8×8 Agent Workspace Reimagines the Contact Centre

8×8 has announced general availability of 8×8 Agent Workspace, a new 8×8 contact centre composed experience transforming the contact centre agent role.

It is a fully browser-based, design-led interface, delivering a tailored and intuitive experience that uniquely blends contact centre and unified communications capabilities in a single application.

It was recently named a finalist in the category of Best Innovation in Customer Experience for the Best of Enterprise Connect 2022 awards.

“The pace of innovation in the customer experience sector is staggering. The need to stay on top of shifting customer demands requires CX leaders to deploy solutions that are adaptable and flexible,” said Dave Michels, Principal Analyst and Founder of TalkingPointz.

“8×8 Agent Workspace simplifies integrations and offers increased scalability. The web-based UI eliminates desktop software upgrades and supports distributed and hybrid office deployments. 8×8 clearly understands empowered agents have increased retention and customer satisfaction metrics.”

Unlike many contact centre solutions that fail to connect all interaction types, it is designed to support the changing requirements of today’s contact centre agents.

A core component of 8×8 contact centre, it leverages 8×8 XCaaS (eXperience Communications as a Service), a single-vendor platform which includes fully integrated, cloud-native contact centre, voice, team chat, video meetings, and CPaaS embeddable APIs capabilities.

“As contact centres make further advancements to support a work-from-anywhere environment, having a disconnected approach to communications and collaboration is not a winning strategy,” said Hunter Middleton, Chief Product Officer at 8×8, Inc.

“With 8×8 contact centre, organizations can leverage the full power of the 8×8 XCaaS platform, bringing together a comprehensive toolbox of composable employee and customer experience capabilities with the highest levels of reliability and security.

“8×8 Agent Workspace makes it easier than ever for contact centre agents to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness so that every customer interaction is a great one.”

8×8 Agent Workspace is highly intuitive, developed using universally friendly and familiar design patterns that allow agents to begin using it immediately, just like they would any other modern, digital interface.

Quick access to native communication and collaboration tools, including 8×8 Work, is also available from within the agent interface, making it the perfect solution for remote and hybrid work environments.

Features include:

• Intuitive Design: Universally familiar, friendly interface that is simple to use out of the box.
• Browser-based: Supports remote and hybrid work environments.
• Omni-channel: Support for voice and digital channels (chat, email, SMS, social media, messaging apps).
• Single Pane of Glass: Presents context across channels for faster, personalized customer experience, and streamlined navigation that saves time and prevents user error.
• Journey-focused Orchestration: Provides more seamless experiences across channels, including automated workflows to present agents only what they need, when they need it.
• Configurable, Role-based Interface: Offers greater simple supervisor/admin control, complete with unique design elements that significantly reduce cognitive load and maximize efficiency.
• Integration-friendly Approach: Unifies presentation of multiple CRM/data sources.
• Enhanced Delivery: Intelligence to deliver “zero-click” real-time agent assist, proactive intelligence/ next best action, and prescriptive coaching recommendations featuring 8×8’s integrated quality, coaching, and interaction analytics solution.

By leveraging input from its contact centre customers, 8×8 Agent Workspace illustrates the necessity for a truly composed agent experience to transform agent and customer engagement:

• “8×8 Agent Workspace provides the modernization that our agents need in a contact centre solution to enhance customer experiences,” said Erin Warren, Customer Service Supervisor at ABC Home and Commercial Services, a US provider of home and commercial pest control, lawn care, and more.

“The updated interface provides a clearer, easier to read display that allows our agents to easily navigate the interaction and locate any relevant information to quickly service customers.”

• “8×8 Agent Workspace provides an intuitive, simple user interface, delivering an experience that really understands a contact centre agent’s day-to-day,” said Gavin Moore, IT Support Consultant at Brent Council, the local authority for the London Borough of Brent in Greater London, England.

“Our agents have found the redesign to be even easier to use and learn, enabling them to provide exceptional customer service from wherever they’re located.”

• “We are very happy with the new look and feel, and overall user experience of 8×8 Agent Workspace,” said Amye Roberson, Customer Care Manager at Cingo, a US home protection, home inspection, and pest service provider.

“The updates made to 8×8 contact centre not only provide modern visuals but allow us to easily continue providing our customers with exemplary, personalized experiences.”

• “8×8 Agent Workspace’s design is incredibly smooth and slick – it’s very easy to navigate and has a very modern look and feel,” said Imran Haji, Senior Analyst at Mountain Warehouse, a British outdoor retailer selling equipment for hiking, camping, skiing, cycling, running, and fitness.

“The ability to support multiple channels and calls in one interface, with easy navigational features helps boost our contact centre agents’ productivity, allowing for more efficient customer engagements.”

• “As remote and hybrid work continues to grow, it’s important that our employees, including our contact centre agents, have access to technology that allows them to be as self-sufficient as possible,” said Lawrie Neal, System Administrator at National Express, a British multinational public transport company.

“8×8 Agent Workspace was extremely easy for our agents to pick up right from the start. An incredibly straightforward, self-explanatory, and easy-to-use interface that really helped enhance their overall experience while aiding the delivery of better customer outcomes.”

• “Not only is the 8×8 Agent Workspace user interface clean and fresh, it also saves our contact centre agents time and energy through its intuitive and easy-to-use design,” said Paul Stagnitto, Director of Operations at Veritext, the US leader in deposition and litigation support solutions.

“The updated functionality allows our contact centre agents to focus on providing exceptional customer service.”

It provides a cohesive, contextual environment to handle all channels and customer data, and offers streamlined navigation and automated workflows to prevent user error.

In addition, its micro front-end, intelligent design approach offers a configurable, integration-friendly user interface that goes beyond simple CRM integrations and screen pops.

This approach allows 8×8 Agent Workspace to scale to support ever-evolving third-party tools, empowering agents with a single pane of glass to manage interactions and deliver more personalized and powerful customer experiences.