Business communications software provider 8×8 Inc. is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to grow its cloud communication solutions. In addition to providing cloud-based voice, video, chat, and contact center solutions for companies large and small, 8×8 wants to use the data of its unified platform to help businesses manage their operations, according to Dejan Deklich (pictured), chief product officer of 8×8.

“To me, the key for every enterprise and mid-market customer out there is how do you put all of this information together so you really know what your employees are doing and what your customers are doing,” Deklich said. “I believe that getting a lot of this information together will really change how we think about operations and how we think about running remote teams and local teams.”

Deklich spoke with Peter Burris (@plburris), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at theCUBE’s studio in Palo Alto, California. They discussed how 8×8 has developed its platform to connect employees from companies around the world (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Fully unified platform facilitates data usage

To be ready for machine learning and AI use, 8×8 has invested in a fully unified analytics platform. “When I started two and a half years ago, I wanted to have all the text messages, all the phone calls, all the transcriptions of all the meetings, all the contact center information, everything in one place,” Deklich explained. “So, I can then start deploying my ML and AI models across the data.”

8×8 is uniquely positioned to do that, according to Deklich. “We have the actual product lines, but we also have the captive audience in the form of a customer on the phone, or in the meeting, or calling a support team in the contact center.”

The idea is to use the data available on the platform to get the insights that drive human behavior. “If I can know what problems you are facing, and if I have the context of your problem, I can probably solve your issue much, much faster than if it is the first conversation of a type: ‘Please give me your mother’s maiden name and last four digits of your Social Security Number,’” he explained.

In its journey to make it easier for companies to manage remote teams across the globe, 8×8 launched a new video meeting product that offers more features and is easier to use, according to Deklich. The company wants to make video conferencing as intuitive as phone or texting.

“I wanted to have a way to reach out to any individual wherever in the world they might be, with minimum amount of drama, with minimum amount of impact on their day-to-day work,” Deklich said. ”The usage of the product has to be super simple, and it has to be incredibly intuitive.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations. (* Disclosure: 8×8 Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither 8×8 nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE