Cloud Communications 8x8 UCaaS and CcaaS from Virgin Media O2 Business
X-Series provides UCaaS and CCaaS services from VOIP telephony (X1), through text, voice and video media support up-to full contact centre (X8). 8x8’s omnichannel contact centre includes speech analytics, AI, skills-based routing, Intelligent IVR, predictive campaign dialler, dashboards, customisable wallboards, quality management and media recording with open API integration.
Features
- UC accessible via desktop application, mobile app, online dashboard
- Unified messaging via email, web/ online chat, Instant Messaging (IM)
- Collaboration via online meetings, video chat/ video calls/ video conferencing
- Interoperability (Google, MS Office/Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Skype, MS Teams integration)
- Plugins: Presence, caller ID database match, click-to-dial from application/ web
- Call recording, call screening, call waiting. Full customer administration suite
- Auto attendant for customisable automated call connect, transfers, queues, greetings
- Cloud PBX: telephony with direct dial extension for every user
- Collaboration: conference call, private internal and external chat groups
- Unified voicemail management, voicemail-to-email and in-app voicemail
Benefits
- Unified Communications: enables digital transformation; agile, flexible working, and homeworking
- Fosters cultural change: seamless user-controlled movement between phones and softphones
- Unified Communications: external solutions collaborate as one unified chat room
- Distributed workforces can remotely work as one unified organisation
- Collaboration: rapidly conference with colleagues; secure data sharing/ file sharing
- Reduced support/maintenance costs via lower management overheads (optional WFM)
- Switch devices during calls. Take secure payments (optional Secure Pay)
- Reduces costs and complexity, providing excellent value-for-money (modular packages)
- Deploy Unified Communications via the web for national connectivity
- 8x8 has specialist vertical market Unified Communications teams
Pricing
£3.25 a user a month
- Free trial available
Service documents
Request an accessible format
Framework
G-Cloud 13
Service ID
6 2 6 0 4 8 8 6 4 7 6 5 3 5 9
Contact
Telefonica UK Limited
Steve Smith
Telephone: 07834 571216
Email: publicprocurement@virginmediao2.co.uk
Service scope
- Software add-on or extension
- No
- Cloud deployment model
- Public cloud
- Service constraints
- 8x8 performs planned maintenance periodically at no disruption to the customer. Customer-facing elements of the service, for example portals and softphones, are upgraded at customer convenience. Non-customer-facing elements, for example PBX functionality, are upgraded with full service continuity maintained throughout.
- System requirements
- Personal computer, MacBook or web browser-enabled device
User support
- Email or online ticketing support
- Email or online ticketing
- Support response times
- All initial incidents must be logged via telephone, however the Supplier will provide regular updates and communication via Email once a ticket is logged.
- User can manage status and priority of support tickets
- No
- Phone support
- Yes
- Phone support availability
- 24 hours, 7 days a week
- Web chat support
- No
- Onsite support
- Yes, at extra cost
- Support levels
-
We will provide Service Level Agreements for our customers; further detail is outlined in the accompanying Service Definition Document. General ongoing product support is inclusive within the licence cost. For deployments in excess of 50 users, a Deployment Engineer will be included as part of the installation process. This assumes a specified Statement of Work (SoW) has been mutually agreed during the buying process.
A Technical Account Manager can be made available at additional cost. - Support available to third parties
- No
Onboarding and offboarding
- Getting started
- Our deployment and training teams work together with you to help you start using our service. They provide you the necessary knowledge and training to setup, design, configure, maintain and use the solution efficiently. The deployment team ensures a smooth transition from your old to our new solution, using PMI methodology, in line with PRINCE2 principles. Starting the engagement with the Deployment, Training and Customer Success Teams will work in parallel from the initial Customer Kick-Off meeting. After Go-Live until the transition to our Support teams, the deployment team is ready to help you through issues arising during onboarding. Project lifecycle process and governance is implemented from Day One, until closure. We offer training courses and resources across multiple services. Our courses, along with customer adoption materials, help you get the most from your 8x8 system. Courses are offered open enrolment, via virtual classroom with hands-on exercises and labs, and accompanying user adoption kits. Content includes co-branding, best practices, resource guides, and an eBook with free online videos, tutorials, and starting tips. This approach provides sustainability, and fast onboarding for new users. Other delivery and customisation options are also available.
