8x8 Launches New Channel Program for Microsoft Gold Partners with Exclusive Purpose-built Edition for Organizations Adopting Microsoft Teams

8x8’s Direct Routing as a Service Offerings Surpass 200,000 Global Business Users

8x8, Inc. (NYSE: EGHT), a leading integrated cloud communications platform, today announced the 8x8 Elevate Microsoft Partner (MP) Program together with the exclusive 8x8 XT edition that enables enterprises adopting Microsoft Teams to reduce communication costs and improve employee productivity with a highly resilient global telephony solution. Leveraging 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, the new 8x8 XT edition combines 8x8'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.

8x8 Elevate Microsoft Partner Program

The new 8x8 Elevate MP Program offers select Microsoft Gold Partners the opportunity to accelerate their cloud business and revenue growth by adding 8x8 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 8x8 XT edition.
• Attractive volume-based incentives and rebates.
• Executive forums to discuss 8x8 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 8x8 Elevate MP program. Offering 8x8 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 8x8 Elevate MP Program will also receive the benefits available through the recently announced 8x8 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 8x8 sales and technical certifications at no cost.

8x8 XT

8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, and its continued innovation with the new 8x8 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 8x8 XT include:

• Complete interoperability with any other 8x8 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 8x8 Elevate MP Program.

8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams Global Momentum

8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams allows Teams users to make and receive calls globally, using the familiar Teams interface. 8x8 continues to extend its global presence with 8x8 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. “8x8 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 8x8 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 8x8 XCaaS and 8x8 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 8x8 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 8x8 offers highly resilient, Direct Routing as a Service technology to support every employee across the enterprise,” said Hunter Middleton, Chief Product Officer at 8x8, Inc. “From the back-office staff to contact center agents, 8x8’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.”

8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams is a core component of 8x8 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. 8x8 XCaaS is built on the resilient, secure, and compliant 8x8 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 8x8 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 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams.

¹Gartner, Selecting the Best External Calling Option for Microsoft Teams, Pankil Sheth, Rafael Benitez, Lisa Pierce, January 31, 2022

About 8x8 Inc.

8x8, Inc. (NYSE: EGHT) is transforming the future of business communications as a leading Software as a Service provider of 8x8 XCaaS™ (eXperience Communications as a Service™), an integrated contact center, voice communications, video, chat, and API built on one global cloud communications platform. 8x8 uniquely eliminates the silos between Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) to power the communications requirements of all employees globally as they work together to deliver differentiated customer experiences. For additional information, visit www.8x8.com, or follow 8x8 on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

8x8®, 8x8 XCaaS™, eXperience Communications as a Service™, eXperience Communications Platform™ are trademarks of 8x8, Inc.

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