Different Use Cases
Co-browsing and desktop sharing are not identical. Co-browse also differs from application sharing (that is, yielding full browser control). Co-browsing allows the consumer and agent to jointly view and manipulate a page of application content. For a web application, this equates to a specific page in the application; for a mobile application, this is a specific application screen. The consumer and agent can navigate different application pages, provided that each page has the Live Assist tag embedded.
The reason for this is that remote desktop sharing, as a means of support, is intended for an agent who would have physical access to the consumer's machine, if that machine were present. A typical use case for this is an IT staff member assisting a line-of-business employee in the same organization. The machine is an asset of the organization; therefore, the IT department has full access to its contents.
The same relationship does not apply in a typical B2C support scenario. It is imperative for the agent to build and maintain the customer's trust, and it would be a serious violation of that trust if the agent - either intentionally or accidentally - were to manipulate content on the customer's desktop, or in another browser tab.
With these concerns in mind, here are a few nuances to consider when working with the co-browse feature.
Pop-out engagements do not support co-browse or Voice & Video calls
In the Engagement Studio, you can configure the engagement window to remain embedded in the source page, or to pop out in a separate window. Pop-out engagements do not support the co-browse or Voice & Video features, because they take place in a new page where the Live Assist tag is not embedded. Only use a pop-out engagement if you are sure that the Escalate to co-browse feature or a Voice & Video call is not part of the workflow that you are building.
File upload input
Web pages may contain the ability for the visitor to upload files; for example, to attach articles to a knowledge base, or to upload images to a photo sharing site. The following is an example of a file upload input element:
<input type="file" name="img">
This appears on the web page as follows:
When an element like this appears on a page during a co-browse session, it is not be visible to the agent. It appears as a blank space, and the agent cannot interact with it.
Right click, and keyboard shortcuts
The agent does not have control of the customer's browser, so the agent cannot trigger some events, for example, mouse right-clicks, and keyboard shortcuts. If the agent wants to trigger one of these events, they need to ask the consumer to do so on their behalf.
Agent console refresh
If the agent refreshes their CRM Console (that is, Web or Unified Service Desk) while a co-browse is active, the co-browse session ends. However, there is no state preserved in a co-browse session, so the agent can simply send another invitation to the consumer, to resume co-browsing without any data loss.
Icon fonts
Agents need to be aware that when a consumer is using Apple’s Safari browser, some icon fonts may not be replicated or displayed to the agent, or they may appear as empty boxes.
Supported File Types for Document Sharing
Live Assist supports the following file types for Document Sharing. The file selector dims the listing for files that have unsupported formats. If the agent selects one of these dimmed files, an error is displayed.
- JPG
- PNG
- GIF