Justin Robbins, back with Jessica Smith now to talk a little bit about some of the interesting things we're working on in the world of contact center at 8x8. Jess, I've been hearing a lot about Intelligent Customer Assistant and that some new things might be happening there. So what are we up to?174.533
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Justin, as you well know, we launched Intelligent Customer Assistant earlier this year. Intelligent Customer Assistant is our conversational AI, generative AI, chatbot solution, and initially, we really only launched it for digital channels. So, w e had the application for web chat, for SMS, for other messaging apps. What we've now done in this latest release is we've brought those same capabilities available to our customers for the voice channel, meaning all of your voice self-service needs that you really want to take from that traditional, kind of outdated IVR experience and really modernize them, we're now able to do that with Intelligent Customer Assistant for voice.
That's awesome. So what if I'm a customer, and I was already using ICA and digital channels? Is there anything special I need to know or do?
S o glad you asked that, because there are a lot of our customers who have deployed ICA for a digital channel, and the beauty of this is the way that we've, you know, built this integration and have now deployed voice is you can very easily add that exact same experience or use that exact same script to apply to the voice channel. So if you've deployed ICA for a chatbot web chat experience today, you can take that exact same self-service script, apply it to the voice channel, and with very, very small kind of tweaks and changes within the graphical kind of click and add scripting function, you can make adjustments for that digital channel experience and optimize it for voice, and you're doing this all in a very, very seamless, again, graphical scripting tool.
So business users like you and I don't have to deal with any kind of code, and we can really optimize that exact same experience for voice.
Yeah, I think that ease of administration is really, really valuable. But honestly, the other piece is that cohesive experience, both for customers and the, the contact center and the business to understand what's happening through all these interactions. So love what we're working on there. Really, really cool stuff.
Absolutely. And one thing I actually do want to add, just, with this whole new channel, that it is an Intelligent Customer Assistant. Something that we're seeing our customers really love in the adoption of ICA is the fact that we have all the analytics pre-built within the solution. So as you're kind of looking at something like the Step Explorer analytics to really understand, where exactly is my bot performing well? Where there may be drop-off? Where can we make some performance improvements within the bot experience so that we maybe don't experience a turn around here, or we can have a higher resolution within the bot? All of those same analytics are also available for voice. So again, really just have made this, this new channel available for Intelligent Customer Assistant, so you get all those amazing perks with the solution.
That's so important. A common mistake with automation of bot technologies is a set-it-and-forget-it approach. So having that insight to know where customers are experiencing success or failure or friction, and to do something about it, that's awesome. I think the other thing that's top of mind for me is just the continued evolution of all of the different channels that we can use to serve our customers. Talk to me about what's the latest in terms of expanding omnichannel offerings and our ability to maybe do some new and interesting things there.
Yeah. So in 8x8 Contact Center today, we are a true omnichannel contact center, and that we do offer voice and digital channels and other extensions to channels like messaging apps, et cetera. But what we've actually just done within this new release is we've offered video escalation capabilities. There's a niche use case here, but what we have seen with more and more of our customers, especially in the contact center, is they're looking to have Video Elevation capabilities. Meaning, as an agent, you may be on the phone with a customer, and that particular customer may have a broken product, or they're out in the field with their car, and they want to maybe show you something particular that may have just actually happened.
That agent has the ability to send the customer an SMS link to a video interaction, where the customer can actually show them in real time what may be happening with that particular product or a car, or you name the different use cases. And all within 8x8 Contact Center, you're able to, with very simple clicks, create that experience for our customers. So we truly have, you know, another layer of omnichannel now within 8x8 Contact Center.
Cool stuff that I can imagine is improving time to resolution, is reducing some back-office work, right? A bunch of potential benefits just by having that immediate ability to launch video there.
Yeah, absolutely. We're seeing, I think, more and more kind of these niche applications of video. As you well know, a lot of, I would say, the contact center users in particular, don't necessarily want the use case for agents and customers to be video-facing, but there is an absolute amazing application for that kind of escalation use case, where a customer really does want to be able to show something to the agent in real time. So we have the ability to very seamlessly do this now.
Awesome.
It's exciting.
Jessica, I love it. I can't wait to hear about what you've got to share on the next update.
Excellent.
Thank you for letting me know.
Wonderful. Thanks, Justin. Take care.