- Service documentation
- Yes
- Documentation formats
-
- HTML
- End-of-contract data extraction
- Within 24 hours of the expiry of the Contract, data is automatically deleted from 8x8 systems. Customers must utilise the built-in product features which provide data exports, or utlise the APIs that give direct access to raw data and export whichever data elements are required to be retained before the expiry or data will become irrecoverable. If a customer requires data to be made available beyond the end of the contract, additional fees will apply.
- End-of-contract process
- All data is deleted on contract expiration. Customers are responsible for offloading any data contained on the 8x8 Cloud before expiry utilising the built in tools and APIs of the 8x8 products. After expiry of the contract, data is rendered unrecoverable. If a customer requires data to be made available beyond the end of the contract, additional fees will apply.
Using the service
- Web browser interface
- Yes
- Supported browsers
-
- Microsoft Edge
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Safari
- Application to install
- Yes
- Compatible operating systems
-
- Android
- IOS
- MacOS
- Windows
- Other
- Designed for use on mobile devices
- Yes
- Differences between the mobile and desktop service
- Not applicable, the functionality is consistent across mobile and desktop.
- Service interface
- No
- User support accessibility
- None or don’t know
- API
- Yes
- What users can and can't do using the API
- 8x8 has a common language (RESTful) and open API policy, where users proficient in URL-based HTTP APIs can inter-operate across 12 8x8 pre-written APIs. These enable multiple functions, for integration, for example with common CRM/ ERP; Service & Support; Productivity and Service & Security applications. Various bespoke functionality features can be achieved with the APIs. Depending on the proficiency of the user, multiple APIs can be used to widen functionality. Changes are made by the simple manipulation of the HTTP codes. The use of APIs must be by proficient users, familiar with these programming techniques.
- API documentation
- Yes
- API documentation formats
-
- Open API (also known as Swagger)
- HTML
- API sandbox or test environment
- Yes
- Customisation available
- No
Scaling
- Independence of resources
- Systems are scale-out, cloud based. Resources are automatically added as required based on load and utilisation. The 8x8 Architecture team review design and proposed implementation of all new systems before going into operation to challenge assumptions and ensure scale, reliability, availability, security etc. have been considered. A dedicated Quality Assurance team run automated and manual tests against a replica production platform to verify the engineering solution meets 8x8 standards which include load testing.
Analytics
- Service usage metrics
- Yes
- Metrics types
- A wide variety of online reporting and raw data stats via API are available. Historic reporting includes template based and user configurable data selection, displayable on-screen and exportable in a range of data formats. Live statistics are available on wallboards with configurable statistical measurements that are updated and displayed live. APIs can be utilised to query both live and historic data where a customer wants to utilise the data elsewhere, or potentially make business decisions based on live calling statistics.
- Reporting types
-
- API access
- Regular reports
- Reports on request
Resellers
- Supplier type
- Reseller providing extra support
- Organisation whose services are being resold
- 8 x 8
Staff security
- Staff security clearance
- Conforms to BS7858:2019
- Government security clearance
- Up to Security Clearance (SC)
Asset protection
- Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
- Yes
- Data storage and processing locations
-
- United Kingdom
- European Economic Area (EEA)
- User control over data storage and processing locations
- No
- Datacentre security standards
- Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
- Penetration testing frequency
- At least every 6 months
- Penetration testing approach
- ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
- Protecting data at rest
- Encryption of all physical media
- Data sanitisation process
- No
- Equipment disposal approach
- A third-party destruction service
Data importing and exporting
- Data export approach
- A number of online tools exist in the 8x8 applications, as well as low level access to data stores through the APIs.
- Data export formats
-
- CSV
- Other
- Other data export formats
- Data import formats
-
- CSV
- Other
- Other data import formats
-
- XML
Data-in-transit protection
- Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
- Data protection within supplier network
-
- TLS (version 1.2 or above)
- IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
Availability and resilience
- Guaranteed availability
- We aim to have our Services available to Customers 24x7 and include a SLA for system availability as well as call quality. 8x8 enables the delivery of a consistent and reliable end user experience due to a highly available architecture supported by a platform-wide uptime SLA of 99.999%. 8x8’s records and data are basis for all service availability calculations and determinations. 8x8 use commercially reasonable efforts to respond to Unplanned Service Interruptions, 24x7, that are reported through one of 8x8’s Customer Support channels. To receive Service Credits, the Customer must notify 8x8 within 30 days from the time Customer becomes eligible to receive Service Credits. Failure to comply with this forfeits Customer’s right to receive a Service Credit. The Service Credit will be issued on the 8x8 invoice for the period following the Customer’s request for the Service Credit, unless the Service Credit is due in the Customer’s final month of the Term. In such a case, the Service Credit refund will be mailed to the Customer.
