Hey good looking: All change for 3CX V20 Update 9

You don’t hold a PC Pro A-List slot for five years on the trot by resting on your laurels, which is why it’s no surprise to see another big update to 3CX V20 just a month after it took top spot in our annual phone system test (see issue 381, p96). As Dave Mitchell put it in his verdict: “3CX offers an unbeatable range of features, flexible deployments, affordable plans and smart agentic AI services”.

That was his take on Update 8. So what does Update 9 bring? Perhaps the most notable change is the new look. 3CX describes this as its “most significant redesign of the 3CX Web Client to date”, and we’ll cover what that means to users in a moment. But it also brings big enhancements to queue behaviour – perfect for call centres – along with real-time AI improvements and a host of other more minor changes designed to make users’ and admins’ lives easier.

Visual overhaul

In terms of visuals, this is no minor nip and tuck. 3CX has made updates across every key area, whether that’s the Team view, Dialler, Chat, Call History, Contacts, Voicemail or Settings. Every section has been updated with a cleaner layout with less clutter, and it’s not just for eye candy: it’s now easier and quicker to complete everyday tasks.

For instance, if you want to see more extensions and active calls at a glance, the “compact” mode presents all the information on screen. If you want to see more details – such as thumbnails of people – then you have the “comfortable” view. For a manager or a receptionist, this flexibility could make a world of difference.

3CX has also updated the dialler to make it easier to place and manage calls without annoying clutter. Similarly, it has improved navigation via a simplified menu structure, reducing the number of clicks needed to move between sections.

Improved queue features

The next big improvement has call centres in its targets. 3CX V20 Update 9 provides more control over wait times, routing and – crucially – the caller experience. There’s a particular emphasis on dealing with pressure points, from smarter escalation to more flexible callback options.

Let’s start with callbacks. A new option allows callers to request a callback after hearing an announcement. Rather than hang up in frustration when they’re told they’re in a queue, they can opt for a callback by pressing a key after a configurable wait time. This gives more flexibility to both the admin and the caller, and gives the latter control.

3CX Update 9 also brings two new escalation strategies: time-driven escalation and cumulative escalation. Rather than be limited to simple agent availability, time-based escalation means calls can now escalate to the next skill group after a configurable timeout – even if agents are available but not answering. This allows call centres to better manage response times and meet SLAs, especially during peak periods.

“Cumulative escalation allows multiple skill groups to ring simultaneously,” said 3CX’s partner communications manager, Kevin Attard Compagno. “Instead of replacing lower-priority groups, the system progressively adds more groups over time: Skill Group 1 rings first; after a timeout, Skill Group 2 is added; after the next timeout, Skill Group 3 is added, and so on.”

All groups continue ringing until the call is answered. “This approach ensures that callers who have been waiting for some time get progressively escalated to a wider group of agents, including higher-skill groups, reducing response times.”

New prompt options

Finally, in terms of improvements to handling queues, let’s talk prompts. Specifically, comfort prompts. Rather than driving people to distraction with the same message ad infinitum, queues can now play one or more custom prompts while callers are waiting, helping provide updates, reassurance or useful information during the wait. Admins can configure up to 15 prompts per queue, set playback intervals and arrange them using drag-and-drop ordering.

For example, admins can replace the “you’re seventh in the queue” message with a more helpful prompt that gives users an estimated wait time. This isn’t plucked from the air but dynamically determined using real agent data, including talk time, wrap-up time and availability. Announcements are rounded to the nearest ten seconds and capped at 30 minutes for realistic expectations, and will hopefully reduce frustration for your callers.

There’s also a “No Answer Prompt”. Here, admins can configure a custom announcement before a call is forwarded to the “No Answer” destination. This aligns queue behaviour with other routing scenarios such as Break, Closed and Holiday modes, ensuring a more consistent caller experience.

“These improvements are designed to handle real-world call centre challenges – high call volumes, uneven agent availability and strict SLA requirements,” said Compagno.

Real-time AI improvements – including Grok

3CX was one of the first to integrate AI into its products, and it’s been a tale of ongoing and constant improvement ever since. No surprise, then, that it’s the same story for Update 9, with an emphasis on reducing costs as well as improving results thanks to the latest models.

The biggest news is the integration of Grok transcription. It offers a straightforward approach with a single API key setup and automatic language detection (over 30 languages already). Plus, Grok supports stereo recordings with per-channel speaker separation, making transcripts easier to follow and more useful for analysis. Instead of a single block of text, call logs clearly show who said what – improving readability for summaries and sentiment tracking. Grok is also significantly cheaper than OpenAI, Google and even 3CX’s own cloud transcription.

Improved AI receptionist

The AI receptionist was already one of the best things about 3CX V20, and now it can react far better to live situations. In particular, callers will benefit from quicker responses thanks to system prompts that are roughly four times smaller, reducing the context needed per call, while fewer interaction steps mean they will reach a resolution more directly and quickly.

3CX has made similar improvements to the Personal Assistant – think of this as a PA for managers as opposed to a receptionist for the whole company. Both the receptionist and the PA have better knowledge base responses, while support for newer models (including gpt-realtime-1.5 for voice and gpt-5.4 for text) again improves the user experience.

Choice for every size of business

There are many other improvements to 3CX V20 Update 9, but rather than go through each individually we suggest that you simply try it for yourself.

For example, 3CX recently introduced 3CX Enterprise Plus. Before, only organisations on 3CX Enterprise licences with 32 simultaneous callers (32SC) or more could take advantage of 3CX’s online transcription process. 3CX Enterprise Plus opens this up to smaller installations with 8SC or 16SC licences. 3CX will handle all the configuration in the cloud and provides a generous number of transcription minutes (30,000 for the 8SC bundle, 60,000 for 16SC). Voicemail cloud transcription isn’t metered, so won’t consume any of your minutes.

There’s also 3CX Basic Edition for those who aren’t interested in the AI features or full CRM integration. If you want an 8SC licence, enough for between 16 and 40 users, it costs just £250 a year. And numbers aren’t limited: the Basic Edition extends all the way up to the 1024SC version, with a maximum number of 8,192 extensions.

And don’t forget that 3CX will always be free for very small businesses! Check the pricing of the package you need.

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