We are Westminster City Council. We're in the heart of London, and our responsibility as a council is to look after our residents, look after people who visit, and do business in the city. I look after our online services and our digital experience. Westminster went through a massive change. Our residents often wanted to speak to people who were actually living in their city and who understood them, and made the decision to in-source our contact center. It's been a massive success, and we worked with our partners, 8x8, to set that up. And so far, it's going really well. We also looked at a lot of the data that we have coming into our contact centers and really learn what type of information residents are looking for when they are trying to be more self-sufficient.
We've just introduced a new target operating model that really centers around our user. So not just looking at solutions, but really drilling down into what's the problem that our users are experiencing, how can we tackle those problems, and co-designing those with our users to make sure we really come up with the best solution for them. So the reporting and analytics of the dashboard have been really easy to access, really interactive. This has been great because it just means that we can have access to information whenever we need it. We found that we were receiving many repetitive queries from our residents to the contact center, and we found that the Intelligent Customer Assistant was able to create efficiency and automation for our colleagues. The Intelligent Customer Assistant has really surpassed our expectations.
We've gained around 80%, success rates, on an average day, and sometimes even reaching 100%. We're really, you know, happy to have such a high-performing piece of technology, and that we can really look to scale up now and improve our website experience.
Well, hey, everyone. Now I'm excited to have a conversation with Talon Morris. Talon, thanks for joining me.
Thank you for having me.
All right, here's my first question. I've seen a bit about the 8x8 Phone App for Microsoft Teams. Talk to me. What is it? What is it all about?
Well, 8x8 Phone App for Microsoft Teams is our cost-effective and native experience that's designed to be Teams first, enable PSTN without requiring a per-user Teams phone license, or installing desktop plugins or additional pieces of software. So it's really versatile in thinking about how we can give the best experience to our organizations that want to be Teams first. And on top of that, it's built on top of the same 8x8 Direct Routing service that we use to offer our 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams service. So it provides incredible native functionality, and it's really simple for IT to use and easy for users to just embrace telephony through their native Teams experience.
So this isn't the only phone app that integrates with Microsoft Teams. Talk to me about what's different about 8x8.
Well, 8x8 takes a different approach. So you think about the way you bring telephony into Microsoft Teams. You can either go the full direct integration, which is what we have through our 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams service, which is that premier experience, or you can have more of an embedded app experience. Most competitors' embedded app experiences actually aren't Teams calls. They take you out of the Teams experience entirely into another application or service that lives outside of Microsoft Teams. So you think about if the goal is: I want to integrate into Microsoft Teams, but there is a cost-effective element to this. I'm right-sizing my budget. I'm getting the right tool for the job.
Well, this is a new option in that portfolio that can meet that need without necessarily making the same sacrifices that many of our competitors take into the market. So it really does provide native functionality for actually Teams calls, and it even makes it easier for the IT side, where they can manage and deploy it, but just through Microsoft Teams in the cloud, without having to do remote device management or install applications and maintain them outside the Teams environment.
Okay. So I knew we had 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams. Is this the same thing or is it different? If it's different, how's it different than what we have today?
Well, it's different in the sense that it is the more cost-effective option because it's not using that Teams Phone Standard license. That is something that is a requirement for our 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams. So you think about it more in the tier. If you want the most native and natural experience, that is the one to go with because you have all of the functionality you'd come to expect. This one is very close, though. That's kind of the magic kicker here. The idea is that it can provide some of that native functionality for call transfers and functionality, but it does use a separate 8x8 Phone App, effectively as the dialer. You go to this other app within Microsoft Teams to place your actual call.
So anytime you're gonna dial a number, effectively, you have to go through the 8x8 Phone App in order to accomplish that. So that's kind of that big difference. It's just more of a usability perspective, but as far as receiving the calls or me engaging and managing the calls that you're actually in, it is nearly an identical experience to what you'd get with the 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams.
That's great. Is there anything else I need to know? If this is something I'm interested in, what can I do to learn more about it?
Well, I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is that it's not a one-size-fits-all approach. That is something that we do differently. We don't really want to make every user in the organization have the exact same license. We want them to right-size it to what the needs of their business, business really are. So that could be in terms of you have a user that has this specific use case, well, this might be the great option for them because it enables them with PSTN. But you might have another user where they're, for example, our 8x8 Contact Center for Microsoft Teams, where they would need that full contact center capability, but they would like to be integrated with Teams.
This allows us to kind of mix and match licenses and right-size the technology spending of the organization to really what their needs are. And as far as to answer your question about where to get more information, I definitely recommend going to 8x8.com/teams. You'll find more information about the entire portfolio of our 8x8 for Microsoft Teams offerings.
