In April 2022, Cape Air rolled out 8x8 Work across its global workforce and 8x8 Contact Center for both agent teams. “It was fairly easy to deploy 8x8 in our environment,” says Stone, “and it really just worked out of the box. We were very happy with it.”
Initial feedback was overwhelmingly positive. “The voice quality overall is extraordinarily better on 8x8 than it was on Toshiba,” says Stone. “People immediately noticed that their conversations sounded so much better.” 8x8 also provided features that the company had never enjoyed before, such as the softphone interface for desktop and the mobile app that allowed people to take calls on the go.
Another important feature has been 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams. Cape Air has Teams connected to the Polycom phones in its conference rooms, and with the integration of Teams and 8x8, employees are able to run meetings seamlessly using the familiar tools that they use at their desks.
On the contact center side, agents adapted quickly to the system and found it easy to use. “The barge, monitor, and whisper functions in particular have received continuous praise from our agents,” says Thomas Rocharz, Director of Contact Centers at Cape Air. “It’s been especially helpful in training our newer agents.”
For managers, configuring the system has been easy. Rocharz says, “I would say that 8x8’s usability has been very, very enjoyable. We can make quick adjustments to the call flows or audio prompts in about 30 seconds and deploy them instantly.”
8x8’s data-driven capabilities have also been invaluable. 8x8 Analytics enables Cape Air to access and search an incredible amount of data to help improve operations. Quality Management has a robust repository of data that has been instrumental in customer issue resolution. 8x8’s third-party integrations make it quick and easy to pull that data into the team’s CRM system.
8x8 has transformed communications for everyone at Cape Air. Stone says, “We can tell right away that there are 8x8 data centers around the world, and our calls connect to the closest one instead of all the way back to our HQ. This means that the call quality is much better: clear, smooth, and uninterrupted.” He also enjoys greater peace of mind knowing that Cape Air is running a modern solution that is continuously upgraded and supported. “It’s actually a pleasure to know that we have someone to reach out for support when we need it.”
Access to call data and analytics has enabled the company to optimize contact center operations. “We have been able to analyze the data and note any appreciable changes based on adjustments that we've made to the system,” says Rocharz. As a result, they’ve been able to reduce the number of duplicate calls from customers by 90% by adjusting the audio prompts callback flows on the fly without the need for IT assistance. “We’re better able to keep customers who are on hold informed about when they can receive a callback, as well as deliver other timely updates from the business.” And in a fast-paced industry like air travel, timely information is sometimes the best form of customer service.
