In 2021, we invited the top UCaaS, CCaaS, and technology industry analysts to an “as a service” coming out party of sorts: 8x8’s formal introduction of its platform - a cloud communication deployment model that erases the boundary between Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS).

Read more about what 8x8 platform is and why it’s meaningful. →

We were certainly excited, and many analysts were too, as 8x8’s public commitment to integrating cloud voice, team chat, video meeting, contact center, and CPaaS on a single platform confirmed the credence that they’ve held for some time: that businesses benefit when communication silos between the front and back office are broken down. In fact, recent Metrigy research has shown that organizations with an integrated UC and contact center platform reported a 14% cost decrease, a 57% customer rating improvement, a 37% agent efficiency improvement, and a nearly 100% revenue improvement. Yes, you read that number right — 100%.

Expanding on 8x8 Platform

While you can follow 280-character or less commentary on the introduction of the 8x8 platform here, it’s our honor to share six expanded excerpts from industry analyst posts:

Robin Gareiss, President & Founder of Metrigy: In her MetriNote,, Robin says about 8x8 Platform: “We have long advocated the integration of UC and contact center, and CPaaS offers additional value by enabling companies to customize their CX technology. As 8x8 executes on the roadmap for its product offering unfolds, the platform will be able to deliver streamlined services for employee and customer interactions, as well as analytics to document success. IT and CX leaders should evaluate this solution.”

Blair Pleasant, President & Principal Analyst at COMMfusion LLC and Co-​Founder of bcstrategies.com: Blair has also been a long-time advocate for bringing UC and CC together. In her 4 Key Themes & Takeaways from a Quartet of Vendor Events on No Jitter, she highlights the 8x8 platform, as discussed by 8x8: “As some of you are well aware, I’ve been passionate about the concept of integrating UC and contact center for years — going back to the computer telephony integration (CTI) days — and I applaud 8x8 for its efforts.... While the communication industry has introduced a new name, the concept of a single platform for UCaaS and CCaaS isn’t new to 8x8, which claimed that 80% of its large deals have been a combination of UC and contact center in this past quarter.”

Dave Michels, Principal Analyst at TalkingPointz: In Is It Time to Do Away With the Agent Title?, Dave makes the case, which we absolutely support too, that “to improve customer service, we need to acknowledge that everyone (not just the contact center) is responsible for customer care."

Dave continues: “We need to reevaluate the customer service role with common tools for alignment, collaboration, and analytics. We also need to make sure all employees are chartered to improve customer satisfaction. Eliminating ‘agent’ as a moniker is just the beginning. Fortunately, the industry is trending toward better tools that broaden and expand the agent's role and tie them more closely to the rest of the business.

"8x8’s product was introduced, which blurs rather than bundles these services. The features of each can be used to compose experiences purposely designed for any given role. For example, corporate receptionists are often underpowered in a UC seat or equipped with a CC seat, which can be overly complex for their needs. 8x8 Platform enables a standard UC user to obtain the advanced call handling and routing features that a receptionist needs — in a single app on a single display.”

Read more from Dave on 8x8 Platform in his TalkingPointz Insider Report and hear more from him and fellow analyst Zeus Kerravala in this Real Time Recorded episode.

In his TalkingPointz Research Note, Zoom to Acquire Five9, Michels shared his point of view on where 8x8's vision for the product stands in relation to the failed Zoom Five9 acquisition announcement: “8x8 is basically living the Zoom dream. It already has its own contact center stack and became very strong in meetings and messaging with its acquisitions of Jitsi and Sameroom. Zoom just endorsed 8x8’s vision.”

Zeus Kerravala, Founder & Principal Analyst at ZK Research: In his post 8x8 Lays Out its Vision for CCaaS, CPaaS, UCaaS, Zeus says, “One of the challenges of selling UCaaS, CPaaS, and CCaaS combined is articulating the value to customers. It obviously makes sense from the aspect of purchasing simplicity, which is why selling UCaaS + CCaaS has been popular down-market and the reason why every UCaaS pureplay has a CCaaS partnership and vice versa. Here are some of the more interesting benefits that I think are worth calling out:

  • One security, privacy, and compliance framework
  • Handoffs with context
  • Single provisioning and configuration
  • Use-case optimization
  • AI-powered experiences

"It’s important to note that 8x8 could gain significant upside in getting this right — and in actuality, 8x8 has been advocating this concept for a couple of years now, and now that they have some proof points on the value, they are formally introducing the term.”

Read more on each of the benefits above in Zeus’s No Jitter post.

Rich Costello, Mary Wardley, Wayne Kurtzman, Oru Mohiuddin, and Denise Lund, all analysts extraordinaire at IDC: To round out the five top takeaways from five top IDC analysts, this a short yet sweet excerpt from their 8x8 Announces its Experience Communications as a Service (XCaaS) Strategy note. “IDC sees a unified 'platform' approach that highlights the shared services underpinning UC and CC as one that has merit and appeal for large businesses and enterprises…The 8x8 platform smartly creates a place where key capabilities are integrated to deliver communications and collaboration in an array of work use cases.”

Solving for X

Needless to say, we’re even more energized around the direction we’re taking with 8x8 platform and the related innovation and business outcomes we’re driving for our customers. We owe our longevity and growth to them, as well as to our employees, partners, and of course, industry analysts, who all help steer our product direction and company’s evolution. Here’s to X-citing times ahead.

Want to learn more about the benefits of 8x8 platform, including how businesses are realizing a nearly 100% improvement in revenue by optimizing their CX and EX? Check out this post from Metrigy CEO Robin Gareiss.