Here’s a new idea. That relinquishing control and providing the freedom to collaborate is the driver that determines which organizations will thrive. CIOs are no longer the sole decision-makers when it comes to collaboration. Business owners and individuals also decide how they want to collaborate. They’re all customers. Customers who are constantly changing in the hyper-connected world we live in.

Today, our lives are on our smartphones. We work, play and communicate constantly and our expectation, regardless of location or device, is that we’re able to connect with the people we need to, when we need to and how we want to.

In terms of collaboration, the experience is right now—that’s the new benchmark. Customers don’t have time to compare and don’t want to wait. This evolution in customer experience (CX), the expectation of instant response and instant gratification, is an opportunity for partners.

In today’s reality, 89% of companies plan to compete based on CX and 80% of CEOs believe their company already delivers superior CX. However, less than 8% of actual customers agree[1]. This major disconnect between perception and reality is the opportunity. Help your customers close the gap between their CX perception and reality and you’ve unleashed the power of collaboration and captured margin along the way.

Build a “Smartphone” to Revolutionize Your Customer’s Business

Think of your customer’s collaboration tools as you think of your smartphone. Your smartphone is an easy-to-use device that enables multiple modes of communication and provides access to the information you need to be productive. But your smartphone was built for an individual, and now it needs to be revolutionized for business. What your customers need is a smart platform built for multiple modes of communication: one platform for delivering voice, video, chat, contact center, and AI— all built for business.

How your customer’s business communicates is the key to their success. Empowered employees want consumer-level ease of use, BYOD, frictionless collaboration and the ability to work remotely. And they want video. It’s taken decades, but video is now transforming the way we work and collaborate.

For your customers, getting everyone in the company on a common communications platform—across all job functions, using modern cloud best practices—is the critical foundation and should be a priority. As an 8x8 partner, you can help them get there.

8x8 X Series transforms customer experiences by providing one global cloud communications platform. Easy to deploy, X Series optimizes valuable moments of engagement with built-in analytics to provide faster time to resolution, lower costs and collaboration that empowers employees to revolutionize CX.

At 8x8, We’re All Part of the Partner Community

An 8-time leader in the Gartner UCaaS Magic Quadrant and the only UCaaS Leader also in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS, our priority at 8x8 is delivering reliable solutions to customers that our partners can confidently stand behind. A partner-first company recognized in the channel for best-in-class programs and leadership, we value our partners as trusted advisors. A former partner myself, I begin each day asking how we can be better, and do better, for our partners.

Whether you’re helping your customers deploy simple voice services or a multichannel contact center, 8x8 can help. 8x8 partners receive dedicated engineering, deployment and customer support teams, easy-to-use lead generation tools and industry-leading incentives. Visit PartnerXchange, 8x8’s popular partner portal, to learn more.

[1] Bain & Company, Closing the Delivery Gap