According to the Metrigy Workplace Collaboration 2023-24 study, 36.9% of IT leaders surveyed across geographies and industries that have Microsoft 365 and have not yet adopted a Teams Phone System plan to do so. An additional 39.1% of those are evaluating adoption.

Already, thousands of organizations with hundreds of thousands of users globally rely on 8x8 for real-time, customer experience communications in Microsoft Teams. If you’re currently evaluating Microsoft Teams Phone providers and you haven’t yet heard of 8x8 for Microsoft Teams, here’s a quick overview.

8x8 for Microsoft Teams consists of:

  • 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, an Azure-based Direct Routing-as-Service solution that enables calling in Teams with full PSTN replacement in more than 58 countries and can leverage all Microsoft Teams endpoints.
  • An intuitive Teams calling experience that is native to the UI because it leverages the Microsoft Teams Phone Standard license, which simplifies deployment, training, and support.
  • Cost-effective calling plan options such as unlimited, international, or metered based on the individual persona and business need. 8x8 offers flexibility and choice through mix-and-match licensing, so organizations can meet the needs of all users, all devices, and all endpoints, while keeping organizational costs down.
  • An integrated, Teams-certified contact center solution. Note, 8x8 is the only cloud-native 11-time Gartner Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Magic Quadrant Leader that has also been recognized eight times in the Gartner Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) Magic Quadrant.
  • Support of a fully redundant, geographically distributed cloud network that has a financially-backed 99.999% platform-wide uptime SLA.

A platform approach drives additional value

More and more companies are moving to or evaluating an integrated UCaaS and CCaaS platform approach. According to Metrigy’s latest Customer Experience Transformation Study, 54.2% of companies have integrated their unified communications (UC) and contact center (CC) platforms, while 43.5% are integrating UC, contact center, and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) platforms. With 8x8 for Microsoft Teams, a single cloud platform with advanced contact center and telephony capabilities for Microsoft Teams can drive differentiating value including:

  • Full omni-channel contact center solution certified for Microsoft Teams, or contact center light functions that can be applied across specific personas in the organization
  • Native integration with 50+ business applications including Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce
  • Business messaging including SMS, MMS, eFax, and presence to ensure and enhance connections to employees and customers within the flow of work
  • No phone left behind, 8x8 supports an expansive set of legacy devices, so organizations can yield additional value from their investments
  • AI-driven speech and sentiment analysis through 8x8’s Conversation IQ
  • Bespoke persona-based experiences such as agent workspace that create curated places for people to focus on their primary functions in the business

Read the second post in this seres: 4 Fundamental Benefits of 8x8 for Microsoft Teams.

Learn more about what to look for when considering Microsoft Teams calling options in this guest post from Metrigy President and Principal Analyst, Irwin Lazar.