With so many different companies in the communication world today, what does it take to stand out as a genuinely transformative brand? The answer to that question may depend on who you ask. However, it’s safe to say that if you want to connect with people in the current ecosystem, you need to deliver something genuinely special.
8×8, one of the world’s leading providers of cloud communications and customer engagement solutions, certainly knows how to provide impressive experiences. They’re the only UCaaS provider to be featured in the Gartner Magic Quadrant as a leader 7 years running. To get a behind the scenes insight into what gives 8×8 its X Factor, we spoke to Mary Ellen Genovese, the Managing Director of European Operations.
Has X Series Been a Game Changer for 8×8?
One of the things that really makes 8×8 stand out in the current environment is their new approach to the UCaaS and CCaaS environment. Mary Ellen told me that 8×8 X Series has been a real game-changer for the brand as one of the key trends in the industry has been the convergence of the UCaaS space and contact centre.
“We were real innovators in joining these two worlds together. We sold our first contact centre solution as a separate entity, then realised that the back end and front end were 2 parts of the same product. We started to combine UCaaS and the contact centre together, and we’re really making the most of that with 8×8 X Series. We now have one technology platform that delivers your contact centre and UC all in the same solution”.
According to Genovese, when so much of the current workforce is made up of millennials, businesses are dealing with a team who expects technology to be constantly available and at their fingertips. 8×8 X Series allows companies to access the tools they need when they need them. “We’re eliminating the silos in a time where you can’t afford gaps in your team anymore. Placing a customer on hold, or not being able to answer their question is no longer acceptable for today’s speed of business.”
How Do You Differentiate Through Experience?
Experience has emerged as the one true differentiator in the current marketplace. The only way to truly get ahead today is to deliver the experiences that customers want. By combining everything in the communication environment together, 8×8 ensures that the customer always gets access to the right agent and the right solution.
“Also, when you have everything on the same solution, you gain access to a lot of data. We’re providing that data access to our customers so that they can see what’s happening in the contact centre. They don’t just get insights from their CRM, but the full contextual story of what’s happening at every point in the customer journey. This is ideal for getting to the root cause of customer problems.”
How Valuable Is Data Today?
In the search for the “X Factor” data is probably one of the most valuable assets a company can have. It’s what gives people a real insight into how their business runs.
“Adding our recent MarianaIQ acquisition into the mix means that clients can now interpret their core data in a new way. For instance, you can see that someone’s calling from a certain location, and if you know that area has an outage, send them an automated message”
Mary Ellen told me that the 8×8 team also uses its own technology to run its system. “So, if our customers call us because they’ve forgotten something, they go to one agent. If they call us because they need expert help, they go somewhere else. Understanding the context of a call and directing it properly is crucial.”
On top of that 8×8 are also working to make sure that companies can continue to provide a range of communication solutions to both employees and customers. The recent purchase of Jitsi from Atlassian meant that 8×8 could upgrade their video solution in an era where video is becoming increasingly popular. Following on from this acquisition, 8×8 has now introduced the new Meetings experience which provides compelling, friction-free video communication with voice, chat and one-touch conferencing.
Predictions for 2019 and Beyond
8×8 and Genovese are very excited about the current communication landscape, and how it’s evolving at present. Mary Ellen noted that comms is changing at a rapid pace, and companies need to develop rapidly alongside it to meet the needs of modern businesses.
“The integration of a single platform gives companies a way to run things more smoothly and efficiently. You can boost customer experience this way, improve cost-effectiveness, and more.”
“The X Series gives customers the ability to mix and match the solutions they need and keep their expenses to a minimum”
8×8 has always been a business with their finger on the pulse of innovation. That pioneering attitude will remain as we move through 2019 and beyond.
Watch our video interview with Mary Ellen Genovese filmed during Call and Contact Centre Expo here.
