Cloud communications and customer engagement software provider 8×8 is combining several standalone products into a single new deployment option.
The company announced the launch of X Series, a new version of its platform that combines call center, collaboration and conferencing options to improve a business’s CX (customer experience) quotient—something that is getting more and more attention in the IT business here in 2018.
The company made the announcement March 12 at the Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando, Fla.
‘Mashing Up’ UC for Enterprises
“With X Series, we really mash up unified communications capabilities with collaboration and with all of the tools and best practices of the contact center,” CTO and founder Bryan Martin told eWEEK. “We wrap it all in to a single platform where we provide unified, cross-use analytics and use that data to measure the productivity of the organization, but more importantly to learn from each interaction and make the next interaction with that customer even better.”
So 8×8 has a cognitive, teachable artificial intelligence backbone that retains information that humans can’t.
Although Forrester Research reports that 72 percent of businesses say improving customer experience is their top priority, few have built their communications infrastructure to enable the interactions that offer a first-class customer experience. Most enterprises have siloed point solutions and separate platforms for voice, contact center, collaboration and conferencing, the company said.
By its very nature, having disparate point products in each of these functions is time-consuming, requires additional staff attention and is complicated to manage. Any IT manager will attest to that.
One Set of Data, One Workflow Engine, One Analytics Engine
That’s where 8×8 puts a stake in the ground with X Series, which provides enterprises the ability to intelligently collaborate in the cloud across any media channel and easily access their data, analysis and experts.
X Series provides enterprises with one set of data, one workflow engine and one analytics engine inside an integrated solution for voice, meeting, team collaboration and contact center.
With one system of engagement, companies can utilize:
- Context-Rich Engagements: 8×8 X Series arms contact center agents and employees with complete context before they start a conversation. X Series has native CRM built-in and also integrates with third-party solutions, such as Google G-Suite, Salesforce, Zendesk and NetSuite to provide contextual insights, such as previous engagements and preferences.
- Collaborative Contact Center: X Series enables businesses to harness the collective insights of the organization through real-time collaboration with peers and instant access to subject matter experts. Companies can significantly increase performance by empowering their employees to move from chat to voice to video to web conferencing with one click.
- Advanced Customer Journey Analytics: Instead of piecing together data from multiple systems, X Series provides the enterprise with a view of the customer journey from the moment they reach the contact center through to issue resolution. In addition, X Series offers advanced analytics based on a single data-set for all employee and customer interactions that enable the enterprise to continuously improve the customer experience.
“With 8×8, you get ‘one hand to shake,’” Martin said. “We’re able to customize deployments as needed directly with our customers; you don’t have to wait for the next upgrade cycle from Cisco or Microsoft. One of our reference customers recently said, ‘8×8 is a big enough company to deliver and small enough to care.’”
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8×8’s X Series will be available in the U.S., U.K. and France this summer, Martin said. For more information, go here.