8×8, Inc. (NYSE: EGHT), a leading integrated cloud communications platform, today announced the 8×8 Elevate Microsoft Partner (MP) Program together with the exclusive 8×8 XT edition that enables enterprises adopting Microsoft Teams to reduce communication costs and improve employee productivity with a highly resilient global telephony solution. Leveraging 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, the new 8×8 XT edition combines 8×8’s Direct Routing as a Service technology, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connectivity, Azure-based managed SBC as a Service, domestic DIDs, nationwide calling, HD Audio, and Secure Voice all in a single package.
According to the Gartner® report, Selecting the Best External Calling Option for Microsoft Teams1, “By 2024, 20% of total Microsoft Teams active users will adopt telephony services for external calling on Teams.” Many of these enterprises are turning to trusted channel partners for guidance as they move to the cloud and drive digital transformation efforts to meet new work from anywhere requirements.
8×8 Elevate Microsoft Partner Program
The new 8×8 Elevate MP Program offers select Microsoft Gold Partners the opportunity to accelerate their cloud business and revenue growth by adding 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams to clients’ Teams implementations to enhance global communications and customer engagement. Microsoft Gold Partners selected for the program benefit from:
- Exclusive access to sell the new 8×8 XT edition.
- Attractive volume-based incentives and rebates.
- Executive forums to discuss 8×8 strategy and products.
- Increased Microsoft partner profitability through incremental services.
“As a leading provider of digital workspace solutions and a Microsoft Gold Partner, our customers expect us to provide integrated solutions that not only meet their communication needs but also enhance both employee and customer experiences,” said Brian Campbell, Director, Digital Experience – Collaboration and Workspace at CDW. “We are excited to be among the select partners for the exclusive 8×8 Elevate MP program. Offering 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams enables us to deliver even more value to our Teams customers, while the new partner program provides the resources and benefits to maximize revenue opportunities.”
Companies invited to join the 8×8 Elevate MP Program will also receive the benefits available through the recently announced 8×8 Elevate Partner Program. The global channel program differentiates itself by offering multiple routes to market for partners, including both resale and agency, as well as offering 8×8 sales and technical certifications at no cost.
8×8 XT
8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, and its continued innovation with the new 8×8 XT edition, is the industry’s premier cloud-based Direct Routing as a Service option, providing organizations adopting Teams with reliable, integrated, global telephony and customer engagement capabilities, including value added services such as integrated business messaging, conversational AI, and advanced analytics. Features of the 8×8 XT include:
- Complete interoperability with any other 8×8 X Series package for seamless enterprise collaboration.
- Optimized feature set ideal for Teams users with external telephony calling requirements including local DIDs and flexible calling plans.
- Purpose-built for Microsoft Teams devices and apps.
- Cloud-based, easy to set up and administer direct routing solution that offers intuitive, seamless deployment to minimize service disruptions.
- Options for unlimited calling, metered calling and the option to add prepaid calling bundles.
- Exclusively available for Microsoft Gold Partners in the 8×8 Elevate MP Program.
8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams Global Momentum
8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams allows Teams users to make and receive calls globally, using the familiar Teams interface. 8×8 continues to extend its global presence with 8×8 Global Reach™ through the addition of Indonesia, Israel, Slovenia, and Thailand, and now delivers full cloud PSTN support for multinational organizations with users in 52 countries and territories, representing approximately 89 percent of the world’s GDP.
“With operations in the US, Mexico, Europe, and elsewhere, having a reliable global solution is vital for our business and allows our employees to consistently provide positive customer experiences,” said Chris Geryol, IT Infrastructure and Operations Leader at nVent, a high-performance electrical company. “8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams is a cost-effective solution that has improved efficiency and productivity for our team, eliminating the need for multiple, disparate systems. All in all, we have had a very positive experience with the solution.”
Supporting more than 200,000 Teams users worldwide, organizations who recently signed and deployed 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams include:
- Radian provides industry-leading mortgage and real estate products and services. As part of their digital transformation initiative, they turned to 8×8 XCaaS and 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams to support over 1700 employees.
- Think Research Corporation provides knowledge-based digital health software solutions to a clinical audience of more than 300,000 doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in over 13,000 healthcare facilities in five continents. By implementing the full power of 8×8 XCaaS with Voice for Microsoft Teams and CPaaS SMS API, Think Research will enhance the overall customer experience as they improve agent efficiency and productivity, using new channels to confirm appointments and recruit beta testers for drug trials and new therapies.
“Communication and collaboration is key to every organization, but every team does it differently which is why 8×8 offers highly resilient, Direct Routing as a Service technology to support every employee across the enterprise,” said Hunter Middleton, Chief Product Officer at 8×8, Inc. “From the back-office staff to contact center agents, 8×8’s highly-differentiated solutions for Microsoft Teams enable enterprises to engage with customers effortlessly while providing easy-to-use, sophisticated telephony and customer engagement capabilities globally.”
8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams is a core component of 8×8 XCaaS™ (eXperience Communications as a Service™), which includes fully integrated, cloud native contact center, voice, team chat, video meetings, and CPaaS embeddable APIs capabilities in a single-vendor solution. 8×8 XCaaS is built on the resilient, secure, and compliant 8×8 eXperience Communications Platform™, which offers the highest levels of reliability and the industry’s only financially backed, platform-wide 99.999 percent uptime SLA across an integrated cloud UCaaS and CCaaS solution.
The 8×8 XT edition is now generally available in the UK, and will be introduced in the US and Canada by late summer. For more information, visit 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams.
1Gartner, Selecting the Best External Calling Option for Microsoft Teams, Pankil Sheth, Rafael Benitez, Lisa Pierce, January 31, 2022
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