8x8 Unleashes Open Communications Platform, Voice for Microsoft Teams

8×8 Tuesday launched its new Open Communications Platform, a complete portfolio of work-from-anywhere enterprise communications.

It combines voice, team chat, meetings and contact centers offerings. And it’s fueled by AI-driven routing and predictive analytics.

As part of the platform launch, 8×8 announced the availability of CPaaS programmable applications and APIs, including text and 8×8 video. Organizations can extend and customize 8×8 and third-party applications and workflows.

And 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams is a cloud telephony offering that fully integrates with Teams without changing the end user experience.

8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams Big Opportunity for Partners

8×8’s John DeLozier

John DeLozier is 8×8’s senior vice president and global channel chief. He said Microsoft Teams adoption is continuing to accelerate.

“Enterprises standardizing on it for all employee collaboration, including telephony, want to maximize their investments,” he said. “But [they] are concerned that the Microsoft Teams telephony solution lacks advanced enterprise features, contact center capabilities, and global support and reliability. 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams directly addresses these functional gaps.”

This is a “huge” revenue opportunity for 8×8 partners, not only in upselling existing customers but also tapping into the rapidly growing Office 365 and Microsoft Teams market, DeLozier said.

“Partners with Microsoft Teams customers needing reliable enterprise-grade public switched telephone network (PSTN) connectivity for globally distributed offices can now deliver a single, global cloud voice solution across multiple countries and locations,” he said. “8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams enables seamless voice communication directly from any Microsoft Teams interface, including desktop and mobile apps.”

Competitive Advantage

8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams provides partners with a competitive advantage, DeLozier said.

8×8’s open approach to applications and APIs lets organizations craft a communications and collaboration experience that fits their needs and goals, DeLozier said.

“Work-from-anywhere has recently become a top-of-mind, board-level initiative, and a critical element for every organizations’ business resilience strategy,” said Bryan Martin, 8×8’s chairman and CTO. “Forward-thinking CIOs must reimagine how their businesses move ahead. Without effective communications, organizations crumble. The 8×8 Open Communications Platform provides CIOs with the ability to tailor a communications strategy that adapts to rapidly evolving business challenges, and meets the unique needs of employees, partners and customers.”

In April, 8×8 launched Video MeetingsPro, a secure video conferencing offering. The offering is powered by Jitsi, an open source community for secure video meetings technology sponsored by 8×8.