- Approach to resilience
- A dedicated Architecture team review all material changes to service definitions and products, before release, as part of 8x8's New Product Introduction (NPI) process. This review challenges design and implementation, looking for service risks. System components are systematically reviewed and assessed for risk using a "Failure Mode and Effects Analysis" methodology, scoring the risk based on methods of failure detection, whether failover is automated, how long failover takes, severity of impact of the failure, and likelihood of the failure. Where a component or system exceeds an acceptable risk, the proposed system solution is rejected and the engineering are required to refactor the solution, or offer mitigations for concerns. Mitigations may include accelerated detection methods, additional redundancy, reduced recovery times, or may require lower level software changes to survive more readily the failure modes.
- Outage reporting
- The 8x8 NOC provide management alerts for any customer affecting outage (and any security breach should one occur). The management alerts are sent via dedicated messaging channels to responsible individuals around the world, and include an audio conference bridge. The support organisation are included in the management notification group, and have a dissemination process for reporting to customers utilising a web based Support Portal. If more than one customer is affected a Master ticket is created and all customer portals are updated automatically if the Master ticket is updated. Updates are added to the ticket as they occur, consolidated if many changes are occurring, and the update messages state when the next update will be issued, if nothing changes by that time.
Identity and authentication
- User authentication needed
- Yes
- User authentication
- Other
- Other user authentication
- The 8x8 services is accessed using a Single Sign-on solution that presents authorised users with a panel containing icons for all products and tools, no further authorisation is required to access them
- Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
- Management access is controlled by provision of higher level of Administration rights for super users.
- Access restriction testing frequency
- At least every 6 months
- Management access authentication
- Other
- Description of management access authentication
- Single sign on solution.
Audit information for users
- Access to user activity audit information
- Users contact the support team to get audit information
- How long user audit data is stored for
- User-defined
- Access to supplier activity audit information
- Users contact the support team to get audit information
- How long supplier audit data is stored for
- Less than 1 month
- How long system logs are stored for
- Less than 1 month
Standards and certifications
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
- BSI
- ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
- 23/01/2022
- What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
- Certification covers the protection of all Buyer and employee information that is managed by the Supplier.
- ISO 28000:2007 certification
- No
- CSA STAR certification
- Yes
- CSA STAR accreditation date
- 01/03/2019
- CSA STAR certification level
- Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
- What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover
- None
- PCI certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the PCI DSS certification
- PCI-DSS SAQ-D Solution Provider QSA Signed AOC
- PCI DSS accreditation date
- 01/07/2018
- What the PCI DSS doesn’t cover
- NA
- Cyber essentials
- Yes
- Cyber essentials plus
- Yes
- Other security certifications
- Yes
- Any other security certifications
- FISMA
Security governance
- Named board-level person responsible for service security
- Yes
- Security governance certified
- Yes
- Security governance standards
- ISO/IEC 27001
- Information security policies and processes
-
The 8x8 SIEM team, who report into the Global Information Security and Compliance Manager, who themselves report into the group CISO, manage the proactive monitoring of information risk bulletins from both government and commercial security organisations, and reactive monitoring of 8x8 systems for security events.
Ongoing internal audits by dedicated auditing staff monitor for compliance to all standards 8x8 are certified for. HR sanctions are utilised to ensure enforcement. 3rd party auditing is carried out annually or as often as the certification standard recommends. All auditing teams report into the global CISO team.
8x8's SDLC described policies and processes to ensure that at all stages of the engineering lifecycle the appropriate security tests have been performed, including automated testing in 8x8's CI/CD - Continuous Integration/Deployment systems.
8x8 practices secure coding, starting with an Architectural review at the start of new projects, ongoing code checking by both manual peer review by security staff and automated reviews with various code SAST scans including Coverity, Rapid7, Carbon Black, Burp Suite Enterprise, Qualys and others which are operated throughout systems on a continuous basis. Manual and automated Pen Testing is performed on final packages before being released into production.
Operational security
- Configuration and change management standard
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Configuration and change management approach
- The asset management system tracks location, support agreements, manufacturers warranties, and EOL dates. Operations process that are "Business As Usual" include disc swaps for both faulty and EOL changes. BAU processes are fixed and tested, and require no further authorisation. Non-BAU changes require operations review and approval. Changes that are software releases must have multiple sign-offs, including Architecture, Operations and Support department.
