Solution Is Based on New Technology and Offers a New User Experience, Delivering HD Audio/Video Meetings on Any Device to Ensure Effortless Collaboration; Also Announced 8×8 Meeting Rooms Now in Early Access

8×8, Inc., a leading Software-as-a-Service provider of voice, video, chat, contact center, and enterprise-class API solutions powered by one global cloud communications platform, announced that 8×8 Video Meetings, a completely reimagined meetings solution, is now available for all new customers and is provided complimentary for existing 8×8 customers as part of their service subscriptions for Virtual Office mobile and desktop applications.* 8×8 Video Meetings enables external participants to join meetings directly from their browser without the need to download plugins or software applications. A key component of 8×8 X Series, the solution is fully integrated with the 8×8 all-in-one applications, providing a highly competitive video offering in the market and enabling teams to collaborate effortlessly with crystal clear video and audio quality from a single application for voice, chat and video.

Introducing @8×8 Video Meetings, a completely reimagined meetings solution that enables teams to #collaborate easily from a single application for voice, chat and video.

8×8 is also now offering early access to 8×8 Meeting Rooms, a video conferencing solution that makes it easy to schedule, host and join 8×8 Video Meetings from conference and huddle rooms. Based on the Jitsi open source video communications technology that 8×8 acquired from Atlassian, these new solutions from 8×8 deliver a best-in-class meetings and video experience.

The workplace is changing dramatically, with the rise of remote workers and globally distributed teams. As a result, organizations need to embrace flexible work styles, and the use of video is a key tool for effective business collaboration. 8×8 Video Meetings ensures teams are connected and productive, regardless of where they are located, via the 8×8 apps that provide access to colleague’s presence status, the corporate directory, messaging and calling features. 8×8 Video Meetings enables interactions that start as a chat or phone call to seamlessly move to a full HD video collaboration session with screen sharing, providing users the agility needed to optimize every moment of engagement.

“The distributed, global, and mobile workforce that makes up today’s digital workplace wants to stay connected and have instant access, regardless of location or device. As a result, forward-thinking organizations are putting a strong emphasis on investing in new communication technologies to prepare for the future of work,” said Roopam Jain, Industry Director, Information & Communications Technologies at Frost & Sullivan. “Modern video collaboration is truly disrupting businesses and is the glue that holds the dispersed organization together, unifying people, processes and technologies. Our research shows that video collaboration has a clear impact on key facets of business, such as accelerating decision making and improving productivity. Companies that don’t embrace video collaboration risk getting left behind.”

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Optimized for Frictionless Meetings

8×8 Video Meetings enables one click to start or join meetings on any device, anytime, anywhere, increasing employee productivity and reducing headaches. Users can easily set-up meetings from within their calendar or the 8×8 Virtual Office apps, and guests outside the organization simply click to join via a web browser with no software download required. The new offering also includes YouTube live streaming, enabling organizations to broadcast meetings, including shared screens, to an unlimited number of viewers through a secure YouTube connection at no extra cost.

“Employees are exhausted with clunky meetings experiences that eat minutes out of the day and keep them from being productive,” said Dejan Deklich, Chief Product Officer of 8×8. “From scheduling to sign off, the entire process needs to be seamless and intuitive. Unlike other web conferencing services available in the market, 8×8 Video Meetings and 8×8 Meeting Rooms are built to enable easy and productive business collaboration from any device without installing plugins or software. Whether it’s instant screen-sharing, HD video and audio quality or full calendar and directory integrations, the reimagined 8×8 video conferencing solution makes work immersive and effortless.”

8×8 Video Meetings is designed to extend the value of 8×8 voice and collaboration services customers already use, enabling current and future customers to realize significant savings by improving video collaboration as part of their 8×8 user licenses for no additional cost.

“8×8 continues to innovate and the new 8×8 meetings experience makes it easier to conduct video meetings with instant join and screen share and an intuitive user experience,” said Damian Byrne, Group IT Director at Bionical Solutions Ltd., a UK-based innovator in sales, marketing and patient services for the healthcare industry and an 8×8 Video Meetings early access user. “We’re committed to delivering the best possible customer experience for our clients and this advance from 8×8 is the closest to being there in-person. 8×8 Video Meetings is a big step forward and a key part of our unified communications solution.”

In addition to business-grade features, the single, WebRTC-enabled platform has built-in analytics capabilities, allowing organizations to monitor usage patterns that can drive business insights. Specifically, meeting activity can be viewed by time range, with the ability to search, filter and sort. Administrators can also export meeting activity to enrich their organizations’ machine learning and artificial intelligence initiatives with detailed historical data.

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8×8 Meeting Rooms

8×8 is also now offering early access to 8×8 Meeting Rooms to bring easy video collaboration to huddle and conference room spaces. 8×8 Meeting Rooms eliminates frustrating set-up experiences with an intuitive interface and smart pairing technology to connect devices. 8×8 Meeting Rooms enables users to share any screen easily, with wired and wireless options, and supports a wide range of standard video conferencing equipment configurations. With seamless calendar integrations with Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook and Office 365 in addition to the 8×8 desktop and mobile apps, participants can join scheduled conference room meetings with a single click. Customers interested in joining the early access program should contact their account manager.

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