Awesome. Talon, I love the flexibility that this now provides, both from a functionality standpoint, but as you mentioned, also in terms of how cost structures are enabled. So, love it. Love that we've made this announcement, and appreciate you sharing a bit with us today.
Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Hey, everyone. While we're together, I want to take just a moment to refresh you on our 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem. If you aren't familiar with it, our Technology Partner Ecosystem is a carefully curated network of technology partners who seamlessly integrate their solutions into the 8x8 XCaaS platform. It brings together the most important categories contributing to great customer experiences. Things like workforce engagement and management, customer relationship management, employee experience, analytics, reporting, and much, much more. By leveraging the Technology Partner Ecosystem, you can trust that you're working with a carefully curated group of solutions that are selected to help solve your most pressing customer experience use cases. By leveraging this curated network of partners and solutions, you get access to a diverse range of things that are tailored to your specific needs and ensure you can find the right tools to enhance your customer experience.
Yeah.
Leveraging the 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem means that you'll get integrations that feel native to 8x8's XCaaS platform. It also means that you're able to leverage burden-free, best-of-breed solutions. You don't have to compromise on technological advances or engage in extensive custom development. You'll be empowered to create customized, customer-centric solutions that cater to your business's unique needs and enable you to exceed your customer experience goals. If you'd love to learn more about solutions available through our 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem and how they can benefit your organization, we'd love to connect with you to explore the conversation even further.
Well, hey, Walt. So glad you and I could sit down for this conversation. It's actually really timely, based off of a number of interactions I've had recently. So I'm just gonna jump right in with one of the first questions that I received that I'm curious to get your take on, Walt. We talk a lot about communications for the customer-obsessed here at 8x8, and so naturally, people wanna know: what are the customer-focused initiatives that we've put out recently to better improve our support and service experience? So tell me a bit, what have you and your team been working on?
Absolutely. First of all, thanks for having me here, and I'm really happy to be able to speak with you and to the audience here. You know, not a lot has changed, and a lot has changed. And what I mean by that is, our philosophy, since I first got here about three years ago, is the same, and it is around customer-obsessed. And we call it different things. We call it customer-obsessed. We call it customer satisfaction, customer delight. But everything that we do in my organization of 600 people worldwide, a fabulous team, by the way, is focused on delivering a great customer experience. And why that's important, especially in our industry, is because what we deliver is not just technology, but an experience, and that experience centers around the customer journey, the customer life cycle.
What has changed is the sorts of tools and programs that we have implemented within our organization and, quite frankly, a culture shift within the whole company around this customer obsession. One of the things that's driving this really well is our Voice of the Customer platform. We use a third party to touch all of our customers with each interaction, whether it's the implementation, whether it's the sales process, the training, the support, of course. Every interaction, we reach out for feedback. Why that's important is not only to understand how we're doing, more importantly, where we're not doing a great job, and then take that feedback, whether it's from a product perspective, whether it's from a process perspective or a customer expectation setting process.
All those things we collect, and then we disseminate that and provide actions around all those activities within the company cross-functionally. By doing that, we iterate, and we continuously improve the customer experience. Today, I'm really happy to say a lot of that has paid off for us. In the last two years, I believe, we've won a number of industry awards for exactly that, which is delivering a great customer experience. We've won gold and bronze and silver awards, both for support and our professional services organization. So with me, the proof is always in the pudding, and our ability to deliver that service excellence is manifested in these awards that we receive from the industry.
That's awesome. And I love, y ou know, Voice of the Customer is a great mechanism to actively listen to our customers and be able to act on that feedback. Are there things that you and your organization are doing in that vein to help us just kind of proactively understand what our customers need and then work to meet those needs?
Absolutely. And by the way, we've received a lot of feedback over the last couple of years, both from our customers and our valued partners, around more automation, more tools around self-service, and we're implementing a number of those programs. Very soon, we'll be launching the ability for our customers to self-serve, to provide, or to have the ability for them to add on lines, add on services, so that they don't need to speak a human being if they don't want to.
I think the key differentiator in this industry and for our team is to go where the customer is versus having the customer come to where we are, and that's why we provide so many different avenues to contact us, to reach us, whether it's through social media, whether it's through support tickets, whether it's through our customer success management team, whether it's through our professional services team, during our training activities. All those are entry points for feedback. Again, the key for us, and this is what I think differentiates us from a lot of different players, is we don't only take that feedback, but we also take action, and we close the loop with our customers, and that's really the key to successful customer sats, Voice of the Customer program.
