Channel-friendly IP company 8×8 Inc. has debuted a cloud communications solution that amalgamates telephony, unified communications (UC) and contact center users across the enterprise, with single sign on and shared presence over a common underlying platform.
With the integrated 8×8 Virtual Office and Virtual Contact Center solution, call center agents can contact company experts outside of the call center, and non-call center employees can in turn reach the call center, using common presence information and click-to-dial.
“By integrating core business telephony and contact center functionality onto a single cloud-based platform with single sign on and shared presence, 8×8 has not only simplified the communications infrastructure that burdens so many businesses today, it has enhanced the value businesses derive from its solution set by providing a path to improved customer engagement,” said Keith Dawson, practice leader for customer engagement at Ovum. “The ability for a call center agent to tap into the company’s expertise when interacting with customers can have a dramatic effect on first call resolution and overall customer satisfaction.”
The 8×8 Virtual Office/Virtual Contact Center solution offers shared presence, so that agents have visibility into the status of anyone within the company to handle customer issues in real-time. Any UC user in the company can also see the agent’s status and reach out to the agent once they have the information that is being requested. All corporate and contact center directories are integrated.
Also, agents who regularly use a non-softphone solution as part of their job (such as a remote IP phone) can make the device part of the contact center call flows and reporting analytics.
“8×8 is committed to developing and delivering communications solutions that enable our customers to grow and be successful,” said 8×8 CEO Vik Verma. “The elimination of the gap between traditional contact center agents and regular employees will result in better customer service and improved productivity by enabling all employees within a business to interact with a customer in real time.”
He added, “This latest product release shows how 8×8 is innovating in the cloud communications space. The combination of these historically separate components will enable us to launch new features and capabilities that are not available in solutions that treat these technologies as separate, distinct platforms.”
8×8 will begin rollout of the new platform to existing customers prior to the end of the first quarter.
