Thirdlane Connect Overview

Thirdlane Connect is a tool for communications and team collaboration using Direct and Group Messaging, Voice Calls, Meetings (video conferencing), Screen Sharing, File Sharing, and CRM and application integration.

Thirdlane Connect is a private alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams, with an added benefit of a fully integrated advanced phone system. If you’ve used Slack or Microsoft Teams in the past, you will feel comfortable using Thirdlane Connect.

Your team members can work remotely, and communicate securely from wherever they are, using whatever devices they choose — web browsers, Windows, Mac, or Linux desktops, and iPhone or Android apps. This guide focuses on the web and desktop apps, which share the same layout and features unless noted. Mobile apps support a subset of features; differences are called out in Platform-specific features.

Recent release highlights:

• Latest - What’s new in 16.1.3 - @mentions, per-conversation notification levels, and Siri on iPhone.
• What’s new in 16.1.2 - faster recording and voicemail playback, and call reliability fixes.
• What’s new in 16.1.1 - omnichannel agent workspace, Connect AI and call intelligence, dark mode, and themes.

Thirdlane Connect User Interface

The layout and main areas of the user interface are the same in the browser and on desktop (Electron). Open actions from toolbars, sidebars, contact lists, and conversation headers as described throughout this guide. Only one contextual action menu should be open at a time.

Thirdlane Connect Features

With Thirdlane Connect you can:

• Send and receive secure messages in direct and group conversations

• Receive messages from various applications via Slack compatible webhooks

• Manage personal contacts

• Escalate conversations as needed - from chat, to voice calls, to meetings

• Create and use private and public Channels for team communication

• Get someone’s attention with @mentions (including @everyone and @here) in channels and chats

• Tune alerts per conversation with notification levels (All messages, Mentions only, or Nothing)

• Use Siri on iPhone to place calls and send messages with your business identity, hands-free

• Log in using Google or Office 365 accounts

• Access Google and Office 365 contacts

• Use click-to-call and get screen pops in Salesforce and other CRMs

• Share status and presence with your team

• Share files

• Hold video meetings with your team or with external guests - customers and anyone else join from a web browser using a shared link, with no Connect account required

• Share screen during meetings

• Access your voicemail

• Manage call recording, listen to recorded calls

• Manage call forwarding, screening and blocking

• Move calls between mobile Thirdlane Connect and your desk phone

• Call from mobile phone using office extension, keeping mobile number private

• Save international and long distance charges by making calls from mobile device via Thirdlane phone system

• Take full advantage of the advanced business phone system functionality

• Send faxes from anywhere, even mobile phone

• Work as a contact-center agent, switching between Team and Customer workspaces and handling customer conversations across channels in the Omnichannel agent workspace

Omnichannel contact center for agents

Thirdlane Connect is also an omnichannel contact center client. What you see depends on your role: if your administrator has enabled omnichannel messaging for your extension and you are a member of at least one messaging-enabled queue, Connect adds a Team / Customer workspace switch at the top of the sidebar. Everyone else keeps the standard single-sidebar Connect experience with no mode switch.

• Team mode is your internal collaboration workspace - channels, colleagues, meetings, and recent activity.
• Customer mode is your agent workspace - the Omnichannel tab where queued customer conversations arrive across WhatsApp, SMS, Chat, and Call, plus SMS chats and fax.

In Customer mode you accept, hold, and close interactions, handle several at once from the session strip, complete after-contact wrap-up (ACW) with a wrap-up code and notes, work the shared Customers (CRM) list, and start outbound template or free-form messages. Calls and Settings stay available in both modes, and while you are in Team mode a badge on the switch shows how many customer interactions are waiting so you know when to switch back.

See Team and Customer Workspaces for the mode switch and Omnichannel Agent Workspace for handling conversations.

This User Guide helps you to get started with Thirdlane Connect and explains its features and configuration options.

We hope, that with this knowledge, you will be able to organize your communications to reflect the specifics of your business, and make your team more productive.