Opportunities to innovate based on just stand-alone UCaaS products are becoming increasingly rare, according to Samuel Wilson, 8×8‘s Interim CEO.
He made the comments during the company’s third-quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call, in which it was revealed that 8×8’s service revenue and total revenue had increased 18 per cent year-over-year.
The company saw its cash flow from operations during Q3 increase 72 per cent year-over-year to $15.5 million.
Wilson commented: “We continued to invest in innovation while reducing our service delivery costs and increasing operational efficiency across the organisation.
“As a result, customer retention was at its highest level in several years. GAAP and non-GAAP operating margins were at multi-year highs, and we generated solid operational cash flow.
“I believe our industry is at an inflection point. With our increased focus and investment in research and development, we can leverage our XCaaS first-mover advantage, accelerate CCaaS innovation, and become a true leader across customer experience communications.”
Using UC to Drive the Contact Centre
Wilson’s comments surrounding opportunities within the UCaaS space further emphasise the company’s XCaaS platform to drive customer-focused products as it looks for areas to innovate.
Describing the contact centre marker as “an inflection”, the interim CEO admitted the company has not taken advantage of its existing UC customer base, stating: “The first and most important thing, and we have not done a great job of this yet, is cross-selling our contact centre into that UC base.”
It appears that 8×8 will use its XCaaS platform to drive its current UC customer base into adopting CCaaS by innovating its features within its portfolio.
“While UCaaS migration continues to create revenue and profit opportunities for efficient providers like 8×8, I believe the opportunities to differentiate based on stand-alone UCaaS are becoming increasingly rare,” Wilson added.
“Our XCaaS platform, which delivers the high availability, scalability and security of a unified cloud-native solution and a lower TCO, is highly differentiated.
“By focusing on CCaaS innovation within the platform, we can continue to extend our leadership. Specifically, I believe the contact centre market is at an inflection.”
Transition Period
It is hard to predict what 8×8 will focus its attention on shortly, given the transition period that the company is currently going through.
8×8 terminated its former Chief Executive Officer, Dave Sipes’ employment contract, in November last year.
The company stated at the time that it was beginning the search for a new CEO “immediately”; however, at the time of writing, no permanent appointment had been made.
There are also rumours surrounding a possible takeover by RingCentral, according to an Investing.com source.
Reports first surfaced in November 2022 and stated that RingCentral is allegedly working with an investment bank to review the implications of a potential transaction.
There are no reports yet on 8×8’s position and whether they are open to a sale.
