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Configure an SMS channel for TeleSign

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Omnichannel for Customer Service offers a suite of capabilities that extend the power of Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise to enable organizations to instantly connect and engage with their customers across digital messaging channels. An additional license is required to access Omnichannel for Customer Service. For more information, see the Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing overview and Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing plan pages.

An SMS channel allows your organization to connect to customers by using text messages. After you configure an SMS channel, your customers can send text messages and connect with a customer service agent. This provides your customers the flexibility to connect with their mobile devices when an internet connection isn't available to connect to a chat channel.

Agents can view incoming SMS requests on their dashboard and respond accordingly.

The tasks to add SMS support for TeleSign are as follows:

  1. Enable SMS channel in your Dynamics 365 organization.

  2. Register with TeleSign and get your customer ID and API key, and purchase a phone number.

  3. Add SMS support through Omnichannel for Customer Service.

Note

  • The maximum number of characters supported for sent and received messages is 1600.
  • To ensure that third-party SMS providers handle opt-out commands properly, you must configure your consent settings with the provider directly.
  • SMS is an asynchronous mode of communication. Agents can close the conversation and then work on them later. Ending the conversation will mark it as resolved. More information: Understand conversation states

Prerequisite

Verify that you have permissions on the secure columns. More information: Configure permissions to access secure columns.

Enable SMS channel in your Dynamics 365 organization

You can enable the SMS channel from the Dynamics 365 admin center. For steps on enabling SMS in your organization as a part of provisioning Omnichannel for Customer Service, see Provision Omnichannel for Customer Service.

Sign up for TeleSign account

An SMS channel can be enabled within Omnichannel for Customer Service by integrating with TeleSign. This integration uses public APIs of TeleSign for sending and receiving text messages. You must sign up for a TeleSign account to enable an SMS channel in your organization.

  1. Go to TeleSign to sign up for a self-service account, and upgrade to standard or enterprise account for a complete integration with Omnichannel for Customer Service. If you expect to send high volumes of SMS traffic, such as more than 100,000 messages per month, contact TeleSign support to request an invoiced enterprise account.

  2. Purchase support phone numbers through your TeleSign account.

  3. Get the customer ID and API key from your TeleSign account. You need to provide these while setting up the SMS channel in Omnichannel for Customer Service.

  4. You're provided with a callback URL that must be sent to TeleSign support. This callback URL is specific to your organization and is available when you add SMS support for your organization. When you send an email to TeleSign support, include the callback URL, your customer ID, and enter the subject line as Omnichannel for Customer Service callback URL update request.

Add SMS support

  1. In the site map of Customer Service admin center, in Customer support, select Channels.

  2. In Accounts, for Messaging accounts, select Manage.

  3. On the Accounts and channels page, select New account.

  4. Enter the following details:

    1. In Channel details, enter a name, and select SMS in Channel.

    2. In Account details, select TeleSign in Provider, and enter the following details:

      • Customer ID: Customer ID generated from the TeleSign account.
      • API key: API key generated from the TeleSign account.

    3. In SMS phone numbers, select Add, and enter the following details in Add SMS number:

    • Number: Specify the support phone number that you purchased from TeleSign in the <phone_number> format, such as 14252306549. Make sure that you don't enter blank spaces, special characters, or the plus sign (+).
    • Type: Select Geo, Short code, or Toll free.
    • Description: Enter a description.
    • Validate: Select to validate the customer ID and API key.
    1. In Callback URL, copy the value and send it to TeleSign at support@telesign.com with your customer ID; enter the subject line as "Omnichannel for Customer Service callback URL update request".

  5. Open the workstream that you created for the SMS channel for TeleSign.

  6. Select Add SMS Channel, and configure the following options:

    1. On the SMS number page, select a number from the list.

    2. On the Language page, select the language that you want to set as the default.

    3. On the Behaviors page, configure the following options:

    1. In User features, set the toggle for File attachments to On and select the following options if you want both agents and customers to exchange files. More information: Enable file attachments.
    • Customers can send file attachments
    • Agents can send file attachments
    1. Verify the settings on the Summary page, and select Finish. The SMS for TeleSign channel is configured.

  7. Configure routing rules. More information: Configure work classification.

  8. Configure work distribution. More information: Work distribution settings

  9. Add a bot. More information: Configure a bot.

  10. In Advanced settings, configure the following options based on your business needs:

Flow of data between Omnichannel for Customer Service SMS channel and TeleSign

Incoming text messages

For an incoming text message sent by a customer to the support phone number, the message is first sent to the TeleSign service and then pushed by TeleSign to Omnichannel for Customer Service using the callback URL. After this, the message gets routed and associated to either a new or an existing conversation by Omnichannel for Customer Service.

Outgoing text messages

For an outgoing message sent by an agent from within Dynamics 365, the message is first sent to the TeleSign service and then TeleSign sends it to the customer. In addition to the text message, Omnichannel for Customer Service uses the APIs provided by TeleSign to send the customer's phone number, support phone number (TeleSign SenderID), and the TeleSign account information (CustomerID and the API Key) to the TeleSign service.

TeleSign API Key Validation

When you validate the API key while setting up the SMS channel, a call is made to TeleSign to validate customer ID and the API key.

See also

Channels in Omnichannel for Customer Service
Overview of SMS channels
Configure SMS channel using Azure Communication Services
Configure SMS channel for Twilio
Create and manage workstreams
Configure automated messages
Delete a configured channel
SMS FAQ