp message templates when they are created in the Twilio Console. Buttons make it easy for businesses to streamline customer responses and guide their customers through conversational interactions, or drive them towards desired outcomes to improve engagement. Quick reply buttons let businesses define standard responses that users can tap to send. Call to action buttons trigger a phone call or direct users to a website when tapped.

To learn more about this exciting feature, check out our blog post or try it out for yourself today!

Organizations is a new structure that helps companies of all sizes manage their users and accounts on Twilio.

Customers can now create an umbrella Organization under which all of their users and accounts can belong. Additionally, customers can register their company domain(s) so that new users and accounts automatically become part of the Organization. This means spending less time switching between multiple accounts to find the right one.

This functionality is especially useful for customers who manage large numbers of accounts and users, and it lays the foundation for Twilio to build functionality for our customers at the organizational level.

Organizations are managed through Admin Center, a new Console UI that’s available to all customers. 

Learn more about this feature in the Organizations documentation. 

Today we are making the video processors JavaScript library for Twilio Video generally available. This add-on library contains processors for background blur and background replacement. It is used in conjunction with the Video Processor API in the Video JavaScript SDK. 

The library provides a simple way to add virtual background support to your video application and allow your users to present a professional look when working from home or on-the-go. No separate download or browser plugin is required and the functionality can be added with a few lines of code. 

For more information on this feature, see our blog post here or review the documentation here. 

Conference and Participant Summaries provide multiple views into conference metadata which allow users to see conference parameters, investigate participant event timelines, and understand detected quality issues.

Every conference on Twilio is now being analyzed and aggregated by Conference Insights to provide visibility into participant behavior and offer prescriptive recommendations for resolving common quality and configuration issues. 

Conference and Participant Summaries are included with all conferences at no additional cost. For more information see our docs.

Twilio Frontline, a programmable application for salespeople and relationship managers, is now in Public Beta. This launch includes publicly available mobile apps for both iOS and Android, advanced inbound routing, native SSO integration, functionality to transfer and close conversations, and support for production-scale rollouts of a secure customer communication platform over SMS and WhatsApp.

You can read more about this launch on our blog, and if you’re ready to start building, dive in to our docs.

We have introduced a solution that enables Microsoft Teams Direct Routing to gain PSTN access using the Oracle Communications SBC and Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking. This combination enables any organization using Microsoft Teams Direct Routing to connect to the PSTN via Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking. You can learn more about this solution in our blog and by referencing Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking Solution Blueprints.