Item: 8x8 Work
Rating: 9
Author: Christopher Alcumbrack

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

All users at our corporate office use 8x8 for messaging, fax, and of course voice. Not only do they use a desk phone, or in some cases a soft phone, but many also use the smart phone app. This all allows for greater ease of communication. The Virtual Office desktop program also lends itself to managing the various system features.

Pros and Cons

Multiple software platform avenues promoting ease of communication.
One system for all communication needs.
Administration portal providing simple account, and profile management.

At times call quality with callers outside the 8x8 system at times is poor.
Voicemail boxes are not very large, and can fill quickly.
A means to mark all received faxes at one time as read within Virtual Office would be nice.

Return on Investment

On premises phone systems are very expensive. Using a cloud service such as 8x8 has allowed us to save many thousands of dollars while maintaining a high level of communication efficiency.
Modern phone system for roughly the same money spent simply using our former obsolete system.
Adding functionality is much more cost effective than a traditional PBX system.

Alternatives Considered

Mitel Applications Suite

I briefly reviewed Mitel's product. While it appeared to be a comparable product to 8x8, I was put off by having to use proprietary hardware. Any system will have a list of compatible hardware (e.g. desk phones, conference phones, wireless phones). Being limited to a small specific list of hardware options made me fear escalating costs for new phones in the future. Having broad options was significant in the decision making process.

Support Rating

I very rarely rate 10 as I believe there is always room for improvement. With that having been said, 8x8 customer support has been outstanding each and every time I have had to use it. They are quick in taking action, and quick in finding a solution to my problem.

Usability

I have found both the use, and administration of 8x8 to be very straight forward. After a brief period of familiarization all of my users have found the use of the system quite simple. The system is scalable in some regards as it allows for simple use, or more broad usage of features. You can simply have a desk phone, and use the system like a simple phone. Or you can use the Virtual Office program and app to use all of the features offered.

Key Insights

Do you think 8x8 Work delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with 8x8 Work's feature set?

Yes

Did 8x8 Work live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of 8x8 Work go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy 8x8 Work again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams

Likelihood to Recommend

8x8 does a good job of centralizing communication. In the single platform video, voice, fax, and chat are all available. The video works well for simple video conferencing, but isn't as feature rich as collaborative platform. Having different options for voice is also very beneficial. Between a desk phone, soft phone, or mobile app a user always has the ability to stay connected. A wonderful feature of the mobile app is setting your work day schedule. If you do not want to be disturbed after a time of your choosing, you won't be.

Small manufacturing company finally jumped into the 21st century

Overall Satisfaction with 8x8 X Series (Formerly Virtual Office)