8x8 today announced three new capabilities for its X Series cloud communications and contact center solution—an expanded integration framework, improved speech analytics, and real-time dashboards for contact centers.
Built on microservices and industry standard APIs, the integration framework aims to make it easier and faster to embed communications into CRM, enterprise resource planning, help desk, and productivity applications, and it can now do so with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Bullhorn, and Slack. “Our goal is to make it simple to embed communication into an organization’s business application,” says Meghan Keough, vice president of product and solutions marketing at 8x8. “What we’re able to deliver is that one system of engagement—you’re able to have an integrated phone, video conferencing, team messaging, and contact center solution all on one platform, which is really critical.”
By gathering information from recordings of customer interactions, the improved speech analytics aims to empower companies to use speech data to optimize customer experiences. Companies can gain insights using predefined categories, topics, and words and phrases, with an eye on reducing professional service costs and increasing time-to-value.
“This is a solution that we’ve offered to the market for some time and we’ve made a number of advances both in terms of architectural approach, to be able to bring this capability to organizations of all sizes, as well as advancement in the implementation piece, the ability for trends and keywords to be auto-defined,” Keough explains.
Keough asserts that the 8x8 solution’s lower cost and high time-to-value puts speech analytics within reach of smaller companies, which can use the capabilities to bolster voice-of-the-customer and sales training programs.
As for the dashboards, contact center managers can quickly and easily create customized real-time dashboards that they can share with other users and display as wallboards with the goal of improving visibility into important metrics. “For many of our customers, it’s really critical that they be watching, analyzing, and responding to real-time metrics,” Keough says. “The ability to have real-time visibility into these key metrics inside a contact center is really critical if organizations are to evolve to be able to provide an optimal and a superior customer experience.
“The key for us as a company is continuing to invest in these critical components that are going to allow organizations to embed communications into their business applications and gain insight into the key metrics of their organization to optimize the customer experience and deliver on the new speed of business,” she adds.