Product Update - v6.9.0, March 2025

Webex Connect v6.9.0 release brings multiple new capabilities to help you continue delivering seamless customer experiences. Here’s a list of the key updates and enhancements that are a part of this release:

Summary

Here’s a list of the key updates and enhancements that are a part of this release:

• Handling of Messaging, Event API, and Inbound Webhook requests that exceed the subscribed/provisioned TPS
  limit
• Ability to update Access Credentials for existing AWS-SES based Email App Assets
• Branded Text Messaging Stats within SMS Reports
• Inclusion of Branded Text Usage in SMS Outbound section of the platform Usage Report
• ‘Users’ Count in the Usage Report
• Watchtower - Throughput Utilization Dashboard Updates
• Retention policy for Webex Connect Reports and Usage Stats
• Multi-part SMS count in Outbound Webhook and Data Stream Payloads
• Push, In-App Messaging, and Live Chat-related enhancements
• MIME-Type Configuration option in Media Manager

Please refer to the details below to learn about all the changes and enhancements.

📘

Release Date

The date of release will be communicated separately over an email.

Details

Changed - Handling of Messaging, Event API, and Inbound Webhook requests that exceed the subscribed/provisioned TPS limit

As informed in one of the previous release notes, we are excited to introduce a new feature that allows a
limited number of Messaging APIs, Event API, and Inbound Webhook requests that exceed tenant-level
throughput (TPS) limits to be accepted and queued for processing, instead of being rejected.

Here are some key points about this enhancement:

• Improved Customer Experience: This feature is designed to help maintain a seamless customer
  experience during unexpected surges in transaction rates or volumes.
• Enhanced Throughput: Once this feature is enabled for a tenant, the subscribed TPS limits can be
  exceeded up to 1.5 times of the subscribed/provisioned TPS (subject to a maximum of extra 100 TPS)
  for a cumulative duration of up to 30 minutes per day and a total of up to 8 hours per month. The 8-
  hour monthly limit resets at the start of each calendar month.

For example, if a tenant has 100 TPS configured at the Messaging API level, this burst mode allows an
additional 50 TPS, enabling a total of 150 TPS for up to 30 minutes per day. Similarly, a tenant with 200 TPS
can utilise an additional 100 TPS, reaching a maximum of 300 TPS during Burst mode. However, if a tenant has
more than 200 TPS configured (e.g., 1000 TPS), the maximum additional TPS allowed in Burst mode remains
capped at 100 TPS, resulting in a total of 1100 TPS.

Note:

• For Messaging API transactions, this feature is available only for SMS, MMS, Voice, Email, WhatsApp,
  and RCS channels.
• API Response Changes:
  • Updated Description: For requests accepted under this burst mode, the response body
    description in the Messaging APIs, Event API, and Inbound Webhooks will be updated to
    "Queued in burst mode."
  • Unchanged Response Code: The response code for these requests will remain the same.
• Actions Required:
  • Integration Adjustments: If you wish to utilize this feature, please ensure to make the necessary
    changes on your end to handle the updated response descriptions.
• Processing Time:
  • API requests accepted in the burst mode are queued and processed as per the standard rate for
    your tenant and hence you may observe an increase in the processing times for handling of
    such requests.

To ensure optimal performance and support, this feature will initially be available to a limited number of
users. Please reach out to your account manager if you would like to get added to the waitlist for access to this
feature during the Early Access period.

For more information, refer to the v6.9.0 copy of Throughput Utilization chapter.

Added - Ability to update Access Credentials for existing AWS-SES based Email App Assets

We’re introducing the ability to edit and update the Access Credentials for existing AWS-SES based Email App
Assets from with the Webex Connect UI. This option will be available only for Tenant Owners and Full Access
Users. Please ensure that the new credentials have relevant permissions as mentioned in the documentation.

For more information, refer to the v6.9.0 copy of the Email chapter.

Added – Branded Text Messaging Stats within SMS Reports

We’ve added message volumes for Branded Text within SMS Reports with this release. Here’s a brief
description of the fields that we have added:

1. Messages Enabled for RCS Basic: Provides count of SMS messages attempted to be sent as RCS Basic.
2. Messages Delivered as RCS Basic: Provides count of messages successfully uplifted and delivered as
   RCS Basic.
3. With these changes, renamed the existing attribute ‘Messages Delivered’ renamed to ‘Message
   Delivered as SMS’ for improved clarity.

In addition to the above changes, the user interface has been updated to enhance usability, featuring:

• Radio Buttons: For toggling between ‘All Sender IDs’ and ‘Select Individual’ & ‘Branded Text Enabled’ options.
• Checkboxes: For selecting individual Sender IDs when ‘Select Individual’ or ‘Branded Text Enabled’ is
  chosen.

Please note that these stats will be shown from the day this release is deployed in the region your tenant is
hosted in. Also, the uplifting of SMS messages to Branded Text is applicable only for clients who have
subscribed for this feature.

For more information, refer to the v6.9.0 copy of Reports and Usage chapters.

