What’s really at stake when AI gets it wrong?

How many times have you found yourself reading a transcript from a call and asking, “Wait… did they really say that?”

It might seem harmless—maybe even funny. But those “small” transcription mistakes can have a big impact in the context of enterprise systems. Suddenly, misheard phrases aren’t just clutter—they’re disrupting workflows, triggering false insights, and eroding trust in your data.

Transcription accuracy isn't a nice-to-have for IT leaders managing large volumes of voice interactions across multiple systems and departments. It’s a critical input for performance, compliance, and automation at scale.

Why transcription accuracy matters for your business stack.

Whether it's a support call, a sales discussion, or a routine internal meeting, transcription is often the first step in making unstructured voice data usable. If that foundation is shaky, everything downstream—your analytics, CRM updates, coaching tools, compliance checks—starts to wobble.

When AI transcription misfires, here's what happens:

  • Coaching insights lose context.
  • Sentiment analysis gets skewed.
  • Automation triggers on bad data.
  • Compliance flags get missed.
  • Teams waste time correcting avoidable errors.

And when your agents are correcting transcripts—or your dashboards are built on flawed input—you’re not just losing efficiency. You’re losing confidence in your systems.

The cost of getting it wrong—and the upside of getting it right.

Your organization is increasingly reliant on transcribed voice data to power decisions, drive automation, and ensure consistency across global teams. That means accuracy isn’t just about understanding what was said—it’s about reducing risk and increasing operational trust.

Consider the difference between:

  • “I’m not happy with the billing process.”
  • “I’m happy with the billing”.

Or:

  • “Cancel my subscription.”
  • “Handle my description.”

The first is a warning sign. The second is a potential disaster.

When your transcription is accurate across accents, speakers, and conversation types, your AI can:

  • Automatically flag red flags or escalation signals.
  • Feed clean data into CRM, BI, and AI platforms.
  • Support consistent QA and coaching at scale.
  • Improve regulatory reporting and audit readiness.

The numbers that prove it.

To put it to the test, 8x8 commissioned an independent benchmark from The Tolly Group—a trusted third-party validation firm. The test compared transcription performance across 8x8, Dialpad, and RingCentral using 15 English-language samples, each run multiple times to account for variability. Accents ranged from American and British to Nigerian and Filipino.

The result?

8x8® delivered the best word error rate (WER) across the board—just 3.43%. That’s more than 50% better than both Dialpad and RingCentral, which each clocked in above 8%.

For IT teams, that means fewer fixes, fewer failures, and fewer surprises when you push transcription data across your CX, AI, or compliance stack.

Why this matters now.

In today’s customer experience landscape, 32% of consumers will walk away after just one bad interaction. And often, what turns a conversation into a poor experience isn’t what your agent said—it’s what your systems thought they said.

Transcription accuracy impacts:

  • Sentiment analysis
  • Workflow automation
  • Agent performance visibility
  • Regulatory compliance
  • CX strategy and reporting

The 8x8 platform gives you the accuracy edge—not just in transcripts, but across the full conversation lifecycle.

Final word: It’s time to trust your transcripts.

This isn’t just about speech-to-text—it’s about feeding your systems the right information, from the start.

With 8x8 and its single-platform approach to voice, video, chat, and APIs, you’re not just connecting conversations—you’re empowering every team with data they can trust. No more guessing. No more patching over problems. Just clean inputs, smarter insights, and scalable outcomes.

Download the full report to see how accuracy unlocks the next level of CX and AI performance.