8x8 announced today that NetSuite, a provider of cloud-based financial and ERP services, selected 8x8 as its global UC-as-a-service, or UCaaS, partner.
NetSuite has already converted about 50% of its 4,500 employees across nine locations in three countries to 8x8's UCaaS platform. The rollout could increase to employees in up to 12 countries in 2016, according to the press statement.
My three initial thoughts about this announcement pertain to 8x8, the UCaaS industry, and the proof-of-concept (PoC) process.
8x8 continues its move up-market, demonstrating a global footprint of its ECaaS solution, and growing enterprise roster.
These wins are more significant than just two more customers discovering UCaaS. If it can continue its momentum, 8x8 will break away from the pack of providers (or perhaps it already has).
The company is still known for UCaaS, but is emerging as a leader in ECaaS. 8x8 recently completed several technical acquisitions, holds 100+ patents, and has been growing in continental Europe and Australia. As NetSuite CIO Doug Brown noted in the release, 8x8 offered the highest levels of uptime and could also meet NetSuite's security requirements.
Dave Michels is a contributing editor and analyst at TalkingPointz.
