8×8 XCaaS and 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams have been deployed by the University of Worcester to help with its clearing process.
The clearing process is a system employed by UK universities that students enter when they do not achieve the required grades for their preferred course.
With over 10,000 students, the University of Worcester takes thousands of calls every year during the clearing period and needed a communications platform to help deal with this.
Ged Attwood, Head of IT Operations at the University of Worcester, commented: “We chose 8×8 XCaaS because of its single-vendor cloud communications and contact centre platform, and integration with Microsoft Teams.
“For us, 8×8 stood out thanks to its easy deployment, intuitive functionality, and reliable system maintenance.
“The Clearing process is a high-pressure time, but thanks to 8×8 our agents were able to focus entirely on dealing with the students and providing an excellent service, rather than worrying about carrier downtime or clicking the wrong button.”
According to 8×8, the university’s third-party contact centre system operated separately from its on-campus phone system, resulting in a siloed approach and often leading to downtime for system maintenance.
8×8 also states that the University of Worcester was looking to transition away from legacy desktop phones and towards an integrated service that can accommodate all communications across the contact centre, phone calls, and chat functions.
By deploying 8×8 services, the university’s clearing queue managed thousands of calls between July and October 2022, with no downtime throughout the period.
Jamie Snaddon, Managing Director, EMEA at 8×8, said: “For anyone who has been involved in the UK Clearing process, they know what an incredibly important and potentially stressful time of the year it can be – for students and contact centre agents alike.
“By working with the University of Worcester during one of their busiest times of the year, we have helped them streamline operations for their contact centre agents while ensuring they can continue providing exceptional services to students.”
8×8 XCaaS has been deployed by many types of UK organisations including those in the public and private sectors.
Hounslow Borough Council deployed the solution in July 2022 to support its employees in business areas such as healthcare, housing, and employment.
Prior to deploying 8×8 XCaaS, Hounslow Borough Council said it struggled with communications solutions that lacked the capabilities to support the various services it offers, in particular the contact centre.
The travel company, The National Express, also deployed the solution to help employees serve around 21 million customers a year.
According to 8×8, the UK’s largest coach operator needed a solution to meet security and data privacy requirements for 21 million passengers annually.
Additionally, 80 percent of National Express’ contact centre agents work remotely, meaning the solution needed to be tightly integrated with their CRM system and able to accept secure payments over the phone without compromising any privacy.
