As customer expectations shift towards greater flexibility, consumptionbased services and measurable outcomes, channel partners are having to rethink how they sell, support and grow their customer relationships. In an exclusive interview, Emily Masterton, Global Head of Channel at 8x8, tells us how new consumption models, Artificial Intelligence and a growing focus on the SMB market are creating opportunities for partners to increase adoption, strengthen customer relationships and build sustainable long-term growth.

Emily Masterton, Global Head of Channel at 8x8

For Emily Masterton, Global Head of Channel at 8x8, the shift has parallels with the industry’ s earlier transition from on-premise technology to cloud. This time, however, partners are moving from an overwhelmingly subscriptionbased model towards an environment where subscription and consumption-based services increasingly co-exist.

“ It’ s a period of big change. Just as partners had to adjust from on-premise to cloud, we see another evolution now with a move from all-subscription to a hybrid of subscription and consumption models. It requires quite a change in attitude and approach, but there’ s a lot of potential benefit in it.”

Consumption itself is not new. CPaaS has traditionally operated in this way, but

Masterton believes Artificial Intelligence is accelerating the model’ s adoption across a broader range of technologies.

The result is a change in the conversations partners need to have with customers. Rather than concentrating primarily on seats and licences, discussions increasingly centre on usage, business requirements and measurable outcomes.

“ Consumption isn’ t new to our industry, CPaaS has always worked that way, and AI is accelerating it further. What’ s changing is that it’ s now sitting alongside subscription rather than replacing it. That means different conversations with customers, less about seats and more about usage and outcomes. It means partners need to rethink how they price, how they forecast revenue and how they structure deals.”

Opening the SMB opportunity One area where 8x8 sees a particular opportunity for consumption-based services is the sub-100-user SMB market.

Masterton believes smaller organisations can miss out on technology because traditional licensing models do not necessarily reflect their requirements. They may not need an entire suite of capabilities or their staffing levels may fluctuate in ways that make fixed licensing less attractive.

8x8 Small Business has been developed as a self-service, consumption-based offering for direct resell partners serving customers with fewer than 100 users. Rather than fixed seat counts and annual licence commitments, customers pay according to usage, while partners can provision services within days.

The offering includes calling, meetings, chat, compliance, analytics, CRM integration and Microsoft Teams Phone integration.

Crucially, Masterton said the consumption model is intended to complement rather than replace the company’ s existing subscription business.

“ This doesn’ t replace our existing subscription model – it runs alongside it – so we can support partners with all the needs for

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