This Global Accountancy firm operates in 18 offices across the UK, employing 6,500 people offering tax, audit and assurance, and a range of advisory services.
The challenge: New digital work model
While increasing its footprint across EMEA, This firms operation was driving digital transformation, based on a software-as-a-service first/public cloud-first strategy. This would consolidate disparate systems, reduce hardware spend, and improve internal and external communications and collaboration.
But the vision went further. “We saw an opportunity to enable new ways of working based on activity, instead of being bound by time and geography,” explains the Chief Information Officer “Our experts could ‘be themselves’ and thrive across time zones and jurisdictions rather than feeling they had to work at set times or keep coming to the office.”
The company invested in Microsoft 365 and began to pilot Microsoft Teams. But then the pandemic struck. With staff no longer office-based, calls were being diverted to voicemail and notifications sent by email. They also received unexpectedly high mobile phone bills.
“It became clear that we needed a cloud telephony platform that could integrate with Microsoft and offer high quality calls globally in a seamless and cost-effective way,” says Walters.
The Solution: Calls at the click of a button
They required a cloud communications platform to enable global calls easily within Teams for thousands of client-facing knowledge workers, as well as supporting its contact desks for finance, HR, and IT. The change signified a remarkable transformation, as these groups together represented over 6,500 people, around 98% of the company’s entire workforce in the UK and across EMEA.
With expert guidance from 8×8 partner EveryCloud, this firm selected the full suite of tools it needed with 8×8 Experience Communications as a Service (XCaaS), which includes 8×8 Voice for Microsoft Teams.
“Now our people can make or receive calls directly from the Teams interface on their desktops or mobile phones. We didn’t have to go through any more business change or training because it’s so intuitive to use within Teams”
“The integration was one of the smoothest implementations I’ve ever witnessed. We were blown away. And 8×8 was great to deal with.”
“Increasingly, the frictionless tech provided by 8×8 XCaaS will help companies like ours to compete and win in the race for talent in IT and professional services for years to come.”
Chief Information Officer
The Benefits: Attracting top talent
Today, calls made via 8×8 comprise a significant share of the 5.5 million activities per month that go through Microsoft Teams. And the number could rise, as different divisions in Canada, Hong Kong, Africa, and elsewhere explore what they can achieve with 8×8.
Within EMEA, mobile bills have reduced and more savings are anticipated, as their knowledge workers resume travel once more, and use least-cost routing. Meanwhile the contact desk teams now have ‘live’ analytics on calls, helping them to improve customer service, internally and for clients.
But it’s the cultural change enabled by 8×8 that proves to be one of the most remarkable benefits.
“Our employees really appreciate Teams and 8×8”
“We trust our staff and enable them to work flexibly for their clients and colleagues, which suits their work-life balance and it’s hugely popular. Increasingly, the frictionless tech provided by 8×8 will help companies like ours to compete and win in the race for talent in IT and professional services for years to come.”