Changed - Inclusion of Branded Text Usage in SMS Outbound section of the platform Usage Report

The SMS Outbound sheet in the XLS Usage Report that can be exported from within Usage section of Webex
Connect has been enhanced to provide insights into Branded Text usage. A new column - ‘Delivered as RCS
Basic’ has been added to represent the count of messages successfully delivered as RCS Basic (Branded Text).

Please note that these stats will be shown in the monthly usage report from the first month following the
release in the region your tenant is hosted in. In the first month, the data will be captured and reported from
the day of the release.

Changed - ‘Users’ Count in the Usage Report

The ‘Users’ count available within Webex Connect Usage section and exported XLS usage reports will exclude
Cisco helpdesk users from the calculations going forward. This change applies from the month v6.9.0 is
released in the region your tenant is hosted in.

For more information, refer to v6.9.0 copy the Usage Reports Fields chapter.

Changed - Watchtower - Throughput Utilization Dashboard Updates

We have made enhancements to the Throughput Utilization Dashboard in Watchtower to improve visibility for
monitoring Messaging API and Event API throughput utilization.

• Burst TPS Representation: Burst TPS values are now displayed, helping users monitor throughput
  utilization more effectively. This is applicable only when the Burst TPS mode has been enabled.
• Visualization Corrections: Rejected Transactions are now plotted on a secondary axis to improve the
  user experience.

Note: There are a few ongoing enhancements and fixes for the feature that are currently in progress.
These improvements will be included in the upcoming release, alongside the General Availability (GA) of
Watchtower.

For more information, refer to the Rate Limits for Messaging APIs, Event API, and Inbound Webhook chapter.

Changed - Retention policy for Webex Connect Reports, Usage Stats, and Watchtower stats

Webex Connect platform UI reports and Usage stats in Watchtower and Usage Report, will now be accessible
only for the last 13 months from the current date. Any dates older than 13 months retention period will be
excluded from the selectable date range on the platform.

For more information, refer to the v6.9.0 copy of Reports, Watchtower, Data Retention Policy, and Usage chapters.

Added - Multi-part SMS count in Outbound Webhook and Data Stream Payloads

We have added a new parameter named 'messageCount' in SMS Outbound Webhook and Data Stream
payloads to include the SMS multipart message count detail. This parameter will be added to delivered, un-delivered, and failed delivery receipts only. This change is available in all Webex Connect regions excluding Canada and
Mumbai deployment sites.

We recommend you to refer to the documentation to get more info about the new parameter and make any
required changes in your implementation to consume this info.

Added – Added – Push, In-App Messaging, and Live Chat-related enhancements

We are releasing the following SDK versions as part of this release:

• Modular Android SDK v3.0.2
• Modular iOS SDK v3.0.2
• JavaScript SDK Version v1.6.1
• Legacy Android SDK v2.20.6

Here’s a summary of the changes:

• In JavaScript SDK v1.6.1, we have decoupled the push permissions request from registration. When
  integrating web push notifications, developers can now choose when to request permissions. Instead
  of automatically initiating this at startup, which causes violations, they can trigger the 'request Push
  Permission' method during a user action, such as a button click, ensuring compliance with best practice
  guidelines.
• We’ve made various technical enhancements and updated the SDKs with latest versions of internal
  libraries such as Firebase Messaging, SQLCipher, Huawei Push Kit (applicable for Android only), etc.
  For more details on the SDK updates, please refer to the SDK release notes in our documentation.

Added - MIME-Type configuration option in Media manager

We have added the ability to explicitly mention the MIME types when uploading files to Media Manager,
giving higher flexibility and control when using this tool to upload media files that can subsequently be
referenced when sending outbound messages.

For more information, refer to the v6.9.0 copy of Media Manager, WhatsApp, and Supported File Types for Channels chapters.

Important Additional Notes

• Starting with Legacy Android SDK v2.20.6, minimum supported-OS version is Android 5.0 (API level 21)
  or higher.
• As part of this release, for existing mobile/web app assets on Webex Connect that were created before
  the release of v6.5.0, we have removed the option of configuring push by passing the FCM server key.
  This configuration was removed because FCM discontinued support in June 2024. For more
  information, refer to the Set-up a new Mobile / Web App Asset page in API Reference documentation.
• We advise all Webex Connect Android and iOS SDK users to transition to the new modular SDKs (i.e.,
  v3.x.x) as soon as possible. The Legacy SDKs version 2.x.x will be deprecated on 20th August 2025, after
  which they will no longer receive support or updates.
• Starting from April 1, 2025, WhatsApp is temporarily pausing marketing template messages being sent
  to WhatsApp users who have a United States phone number, to focus on enhancing the WhatsApp
  consumer experience. Hence, we recommend clients to not send WhatsApp marketing template
  messages to US phone numbers. Once this restriction comes into effect, attempts to send such
  messages will result in delivery failures and will be reported with error code: 131049 within
  additional_info (as previously announced for other Marketing Message limitations).

Changelog