- Vulnerability management type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Vulnerability management approach
- All 8x8 production software goes through security review and testing pre-production, including Penetration Testing using multiple tools. Any security issues found are remedied before release. Additional continuous testing is run against production systems (to cover systems which may remain unchanged for long periods). For these systems, the speed of patch deployment depends on the criticality. SLAs: Critical within 24 hours, High within 7 days, Medium within 30 Days and Low within 90 Days. The SIEM team also review security bulletins from both government and commercial security organisations.
- Protective monitoring type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Protective monitoring approach
- The SIEM team constantly monitors Firewall, Network, IDS and IPS system alerts. In the event that a suspected or actual breach were to take place, escalation to senior management occurs whilst an assessment of the scope of the breach or potential breach is undertaken. Affected customer(s) are notified through the Support Portal. All data customers are processing or storing on 8x8 systems is treated as Sensitive, any suspected data loss is treated as a loss of "sensitive" data, and appropriate actions taken. Any notification processes are operated in parallel to ensuring any breach is blocked, and re-occurrence prevented.
- Incident management type
- Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
- Incident management approach
- The 8x8 24 hour NOC manages all types of incident, including Service and Security incidents, and whether proactively detected or reported by customers. Senior management notification occurs whilst an assessment of the scope of the incident is undertaken. Affected customer(s) are notified through the Support Portal. Any notification processes are operated in parallel to resolving the incident if it is ongoing. The 8x8 Support organisation handles customer facing communications, including initial triage of incident reports and assessment of severity. Security incidents or Service outages result in an RCA process including cross-functional reviews, resulting in a customer facing Incident report.
Secure development
- Approach to secure software development best practice
- Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)
Public sector networks
- Connection to public sector networks
- No
Social Value
- Fighting climate change
-
Fighting climate change
The Supplier has a track record of driving positive change for our people, communities and our planet. For example: Through the Supplier's "Meaningful Connections Plan" and "Blueprint" sustainability strategies, the Supplier sets long-term goals to reduce emissions, protect our natural resources, and create a meaningful impact on society. The Supplier has a made huge progress towards the company's Net Zero ambitions in our own operations and making significant headway in our supply chain. Progress is summarised below; these learnings and best practice can be shared with Buyers when awarded a new contract. Carbon Neutrality Target: net zero operations by 2025. Net zero operations, products and supply chain by 2040. 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. Renewables By the end of 2025: • Change masts on landlord sites to renewable energy • 40% of the Suppliers vehicles will be electric By the end of 2030 the Supplier will use 100% green energy. Decarbonisation The Supplier is investing in carbon-removal projects and supporting the decarbonisation of the UK economy by providing the connectivity to underpin a low-carbon digital revolution. Carbon Footprint The Supplier has commissioned consultancy to calculate the company's footprint in line including the standards below: • World Resources Institute/World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2004 • Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, Revised Edition Carbon offsetting The Supplier plans to reduce full value chain emissions by at least 90% by 2040, in line with science-based targets. Some residual carbon emissions are expected that will be difficult to completely eliminate (e.g. flights). When 90% is reached, the plan is to offset the rest, using gold standard offsets (usually investing in nature-based solutions, such as tree planting). - Covid-19 recovery
-
Covid-19 recovery
The Supplier continues to contribute to economic recovery and ambitions to level up society following Covid-19. Examples include:
In 2020, as part of the Supplier’s COVID-19 response, we co-launched ‘Community Calling’, a phone gifting scheme focusing on deprived areas within the UK, aiming to donate 10,000 smartphones to those who were shielding and needed support. That target has been reached so the project has expanded to more vulnerable people in need across the UK.
The Supplier’s Essential Broadband (EB) tariff was launched in November 2020 for new and existing customers who are in receipt of Universal Credit. The tariff offers 15Mbps for £15 per month, with no prices rises, and no fixed-term contract length. Since its launch, feedback has led to the development of a new and improved customer acquisition journey, now with an automatic live chat feature to simplify the process for eligible customers. Thousands of customers use this and the Supplier is working with government to understand who is eligible so those who need it most know about the offer and how to access it.
