8x8 Contact Center is the cloud contact centre service formerly named 8x8 Virtual Contact Center. 8x8’s pricing page lists its capabilities as omnichannel routing, an agent workspace, a supervisor workspace, analytics, high-volume messaging, AI-enabled self-service, workforce engagement management and secure payment processing.[8] 8x8 Engage is a customer engagement platform delivered through 8x8 Work for “expert workers outside the contact center” who regularly interact with customers but do not need a traditional contact centre.[1] For licensing, both are measured by a seat licence plus a calling plan, and the calling plan decides whether minutes are metered, pooled or unlimited.
Editions
X6, X7 and X8
X6, X7 and X8 are the contact centre licences of the X Series. The Support documentation describes them as 8x8 Contact Center users, as distinct from X1 to X4 business telephony users.[3] The product codes on the Usage page distinguish unbundled and bundled versions. X6, X7 and X8 are VOSVC0216-060, -070 and -080, and the bundled versions are VOSVC0216-06, -07 and -08.[4] The call rates overview explains the difference: “the standard X Series X6/X7/X8 licenses are unbundled and do not include any calling plan or minutes allowance,” so all minutes are chargeable as set out in an Order or at the Usage page. Bundled seat licences include unmetered calling to 48 country destinations, subject to a 4,000 minute per licence cap pooled at account level.[2] Catalog rows: X Series X6, X Series X7, X Series X8.
The base level terms table adds that X5 and X8 in X Series contain elements of ContactNow, which are governed by the Supplemental ContactNow Service Terms.[6]
8x8 Engage Voice
8x8 Engage has two dedicated calling plans: Engage Voice - Unlimited (formerly Bundled) and Engage Voice - Metered (formerly Unbundled). The Support article says the earlier names were rebranded with no change to functionality.[1] Under Metered, “all calls in a call queue and not in a call queue are metered.”[1] Under Unlimited, two rules apply: calls outside a call queue include unlimited domestic calling within the home country of the provisioned DID, and calls received from a call queue draw on 4,000 minutes per user per month across 48 countries.[1] Product codes on the Usage page are VCCS0258-01 for Engage Voice - Metered and VCCS0258-02 for Engage Voice - Unlimited.[4] Catalog rows: Engage Voice - Unlimited and Engage Voice - Metered.
The ten home countries for unlimited domestic calling are the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Destinations that are toll-free or special-rate numbers, or in countries outside the DID’s home country, are excluded.[1]
ContactNow and Secure Pay
ContactNow is sold stand-alone under its own terms and as elements of X5 and X8.[6] For resold bundles, the Supplemental terms provide that monthly allotted minutes not used by 11:59 pm Pacific Time on the last day of the month expire, that emergency calls cannot be made within ContactNow, that the service is not designed for protected health information, and that any telephone number supplied as part of the service belongs to the reseller or its partner, with no right for the customer to port it out.[5] Catalog row: 8x8 ContactNow.
Secure Pay Services have monthly allowances and per-unit overages. In the USD column, SMS messages are $0.10 each, IVR minutes $0.01, and digital automation transactions $0.30, under product codes VCCS0109-029 to VCCS0109-032OV.[4] Catalog row: 8x8 Secure Pay Services.
Metrics
Contact centre seat and Agent
The seat licence is a named user model. An Agent is an individual with a unique login authorised to use or administer the Ordered SaaS Services.[7] The seat licence row is Contact centre seat licence (X6, X7, X8).
Pooled call minutes
8x8 defines the pool in the Engage article: “Pooled minutes are minutes shared by all users equal to 4,000 minutes times the number of 8x8 Engage and 8x8 Contact Center licenses purchased, and each minute of call time (inbound or outbound, including callbacks) uses one pooled minute for that month.”[1] The pool is the sum of two terms: 4,000 minutes per X6 to X8 licence plus 4,000 minutes per 8x8 Engage Voice - Unlimited queue licence.[1] It is “pooled on an account level basis rather than a user level basis,” so heavy users are offset by light users within the account.[2] Catalog row: Pooled call minutes.
What consumes the pool, according to the Support article:
- calls inbound to a number on an Engage Voice - Unlimited queue or an X6 to X8 channel;
- calls placed to a non-8x8 number using an X8 licence; and
- calls placed to a non-8x8 number as a result of an automated callback.[1]
Calls made from a user’s personal direct dial number under the Unlimited domestic allowance are not counted against the pooled minutes.[1]
Counting / floors
Overage
“Overage for pooled minutes” is “Charged at $0.01 per minute” in the Support article.[1] The Usage page states the same default for contact centre services: for plans with bundled minutes such as X Series X6, X7 or X8 Bundled, overage is the rate set in an Order, and if unspecified “each overage minute (inbound or outbound) exceeding the total allotment of included minutes will be billed at $0.01 per minute in your local currency for standard calls to geographic number types.”[4] Because this applies to inbound and outbound minutes alike, a contact centre that handles high inbound volume can exhaust the pool through customer calls alone.
Other excluded calls are metered: calls to destinations outside the 48 countries, toll-free and special-rate numbers, and calls to mobile numbers in the countries marked with an asterisk, which are metered at the standard 8x8 rate.[1] The asterisked countries in the article are Argentina, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey.[1]
Contact centre usage charges
The Usage page lists other CCaaS charges. Outbound calls are charged at the Order rate or the then-current rate for the destination. Inbound calls other than toll-free are charged at the Order rate or $0.01 per minute for calls from standard geographic number types, and toll-free inbound calls at the rate card. Outbound directory assistance is $1.00 per call. Call recording storage is at the rate set in an Order, which determines retention.[4] Catalog rows: Metered call minute and Call recording storage.
CCaaS SMS
CCaaS SMS has its own four-tier per-message price list, effective November 27, 2024. Inbound SMS uses the country of the allocated 8x8 virtual number and outbound SMS the number prefix of the destination. Outbound rates are $0.01 per message for the United States and Canada, $0.05 for Tier 2, $0.10 for Tier 3 and $0.22 for Tier 4.[4] Catalog row: CCaaS SMS message. Proactive Outreach messaging rates are those shown in the customer’s 8x8 Connect account, and for resellers those communicated to the reseller.[4]
Virtualization & partitioning
There are no virtualization rules. Partitioning happens through queues and licence country. Engage’s Unlimited plan splits calls into those outside a queue, covered by the domestic allowance, and those from a queue, covered by the pool, so queue design affects which allowance is used.[1] A reviewer should check how queues map to licences when forecasting pooled minute consumption.
Cloud / BYOL
There is no BYOL programme. 8x8 Contact Center is a hosted service, and the Use Policy requires that all customer use other than through an 8x8 desktop or mobile application be via equipment then listed by 8x8 or pre-approved in writing.[9]
Programs
The contact centre pooled minute bundle is the programme that matters: Contact centre pooled minute bundle. Prepaid usage is also available: the call rates overview describes a prepaid usage package, with SKUs such as VOSVC0204-005, that gives tiered discounting based on total spend.[2] Catalog row: Usage Bundle Prepaid.
Out of scope
- Workforce engagement, quality management and AI features. These are listed as capabilities but not in the contract terms reviewed.
- Prices. The pricing page shows no prices.[8]
- Contract terms. See 8x8 service terms and subscription commitment.
- Messaging pools for non-contact-centre licences. See 8x8 messaging, storage, usage and developer licences.