8×8 is on a mission to transform the customer experience (CX) and uncover new opportunities for channel partners, as Emily Masterton, Head of Channel, EMEA, explains to Technology Reseller
At the end of last year, 8×8, provider of an AI-powered ‘Platform for CX’, underwent a rebrand that along with a redesigned logo and website introduced a new mission statement: ‘to connect people and organisations through seamless communication, empowering them to unlock the potential of every interaction’.
Or, as Emily Masterton, Head of Channel, EMEA, puts it: ‘to put customer experience at the heart of everything we do’.
To an extent, this is what 8×8 has done since 2015 when it took the decision to remove complexity and silos from the customer journey by integrating key applications into a single platform. Today, its AI-powered Platform for CX encompasses unified communications, contact centre and communications platform as-a- service (CPaaS), giving businesses an integrated end-to-end experience.
For reseller partners, the benefits of a platform approach are immense, from its scalability, which enables it to meet the needs of all customers, from small businesses to enterprises and the public sector, and its flexibility, which allows customers to implement a solution or move from an incumbent supplier in stages at a speed that suits them, to the opportunities it presents for cross-selling the platform’s nine solution sets as well as integrated third-party solutions – all backed by the reassurance of working with an experienced single platform provider and acknowledged leader in CX.
Omnichannel
Masterton highlights two additional aspects of the platform that enable 8×8 to live up to its mission statement.
The first of these are APIs that 8×8 uses a) to provide a true omnichannel experience by integrating popular messaging channels such as SMS, webchat and WhatsApp into the platform so that a business can communicate with its customers using their preferred medium; and b) to create an ecosystem of best-of-breed technology partners, e.g. Microsoft Teams, Salesforce and leading CRM and workforce experience management providers, that resellers can sell and integrate with 8×8 to provide a complete, integrated CX solution.
The second is AI, which as well as introducing productivity-boosting enhancements to the 8×8 platform, such as tools like the Intelligent Customer Assistant, significantly changes its value proposition.
“We’ve all seen the progress AI has made in automation and generating answers to simple questions, but where AI is really going to advance, I think, is in providing insight to help individuals and businesses not just perform better today but prepare for the future. For example, AI will be able to look at all that background sales and customer data and predict future trends. Insights is going to be a really important part of that AI piece.”
These possibilities, suggests Masterton, are fundamentally changing what businesses are able to do with customer interactions and therefore the conversation that 8×8 and resellers can have with their customers.
“Historically, like a lot of vendors, 8×8 has been very product-specific. But we are transforming as a company and are now focusing on how our solutions can take businesses on a journey to solve their business issues, their challenges and to meet the ROIs and KPIs that they need to hit.”
As a result, or perhaps as part of this approach, 8×8 is now focusing much more on specific markets, such as manufacturing, retail, healthcare/ NHS, housing, charities and the public sector, and promoting solutions tailored to the needs of each vertical as a way of reducing complexity for partners and end user customers at a time of rapid technological change.
“One thing we’re really focusing on is making sure that when we proposition customers or speak to our partners, we have use cases and product packages tailored for specific verticals and the challenges they face. We can say that based on our market knowledge and what we have done for existing customers, this solution is a particularly good fit for manufacturing or for housing or for the NHS, giving businesses reassurance that ours is the right route to go down.”
Allied to this, 8×8 is thinking about the end user not just as a licence but as a distinct individual.
“We’re now starting to think more about personas in businesses as well, about a user type rather than just a UC user. We’re thinking more about how they operate day to day and the different things they might need so we can really tailor the solution that we put in front of them.”
Masterton adds that persona-based selling is becoming more important because the divisions between different solutions are becoming blurred. In the old days it might have made sense to talk about UC licences and contact centre licences but increasingly UC users also need some contact centre functionality – “It’s all blending into one,” she says.
Easy to do business with
Market developments like this and the number of different solutions available can add complexity for partners, so one of Masterton’s priorities as Head of Channel, EMEA is to ensure 8×8 continues to be a company that is easy to do business with.
“We need to take our partners on a journey and support them so that they can understand and simplify quite a complicated work-build and help potential customers, possibly overwhelmed by all that’s out there, to reach a decision on what route to go down. We can help partners by simplifying messaging so that end user customers truly understand what is right for their business and ensure that we are easy to do business with, so partners know how to pull quotes together, know how to demonstrate the platform and know how to get the best from us. We’re already doing that – it’s one of my core values – and the more we do it, the more partners will want to work with us.”
8×8 currently has a few hundred partners in the UK and what Masterton says is a good balance between resale partners, who resell 8×8 licences, deploy and support implementations and own the customer relationship, and agency partners, who find and work on opportunities with 8×8, which 8×8 then implements, supports and manages with the end customer.
In April, it will be launching a new global partner programme to help and reward partners (resale and agency) that choose to go on their CX journey with 8×8 at a time when end user customers increasingly want one provider to deliver their entire CX.
Masterton’s commitment to partners is that 8×8 will continue to seek out and listen to their feedback on everything from the support it provides to suggestions on how the platform can be enhanced to meet changing market needs.
“One thing I’m extremely passionate about is listening to our partners, and I hope my partner base would echo that. I’m a big believer that every business can continually improve and I want partners to tell me where they see 8×8 today, where they need to see us tomorrow and what we can learn from the past to help us get to where we need to be.”
She adds: “I want partners to say ‘8×8 is the vendor I choose to work with because I’m supported, they’re easy to do business with and they simplify this complicated world’.”
Emily Masterton picks five trends set to shape CX in 2025
1 Businesses want a less complicated 2025
The coming year is going to see one simple demand from businesses: to make a complicated world a little less complicated. Businesses are looking for more and more functionality, especially when you add AI into the mix, but they do not want the hassle of dealing with multiple companies. They want fewer contracts, fewer people to deal with and confidence that the solutions they choose integrate together seamlessly. Integrations across the technology sphere enable partners to say they have all solutions to hand for a customer.
2 Better EX and CX in 2025
The other ‘simplicity’ that’s going to drive business forward in 2025 is the idea of having a single communications platform for your whole company, front and back office, to improve the employee and customer experience. It was interesting to see a lot of vendors in 2024 finally catching up with where 8×8 has been for a number of years and offering a single communications platform. We are now taking this to the next stage and working with best in breed solutions to complement our platform and ensure outstanding CX.
3 More vertical/sector-specific products and solutions in 2025
The impetus behind better CX is creating demand for more expertise and insight relating to particular verticals and less tolerance of shoehorning-in general products. To meet this demand, 8×8 is creating specific solutions for specific markets like Remote Fix and Active Assessor.
4 UC will stay strong in 2025
Even with the focus on CX, there’s still life in the ‘classic’ UC side of business. One thing we are seeing is people starting out looking at UC and then discovering they also need some basic contact centre functions for the likes of their sales, finance and marketing departments. That plays well to 8×8, as UC and CC are core to what we offer with partners.
5 2025 is about the whole picture
One area that’s going to be crucial in 2025 is better, more tailored partner programs. Vendor partner programs need to be driving loyalty, boosting growth, rewarding partners in the right way and being best of breed. Vendors must make sure their programs and the overall partner journey are optimised to deliver the best possible results.
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