Feature deprecations and announcements

Why does Genesys deprecate features and functionality?

Occasionally, Genesys evolves and expands its technology in the spirit of continuous improvement, which requires Genesys to deprecate existing functionality in favor of the evolution. Maintenance of multiple versions of the same functionality impacts Genesys’s ability to provide the most value to as many customers as possible. This practice affects the following areas:

• Product development — A new feature is typically performed in a completely different way than the original feature it is replacing.
• Support and documentation — Genesys must provide support and documentation for two different versions of the same feature.
• Account management — Account Managers and Enablement Leads must establish which version of the feature that an organization uses.
• The bottom line — New feature development often requires buying new infrastructure hardware or software licenses, but Genesys must maintain the old infrastructure or software to support customers that use the previous functionality.
• Customers — Efforts to support the original feature can detract the focus and resources that make the new feature as valuable as possible.

How does Genesys evaluate the impact of a feature deprecation?

Product management leadership carefully analyzes the impact of the deprecation to our customers. Genesys considers how many customers actively use the feature, the history of customer feedback related to the feature, and how long customers need to prepare for the deprecation. 

Every deprecation candidate must be measured to determine the number of customers actively using it, so that Genesys can ensure that no customers are impacted when the deprecation goes into effect.

What happens when Genesys announces a deprecation?

When Genesys announces a feature deprecation, Genesys no longer makes enhancements or improvements to the feature they plan to deprecate. Genesys’s intention is to inform you as early as possible and to help you if the change impacts you.

What communication does Genesys give for deprecation?

Genesys will notify you of the deprecation and any new functionality that may replace it via multiple channels: the Resource Center, email messages for affected account owners and administrators, and other methods as appropriate.

Genesys understands that for many customers, switching to a new process is not a singular effort. Customers who have an assigned Enablement Lead may receive personalized communication from your account team, in addition to email and in-product notifications. This personalized communication can include emails with specific instructions, a phone call to discuss the upgrade process, or engagement with our internal teams to ensure that your essential processes are preserved after you make the switch.

How much notice does Genesys give for deprecations?

Genesys attempts to give ample notice of a feature deprecation so that customers have time to prepare for it, if necessary. Genesys usually announces a deprecation 90 days before a feature is deprecated. However, based on the business impact, customer impact, and other factors, Genesys may opt for a shorter or longer announcement period. In general, the greater the impact to customers, the longer the announcement period. Previous deprecation announcement periods have lasted over a year due to the number of customers using the deprecated features and the amount of time those customers needed to move to the replacement technology.

If a feature is planned to be deprecated, but one or more customers are actively using it, Genesys will work with those customers to determine a mutually agreeable timeframe for the deprecation. If a deprecated feature is not being used by any customers then Genesys may deprecate the feature ahead of the announced deprecation date.

Can I keep the old feature or functionality?

No. When the deprecation date is reached, Genesys removes the feature from the platform.

To provide customers with the highest quality services possible, the platform must keep pace with evolving security, privacy, and regulatory requirements, as well as offer functionality that is simple and easy to use. That means that the product must change with the industry. When that happens, Genesys works diligently to minimize the impact to your organization.