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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