Enterprises that moved to the cloud in 2020 with a band-aid collection of applications to accommodate remote work and customer engagement are now seeking a single platform solution.

When the pandemic first hit, many organizations scrambled to piece together a set of tools that would just keep their business running. Dion Hinchcliffe, in his Constellation Research report Employee Experience - Moving to a Decisive New Model for the Future of Work, noted that “on average, companies are using seven different tools for messaging, collaboration, file sharing, and meeting management.” The sheer number of such applications, each working differently, creates significant unnecessary inefficiencies and a poor employee experience. Businesses have taken two steps forward in productivity with the shift to these new cloud collaboration tools, but one step back when it comes to the challenges of this hodgepodge of capabilities.

Companies are universally recognizing this challenge. In a recent survey commissioned by 8x8, 87% of IT leaders who identify their organization as forward-looking said that an integrated cloud communications solution is the future of business communications.

I like to think of 8x8 as a trendsetter in this regard. We’ve spent almost a decade innovating to support this new era of platform solutions. The 8x8 eXperience Communications Platform™ is an example of this approach. Company-wide collaboration, including voice, messaging and video meetings, combined with global telephony and cloud-based customer engagement capabilities, all built on a common platform.

87% of IT leaders who identify their organization as forward-looking say that an integrated cloud communications solution is the future of business communications. - State of Business Communications Report

Every employee is connected whether they’re in-office, hybrid, remote, or mobile, and that extends into the contact center as well to ensure the front line agents serving your customers are not in a silo, but rather in effortless contact with the subject matter experts that can rapidly resolve customer problems. Non-contact center departments get the same advanced customer engagement capabilities in their communication apps to improve sales, marketing, casework, and more. This not only enhances business agility and resilience but also gives IT a simpler technology footprint and gives users a common set of tools that improves user experience and eliminates silos between teams and applications. No more one step back.

84% of organizations that have deployed an integrated cloud communications platform (UC + CC) have experienced increased employee productivity. - State of Business Communications Report

The advantages of a single provider solution are astounding according to Metrigy Research:

  • 37% improvement in contact center agent efficiency
  • 57% customer rating improvement across all customer touchpoints
  • 14% decrease in costs
  • and nearly 100% revenue improvement for certain areas of the business

The world is moving beyond the era of lightly integrated, multi-platform, bundled solutions and point applications that have dominated the cloud communications industry for many years. We are entering the era of truly integrated single-platform cloud communications.

Want to read more business communications trends that should be top of mind in the new work from anywhere era? Download 8x8’s 2022 Business Communications Trends here.