8x8's DeLozier: Golden Era of Communications Here with Need to Operate Anywhere

CHANNEL PARTNERS VIRTUAL — The COVID-19 pandemic hastened the need to operate anywhere, therefore emphasizing the importance of an effective communications platform.

That’s what John DeLozier, 8×8‘s senior vice president and global channel chief, told attendees during his Channel Partners Virtual keynote Wednesday.. He’s also the Channel Partners/Channel Futures Influencer of the Year.

8×8’s John DeLozier

DeLozier said it’s the golden age of communications, but for all the wrong reasons. And it’s a new normal for all facets of life and for business.

The ability to operate anywhere has never been more crucial.

“Companies are all remote and everybody’s at home, whether you’re in Florida like me, New York, New Jersey, the Bay Area of California, in general all over the world,” he said. “And so fortunately I get to work for a company that can work from anywhere.”

The Importance of Connectivity

There’s a need to be connected, both personally as a human and professionally as a company, DeLozier said. According to Gartner, 85% of IT leaders agree their organizations have to increase work-from-home programs.

“And so they are scrambling to figure out who, what, when, where and how are we going to make this happen for our employees at home,” DeLozier said. “I know for sure Google’s returning to work in offices no earlier than next July, almost a year from now. So it’s amazing the pivot we’ve had to make.”

Also according to Gartner, one-half of all employees working from home use video.

“It’s really interesting how video has taken over,” DeLozier said. “I’m not used to getting on a conference call, getting into a meeting to collaborate without seeing you on video. It’s very, very important to our industry. I think enterprise always follows consumer. We could have seen this coming five years ago with FaceTime.”

It’s important to have a communications platform that’s reliable, secure and scalable. If it’s not, it’s “not for you as a partner and not for you as a customer,” he said.

During its recent Blitz Day, 8×8 put 338 partners across the world on the phone with its team reaching out to customer prospects, he said.

“The results have been amazing — literally tens of millions of dollars of opportunity,” DeLozier said. “Twenty-six thousand leads distributed through 338 partners. And we’re going to continue to do things like that. We’re not common over here at 8×8.”