3CX is a brilliant unified comms solution packed with tonnes of features, but it’s not suitable for every business.
Here is some detail on 3CX’s limitations and what isn’t going to work. If you’re running a call centre or a service desk, much of what you need will be covered by 3CX, but here is what you won’t get…
3CX Limitation: Wrap up codes
Some Call Centre software allows your agents to select a code at the end of the call to provide statistics on the nature of the query. 3CX does not have this functionality built-in.
A workaround for this limitation is to integrate 3CX with your CRM and use the Call Journaling functionality of the 3rd party platform. Many CRM products allow for simple dropdown forms to be created alongside this journal which replicates this function.
3CX Limitation: Screen recording
3CX does not have any screen recording functionality. Some call centre managers may wish to record an agent’s screen as part of their call quality analysis to make sure the agents are focused on their customers throughout each call and not scrolling through Facebook, but this is currently not supported by 3CX.
3CX Limitation: Sentiment analysis
Artificial Intelligence technology is becoming more widespread in call centre situations, where calls are analysed to gain insight into a caller’s opinion, attitudes, and emotions.
3CX does not include any native integration with sentiment analysis technology. If your clients are looking to see how their clients’ attitudes shift during a call, they’ll need another solution.
3CX Limitation: After call surveys
While it is possible to build a survey using the Call Flow Designer, there is no functionality built into 3CX which allows for a call to be automatically transferred to this when an agent releases the call from their end (which is built into other platforms).
3CX Limitation: Simplistic time-based routing
3CX does allow for calls to be routed differently based on whether it is “in office hours” or “out of office hours”, but does not natively allow for more complex rules (such as routing to person A from 9 am to 11 am, to person B from 11 am to 3 pm, then person C for the rest of the day).
There are workarounds using extensions that change state at various times of the day, as well as using the Call Flow Designer. Changes can not be made temporarily, for example, routing calls to a mobile for the rest of the business day and returning to normal afterwards. A manual change is required to revert.
3CX Limitation: Voicemail breakout
There is no built option to break out from a voicemail box (ie “press 1 to be transferred to my mobile”), however, an IVR can be set for all users to do this. All voicemail boxes also have a breakout set to press 0 to be transferred to the “operator” (a static extension configured across the PBX), which cannot be disabled.
3CX Limitation: Holidays in different areas
While 3CX has built-in functionality for holidays, including the ability to either send calls directly to an out-of-hours rule or to a special menu dedicated to holidays, it does not allow for holidays to be specified for specific inbound numbers.
This means that businesses that operate in different regions, states, or countries, might find that they need to manually change the rules for numbers that operate in a place that has a specific holiday.
This is indicated to be resolved in the upcoming Version 18 Update 6
3CX Limitation: Time zones
Only a single time zone can be set for a PBX, meaning that businesses that operate in multiple time zones need to set their time-based rules to compensate for this. For situations where Daylight Savings is observed in one area but not another (for example, a business operating in both New South Wales and Queensland) the timing will need to be adjusted at each change.
This is indicated to be resolved in the upcoming 3CX Version 18 Update 6
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