8x8 helps keep things plush at Beanie Baby inventor Ty Inc.

The Challenge: A discontinued system with limited insight

Ty is the top soft toy manufacturer in the world, with hundreds of full-time employees divided throughout the USA. The company’s 15-year-old point-to-point communications system that had been keeping its HQ and warehouse connected was being discontinued, and it was time for something new.

Ty started to hunt for a cloud-based communications solution for both internal and external communication that would keep the team connected, offer more data and insights, and improve flexibility for hybrid workers, all while staying cost-effective.

“The old system worked—but barely. It was hard to maintain and inflexible,” says John Thomas, System Administrator at Ty. “Plus, we needed to contact the IT department to make simple changes.”

Ty partnered with telecom consultancy Morgan Birge to begin evaluating their options. Michelle Wasielewski, Sales Director at Morgan Birge, worked with Thomas and his team to get a sense of their unique needs, ultimately recommending 8x8 for Ty’s communications. After seeing various demos and getting a sense of the options, Ty made the decision to switch its business communications to 8x8. In the end, the decision came down to 8x8’s reliability, customer service, advanced features and benefits, and affordability.

The Solution: Fast, simple, and easy

All told, Ty’s migration to 8x8 was fast and efficient. The team started with their smaller office first, just to make sure that everything worked just fine. Once 8x8 passed muster, it was time to add the larger corporate office and complete the change. “It was four weeks from start to finish,” says Thomas. “We had both systems running side by side for a little while, which allowed for testing and training. And then we just waited for the porting of the numbers.”

Ty switched to 8x8 Work for its business communications between employees and offices, and 8x8 Contact Center for customer support communications. According to Thomas, the transition was seamless, with no issues or complaints during the switch. Ty also has plans to utilize 8x8 CRM in the future to add even more efficiency into the call center.

“Our transition to 8x8 was simple and easy,” says Thomas. “There was no downtime, no loss of sales, and the system has since proven to be stable and reliable.”

The Result: Fewer worries, happier customers

After making the switch to 8x8, Ty saw a sizable jump in customer service satisfaction ratings. One huge difference where the contact center is concerned has been the callback option, allowing customers to avoid having to wait on hold. The callback option has a 91.7% acceptance rate, which keeps customers happy, while relieving unnecessary stress from contact center agents.

In addition, hold times have decreased overall, in part due to 8x8’s advanced reporting and analytics that allow contact center supervisors to optimize staffing during busy times. 8x8’s reporting has become a huge asset to Ty, allowing the team to see how busy the agents are, investigate missed calls, and provide a seamless contact center experience for both agents and customers.

According to Ty, 8x8 is simple and easy to use. Thomas remarked upon the ease of administration for the IT team, and the simplicity that comes from having everything they need all in one clean, centralized place.

The other big difference that 8x8 has made has come down to the affordability, which add up to a massive annual savings of roughly $75,000.

In the end, moving to 8x8 not only reduced unnecessary costs for Ty, but it also improved communications across the board while simplifying processes, increasing visibility, and boosting customer satisfaction.