What is Channel Integration Framework(CIF):
Channel Integration Framework(CIF) is to integrate third-party channel providers with Dynamics 365 Unified Interface Application using browser-based JavaScript API library with cloud-to-cloud extensibility.
With CIF we can integrate any third-party channel provider into a model-driven app, where the CIF acts as an interface between the providers and model-driven applications.
Technically CIF is a set of APIs (methods, events and protocols) that enables developers and partners to build diving communication experiences such that third party communication widgets running on channel provider/partner cloud can interact with Dynamics 365.
Why Channel Integration Framework:
Before CIF, organizations have struggled to communicate with the customers in the channels of their choice.
It was not easy to integrate a 3rd party application solution into the system. Partner Developers invested in unsupported customization and manipulation in order to embed their channel widgets in Dynamics 365.
Launching CIF minimizes the effort, maximizes productivity, and helps to deliver best-in-class customer service.
CIF Framework benefits:
- With the Dynamics 365 application, CIF Framework is extensible to integrate third-party cloud-based channel providers.
- CIF is a platform-independent, browser-independent.
- It allows two-way communication. Therefore allows both inbound and outbound data flow.
- Channels such as voice, video, chat, co-browse, etc can be built as long as there’s a Javascript-based widget available.
- You can build the channel once and that can be enabled on the model-driven app of our choice based on business requirements.
- It allows us to configure screen pops to display customer information that can help us to start a conversation efficiently and effectively.
- Easy to develop, implement, and deploy the channel of our choice.
- It allows us to integrate multiple channel providers rather than a single channel.
- It allows us to Customize the channel programmatically or manually to give enhanced agent experience like maximizing, minimizing, show, hide, height, width, pop-out, and so on.