So kind of building on that, what are maybe some other ways that we plan to involve and engage our customers in co-creating with us, whether that's products, whether it's improving our services? What are some thoughts on how we just continue to better align with their needs and what we're delivering?
Well, certainly, again, customer success managers are interacting with our customers on a day-to-day basis. Their job is to be advocates for our customers. Their job is to understand how we can provide additional value to the business that they're in. That's one way. The other way is we have a lot of on-site meetings with customers. We have informal customer advisory board meetings. There's just a lot of interaction. I'm on the road a lot talking to customers. My team is. Chuck Emmette, for example, who's a VP of Professional Services, is on the road all the time. As he's doing his interactions with customers, he's getting the feedback and then bringing that back both to my organization as well as to the product and support organization.
So my team, my leadership team, and the team below them really try to interact with our customers on a daily basis, ensure that we're getting that feedback all the time. The other thing that I do, that I like to do, is talk to my leadership, not my direct leaders, but several levels down in the organization, because those are the folks who are closest to the customer experience, and they get that feedback directly from the customers as they interact with them. So I may talk to 10 customers, but we have leaders and managers that talk to 20, 30, 40, 50 customers, and all that, again, is synthesized, is brought into our organization, and then we develop the actions around what needs to happen to continuously improve.
If you look at our journey over the last two to three years, our customer satisfaction on the support side is over 95%. That's both for our enterprise and non-enterprise customers. World-class is 90%. To get to a consistent 95% or above customer satisfaction level, you have to be really, really good about providing great value to your customers, and that's exactly what we do.
I like that, Walt, and I also like how you've kind of scaled care inside of your organization. That's not just something you're doing, but you're encouraging kind of all of the leaders to make sure that they're being really real intentional about it. So I think that's really valuable. I'm curious, if you're willing, can I get a sneak peek into what are some of maybe the interesting or exciting things that you and your organization have planned as we look at the maybe year ahead?
Well, a lot of AI and ML stuff. We really like I said earlier, we wanna be where our customers are versus the customers having to come where we are. So a lot more self-service, a lot more chat capabilities. We're doing a lot more in terms of ecosystem partner integration. Again, we wanna be able to provide service and support and value to our customers wherever they are. We're also expanding our customer success management team. They're doing a great job in terms of providing value to our customers, both in terms of showing them how best to use our services, showing them what new avenues and products and technology are coming out, and just overall providing a value that I think is unmatched and unparalleled in this industry.
And I've been in this industry for 40 years, a long time, and this is the best organization that I've ever worked with. Why? Because they're passionate, because they're all on the same page, and that is making sure that we provide value to our customers and allow them to reach us in every manner that they want, whether it's direct, whether it's through channel, whether it's through social media, whether it's through customer success managers. We have so many different avenues for our customers to be able to interact with us and to provide us with feedback. And again, the key is don't just get the feedback, do something with the feedback, and then communicate and close the loop with our customers.
It's so important, Walt, and we know for all of our customers, right, how much care goes into serving their customer base, and I love and I appreciate how you and your team are taking the same approach to making sure that we can care for our customers well. Is there anything else that you wanna share or that we should know about what's next from your organization?
Absolutely. So, Justin, we are coming up on the end of our first three-year plan. So when I got here, to 8x8, we put together a three-year plan and again, focused on the customer journey. Well, we've achieved a lot of the things that we wanted to do, particularly around meeting the right metrics for a customer-obsessed organization. Now, it's about making sure that we take the next level, and our next three-year plan is really about how do we increase the value that we're providing to our customers? And we've got a number of things that we're working on around our partner ecosystem, again, around expanding our customer success management team, more tools, more self-service, just a lot of really great things that should help our customers streamline the way they do business but add additional value to their interactions with our company.
I'm excited about the future, and I'm really, really happy to be part of this organization.
Well, I am gonna say that, I'm grateful for the last three years that your team has invested in this, and I am also excited for what's ahead, in the next three years. And, just thank you. Thank you for sharing a little bit about what you're working on, kind of what you've accomplished and, where we're going next. I've really, really appreciated hearing from you today.
Thank you, Justin. Thanks for your time. Take care.
Well, that's a wrap. It's been so great to have conversations with Walt Weisner, Jessica Smith, and Talon Morris as we try to figure out how do we weave more magic into all of the moments that we try to create every single day. Thanks for watching, and we look forward to talking with you again next quarter.