November 20, 2025
8×8 Makes the Case for Frictionless CX at Contact Centre Expo
At this year’s Contact Centre Expo in London, 8×8 began by laying out a simple premise: customers expect conversations that carry across channels seamlessly, without losing context or momentum.
The session, “Frictionless by Design: Modernising Customer Experience with CPaaS”, was led by Chris Angus, VP of CPaaS & CX Expansion, who walked the audience through the growing gap between what customers expect and what current communication systems deliver.
The session began with a simple truth: customers don’t just use multiple channels, they cross between them constantly — and too often, each transition forces them to start again. As he explained, “Every time I transition to a channel, there’s an opportunity to drop off.” This fragmentation has become the biggest source of friction in the customer journey for many brands.
The Rise of RCS
The heart of the discussion centred on CPaaS as the infrastructure that brings channels, data and context together. Instead of scattered touchpoints, Angus described a model where conversations follow the customer, not the other way around. He referenced the statistic that over 70% of interactions now span multiple channels, yet most organisations still fail to maintain continuity.
Messaging, especially next-generation channels like RCS, played a major role in the talk. Angus shared how businesses often underestimate the power of rich, interactive messaging for both engagement and conversion.
With video, carousels, embedded appointments and personalised suggestions, RCS is designed to reduce friction while giving customers more agency. He noted predictions that RCS adoption will rise significantly over the next few years as brands seek more dynamic ways to connect.
CPaaS Isn’t Just About Messaging
Verified identity, secure authentication and real-time context were cited as essential pieces of the frictionless experience. Angus demonstrated how removing unnecessary steps, especially during transitions, directly reduces drop-off.
Toward the end of the session, he emphasised that most companies don’t have a technology problem but a coherence problem. The tools exist, but they’re rarely connected well enough to behave like a single experience.
In Angus’s view, the future belongs to organisations that design journeys around continuity, not simply channel availability. When brands build communication flows that remember, predict and adapt, they create the kind of experience customers stay loyal to and are more likely to buy from.
