8x8 Contact Center vs Google Agent Assist

8x8 Contact Center brings agents, tools, and customer interactions into one contact center platform. It supports voice, chat, email, SMS, RCS, video, and social channels, with inbound calling, outbound dialing, and an IVR builder. AI capabilities include conversational AI, agent assistance, routing, and self-service flows. Supervisors can use speech analytics, unified interaction data, and a supervisor workspace. Workforce features cover forecasting, scheduling, and tracking. Out-of-the-box CRM integrations include NetSuite, Salesforce, Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics, and 8x8's local CRM, with functions such as screen pops, click-to-dial, chat management, and single sign-on. APIs cover analytics, CRM records, chat, calls, campaigns, recordings, and reporting. 8x8 describes role-based access, SSO and MFA, encryption in transit and at rest, configurable password policies, and fraud monitoring. Pricing is custom and requires a quote from sales; no free plan is listed.

Google Agent Assist gives customer care representatives guidance during customer interactions. It can recommend ready-to-send responses, provide contextual steps and next-best actions, and generate suggested content from business and customer sources such as websites, knowledge bases, documentation and CRMs. For calls, it transcribes in real time and prepares summaries of interactions, key takeaways and next steps afterward. AI Coach provides contextual coaching during conversations, while AI Trainer offers interactive simulations and personalized training for new and less experienced support staff. A Salesforce Lightning Web Component connects Agent Assist modules to Salesforce for suggestions during chat and voice conversations. The service is available through web and API platforms and supports multiple channels. Chat is billed per message for customers onboarded on or after March 6, 2026; earlier customers remain on per-session SKUs. Listed voice rates are $0.03 processed for Standard and $0.05 processed for Enterprise. The product page notes a preview feature and says Cloud AI availability or latency guarantees may differ from other Google Cloud services.