78% of UK IT Decision Makers are Deploying AI and Automation to Future Proof Their Businesses Amidst Ongoing Uncertainty, Reveals New 8x8 Research
November 21 2023 - 4:00AM
Business Wire
8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT), a leading integrated cloud contact
centre and unified communications platform provider, today unveiled
how companies are dealing with the current permacrisis – a period
defined as an extended time of instability and insecurity – that is
impacting British businesses by turning to artificial intelligence
(AI) and automation.
The new report from 8x8, Permacrisis: The View from the IT
Frontline, surveyed over 550 IT decision makers of UK businesses
with over 500 employees about how permacrisis has impacted
organisations and their IT teams. The report explores the ongoing
effect of operating in uncertain times and the technology and
approaches businesses are using to address it.
Impact of the UK’s Permacrisis
A staggering 91% of respondents are feeling the effects of the
permacrisis to some degree, with two-thirds stating that macro
issues are accelerating their organisation’s digital transformation
plans.
Unsurprisingly, multiple and consistent challenges have led to a
feeling of crisis fatigue among employees, with fewer than 9% of
respondents citing that their colleagues do not appear to be
fatigued by ongoing events.
Across the different UK businesses, many industries, including
education, health, and retail, among others, agreed that inflation,
Brexit, and the Covid-19 pandemic have had the largest impact in
recent years.
Adapting to Change
With the change and uncertainty of the last decade,
organisations are having to be agile to ensure business continuity.
More than 94% of IT decision makers reported that their
organisation is implementing technology changes to reduce crisis
fatigue and be future-ready, with customer engagement and
communication systems allowing them to manage ongoing instability
and uncertainty.
Two areas being seen as key in helping through this period are
AI and automation. Both of these technologies are being seen as
able to help streamline workloads, reduce routine manual work, and
increase both customer and employee satisfaction, while 76% of
respondents agree that their organisation is using the technology
to better serve customers.
“The UK has experienced a number of crises over the last decade,
with no end in sight. As a result of this unprecedented series of
ongoing, unexpected events at the societal and global level,
businesses are being forced to constantly adapt to significant
amounts of change,” said Chris Angus, VP, EMEA Contact Centre
Engagement at 8x8, Inc. “Further, the expectations of customers and
employees have also shifted along the way and digital technology
has played a fundamental role in enabling organisations to adapt
and show resilience. As companies now have more data, and demand
for real-time insights, the use of AI will go beyond customer
engagement, and be deployed to run more efficient businesses and
provide better services and offerings.”
"AI is already disrupting certain vertical markets and appears
to have reached an accelerated development phase in several areas,
including language understanding,” said Patrick Watson, Head of
Research at Cavell Group. “This presents both a challenge and an
opportunity for all businesses with AI infused technology likely to
permeate and impact the majority of sectors over the next few
years."
The Importance of Being Future Ready
Organisations can enhance business resilience by preparing and
ensuring the right tools are used to ease communication and reduce
friction in the event of a crisis, without adding to the burden on
IT and digital teams. Moving forward, nearly all organisations are
planning to use communication systems to manage instability and
uncertainty, with planned use cases including: automating processes
(51%), managing staff performance (47%), and predicting customer
and employee trends (44%).
When considering the most valuable call handling tool for a
crisis situation, 40% cited virtual agents/chatbots. Meanwhile,
auto attendant (19%) and voicemail (22%) are considered to be the
least valuable call handling tools in a crisis.
View the Permacrisis: The View from the IT Frontline Report
The survey for the report was carried out in March 2023.
About 8x8 Inc.
8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) is transforming the future of business
communications as a leading Software as a Service provider of 8x8
XCaaS™ (Experience Communications as a Service™), an integrated
contact center, voice communications, video, chat, and SMS built on
one global cloud communications platform. 8x8 uniquely eliminates
the silos between Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and
Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) to power the communications
requirements of all employees globally as they work together to
deliver differentiated customer experiences. For additional
information, visit www.8x8.com, or follow 8x8 on LinkedIn, Twitter
and Facebook.
8x8®, 8x8 XCaaS™, and Experience Communications as a Service™
are trademarks of 8x8, Inc.
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