Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a fundamental requirement for future-ready organizations that prioritize customer experience (CX). A common problem that these companies face is how to leverage next generation technology with their legacy data and systems.

Some decide to jump into the future headfirst by ripping and replacing everything with all-in-one solutions requiring clear trade-offs to the customer, employee, and administrator experience. Others cobble together disparate solutions that were never designed to work together into something somewhat usable for the organization, but this usually comes with a high cost for custom development and complex maintenance.

Both of these options are usually only attainable for the largest of enterprises. The reality is that most organizations lack the resources or time required to take either of these approaches to bring their CX operations into the current future.

This is why 8x8 created a different kind of Technology Partner Ecosystem. As a customer-obsessed organization itself, 8x8 recognizes that even midmarket businesses have the same needs as the largest enterprises, but lack the budgets and resources of those larger organizations.

The 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem brings together a carefully curated network of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), Value Added Resellers (VARs), and System Integrators (SIs) to help our joint customers solve specific CX use cases with 8x8. The integrations from this ecosystem feel native in 8x8 by incorporating AI and making data persistent across the experience so organizations can tailor these solutions to their business needs without costly custom development.

The 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem differs from other programs by deliberately selecting partners that add unique and specific value for 8x8 customers to improve their CX and operations. Many providers prioritize quantity, which can benefit organizations with a variety of choices. While the expanded options may seem like a benefit, it also means more time is required to evaluate options for quality and fit for solving those specific business problems. By providing a carefully assembled collection of partners, the 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem can help customers reduce the evaluation burden by skipping to the problem-solving phase directly with vetted and focused solutions from a proven list of technology partners.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of an Open vs. Curated Ecosystem

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Partner Benefits of the 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem

Partner motivations for joining an ecosystem generally focus on differentiating their go-to-market motions by improving their ability to meet requests for proposals and gain analyst recognition in a coordinated effort to increase revenue. An open ecosystem can help partners better qualify for consideration in the sales cycle, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the platform provider will dedicate resources to increase the go-to-market effectiveness.

A curated ecosystem can be more valuable than an open one because it is designed to optimize both partner and customer experiences. On the product side, a relationship is required that provides a real-time feedback loop so the platform team can better evaluate new APIs and architectural changes to improve the user experience and the depth of the integration. This makes 8x8 data available in new ways through integrations and also creates a tighter connection to solve new use cases. That feedback loop extends to the go-to-market motions by enabling corresponding functional roles such as sales, marketing, and executives to jointly engage customers from both companies, retire quota from sell-with activities, increase demand, communicate value, host events, share leads, evaluate effectiveness, and course correct in real-time.

The exclusive aspect of a curated ecosystem means that each partner gets more time with the platform provider and has fewer direct competitors in the ecosystem, which can improve the business relationship between companies. This combination of benefits increases the opportunity for collaboration between organizations, inspires innovation to benefit joint customers, and helps each party differentiate their offerings to unlock the full potential of transformative CX solutions in untapped markets.

Learn more about joining the 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem. Visit our website or watch the on-demand webinar AI is here, but hiring, empowering, and keeping great agents is the only way to great CX featuring 360insights and Awaken Intelligence.