8x8 Virtual Office - Great VoIP solution for small businesses and teleworker-centric businesses
July 10, 2019
8x8 Virtual Office - Great VoIP solution for small businesses and teleworker-centric businesses
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with 8x8 Virtual Office
8x8 is used extensively throughout the office and somewhat by sales staff. The auto attendant and flexibility of defining inbound call handling is highly useful and easy to reconfigure once familiar with the 8x8 Admin panel. Having Ring Groups and Call Queues as options for call handling is absolutely needed to correctly handle the volume of inbound calls. An Auto Attendant is an absolute necessity to block robo calls. Nearly all of the features are used, including virtual numbers (homing legacy geographical numbers into the main number), call recording, downloading and emailing call recordings as needed, daily reporting, whisper and barge in features when needed, as well as call parking and voicemail to text. Support is generally knowledgeable. If I find a Level 1 support rep is lacking knowledge, I ask for a supervisor to get support issues resolved more quickly.
The Virtual Office Desktop app is very functional as well as the mobile app for call support and texting within the organization.
The Virtual Office Desktop app is very functional as well as the mobile app for call support and texting within the organization.
- Inbound call handling through Auto Attendants, Ring Groups and Call Queues, along with customized messages and BYO music on hold.
- Call recording management and visibility within the Virtual Office Desktop.
- Call processing through call transfers, blind transfers to voicemail, and conference calling.
- Using combination of telephone instruments and VOD to display caller ID and name as available.
- Virtual Office Desktop could be more intuitive for first time user.
- Virtual Office needs a "Lite" version, more than minimized but not using as much screen real estate as a full-size mode.
- Would like to see Call Recording server replicating in near real-time to East Coast switch instead of residing at only West Coast switch.
- Much better handling of inbound call volume, ensuring secondary and tertiary backups to answering calls.
- Call recording ensures consistency of call etiquette and professionalism while allowing replaying to capture the content of the call and holding customers accountable for their request and authorizations.
- ROI is hard to measure, but ensuring no lost/abandoned calls has positive impact on business financially.
- Using mobile devices during internet interruptions is invaluable for business continuity and customer access to business.
- RingCentral, Vonage Business Cloud, Comcast VOIP, Cisco ASA, Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) and MiCloud Connect (formerly ShoreTel)
Although RingCentral and 8x8 provider similar offerings, I find the pricing and ease of use more appealing to 8x8. I also like the US-based customer support that 8x8 offers. I feel the feature set for Vonage for Business is not as strong as either RingCentral or 8x8. For smaller businesses needing less than 50 extensions or a large number of remote teleworkers, 8x8 has great price points and features compared to Ring Central. For businesses needing more than 100 extensions, 8x8 may not be the best-fit cost wise.