Tech-Lending Community Hubs: In January 2022, the Supplier launched a new project that will see grant funding of £400,000 become available to organisations interested in setting up tech lending hubs. This fund will provide one-off grants to organisations who work with temporary accommodation services, that could feasibly set up a lending hub, whereby residents can borrow tablets on a short-term basis. The tablets will be loaded with free data provided by the Supplier through the National Data Bank. Funding has now been awarded to five beneficiaries throughout the UK, which will see pilots operated with all five. Once this process continues to establish, the target is to expand this in collaboration with more customers, as part of the Buyer’s social value partnership. - Tackling economic inequality
-
Tackling economic inequality
The Supplier is building an ambitious new strategy that will deliver social, economic and environmental benefits so our people, customers and the communities we serve can continue to have confidence in our values, integrity and mission to create positive change. The Supplier has significant experiencing delivering social impact and social value programmes throughout the UK in collaboration with the public sector. The Supplier has a solid portfolio of social value initiatives, many of which promote an inclusive economy. These include: -Working with organisations such as LMP Education and JobSkilla to help unemployed people back into work -Creation of a National Databank, which aims to end data poverty in communities across the UK. The National Data Bank provides free of charge SIMS for residents experiencing data poverty. -A wealth of expertise in working with small businesses, through Wayra (start-up cohort) and 5G accelerator hubs. Public sector customers also benefit by having access to subject matter experts in this space, as well as partnerships such as the ones with Neighbourly, and Good Things Foundation. In addition, the Supplier has a significant focus on digital skills, being brought to the forefront through the launch of our new sustainability strategy. Volunteering Since February 2022, all of the Supplier's employees have five paid volunteering days per year to support and connect with their local communities, digitally and in person, and support brilliant organisations. The Supplier looks for volunteering opportunities where employees can share expertise with local community organisations and registered charities, focusing on resolving local issues. - Equal opportunity
-
Equal opportunity
The Supplier is an equal opportunities employer and is certified as Disability Confident Level 1; in the process to become Level 3 with a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, supporting disabled people throughout a recruitment and interview process. As part of the "Belonging Strategy", the Supplier will also ensure home-based working contracts will come into place across the business to offer more opportunities for disabled people, unpaid carers, and part-time workers without inhibiting and restricting career progression. The Supplier has a dedicated team responsible for diversity and inclusion. The Belonging Strategy underpins ambitions to ensure the creation and maintenance of a fair and inclusive workforce. To focus on supporting priority groups furthest from the labour market, the Supplier has created an Inclusive Recruitment Programme; to review all current processes that fall within our end-to-end recruitment journey for both internal and external talent and to ensure they are fully inclusive, equitable and accessible to all. The Supplier has made significant progress, partnering with Microlink, supporting workplace adjustments process; Implementation of Textio that is a platform which enables us to write inclusive and accessible job adverts and recruitment content; Creation of page specifically centred around Belonging and DEI on our external Careers Site. The Supplier has worked in partnership with Scope for the last five years, aligned with our Sustainability Strategy, supporting millions of disabled people into employment. The Supplier also has existing strategic partnerships with The Valuable 500, Business Disability Forum, Purple Space and have signed up to the Work With Me pledge. - Wellbeing
-
Wellbeing
The Supplier promotes a culture of health, education and wellbeing so that we can support all employees, both personally and professionally. We also want to extend this to our customers and the communities where we operate, supporting the wider ambition of a happier, healthier population. The Supplier is working with ‘Tickets for Good’ on a mission to make events more accessible and inclusive. The vision of the ticket donations service is to help event organisers/venues, sponsors and performers distribute surplus inventory, making sure it’s done in a fair and inclusive way. We have created a custom distribution system for the donation of unsold tickets to live experiences. Health and wellbeing at work The Supplier's "Thrive" programme provides a comprehensive range of advice, tools and policies to support our people and ensure they can be their best at work. As part of Thrive, the Supplier provides free health checks for all employees. The online MyWellbeingCheck© is available for all employees to access at any time. The Supplier also offers the following management development modules as part of learning and development programmes: • Stamp Out Stigma: Managers’ mental health awareness, • Anxiety and Depression: Managers’ toolkit, • Workplace Stress: Managers’ survival kit. From September 2020, employees have access to ‘Unmind’, a mobile app to help manage and track mental wellbeing. The Supplier's Ride-to-Work scheme helps employees enjoy all the benefits of cycling during the daily commute. Everyone can apply for it at any time throughout the year, reducing their carbon footprint, improving fitness and saving money. The Supplier works in collaboration with our Buyers, sharing and promote best practice on wellbeing, in the workplace and local communities.
Pricing
- Price
- £3.25 a user a month
- Discount for educational organisations
- No
- Free trial available
- Yes
- Description of free trial
- 8x8 is able to undertake to provide a structured and controlled formal Proof of Concept (POC). This would be on a trial basis which would require further scope, measurement criteria and consideration of potential cost implications to be agreed.