8×8 has announced the integration of Rich Communication Services (RCS) into its 8×8 Contact Center. This addition allows businesses to engage customers through highly interactive, two-way messaging, enhancing personalisation and trust in digital communication.
8×8 is also launching RCS Business Messaging (RBM) services to boost messaging capabilities further. These new offerings enable organisations to deliver branded, secure interactions using rich multimedia content. With RCS adoption rapidly growing—expected to reach 2.5 billion monthly active users by the end of 2024—businesses now have an opportunity to provide visually compelling, interactive, and responsive customer communications.
“ At 8×8, we are supporting this shift to interactive, engaging customer experiences by expanding the level of personalized engagement that is available across our solutions. However an organization interacts with their customers, with RCS support for the 8×8 Platform for CX they are empowered to provide the next level of trusted, personalized and rich experiences that their customers expect, driving customer satisfaction and business growth,” said Hunter Middleton, chief product officer at 8×8.
Enhanced capabilities with RCS integration
The integration of RCS into the 8×8 Contact Center and CPaaS APIs offers organizations a cost-effective and flexible approach to omnichannel messaging. Businesses can now engage in seamless, personalised interactions while tracking conversation context across multiple touchpoints.
RCS provides a richer, more interactive communication experience, unlike standard SMS and MMS.
Two-way conversations
8×8’s RCS support offers businesses a powerful suite of communication tools, enabling seamless two-way conversations through AI-driven bots or live agents for an intuitive, closed-loop messaging experience. Organisations can enhance engagement with dynamic multimedia content, including images, videos, carousels, and interactive buttons while gaining real-time, data-driven insights on message delivery, open rates, and customer interactions to optimize strategies.
Businesses can also provide real-time updates, such as tracking notifications, appointment confirmations, and interactive surveys, reducing the need for customer support calls.
Furthermore, personalised campaigns become more effective as organisations leverage customer data for highly targeted promotions, recommendations, and exclusive offers featuring rich visuals. Businesses can also streamline operations and maintain consistency across digital channels with a unified API supporting RCS, SMS, WhatsApp, Viber, voice, and more.
Transforming different industries
With RCS, businesses can reimagine customer interactions. In the retail sector, for example, agents can proactively contact customers with promotional content, showcasing product images and videos with a “buy now” or “schedule a consultation” option. Automated bots can handle inquiries seamlessly, or customers can transition to a live agent within the 8×8 Contact Center for further assistance.
Beyond retail, logistics, healthcare, and finance industries can leverage RCS to provide real-time service updates. For instance, instead of a simple SMS with a tracking number, a logistics company could send an RCS message featuring a live delivery map, rescheduling options, and customer support buttons—all within a single interactive message.