20 01732 759725 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 8x8 and resellers can have with their customers. “Historically, like a lot of vendors, 8x8 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, 8x8 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 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 8x8 to live up to its mission statement. The first of these are APIs that 8x8 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 8x8 to provide a complete, integrated CX solution. The second is AI, which as well as introducing productivity-boosting enhancements to the 8x8 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 At the end of last year, 8x8, 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 8x8 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-aservice (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 8x8 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 INTERVIEW Keeping it simple Emily Masterton
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