8×8’s Global Reach strategy is in full swing with a new reseller agreement that provides access to the Australia and New Zealand markets.

Melbourne, Australia,-based CSG will serve as 8×8’s channel partner for Asia Pacific and resell the company’s portfolio of enterprise cloud communications offerings to the two markets. Initially, CSG will market 8×8’s services to more than 1,000 existing enterprise customers.

8×8 now has partners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Enzo Signore, 8×8’s chief marketing officer, tells Channel Partners that Australia and New Zealand are “very key markets because it is a rapidly growing region with a high demand for cloud services.”

“Many of our customers, and many tech companies in general who do a lot of business in the United Kingdom and other European countries, are usually interested in also having a strong Australian presence as well,” he said. “Overall, today 8×8 has more domestic partners than international; however, we are building a strong, growing roster of international partners.”

CSG also will launch a new service to onboard employees with a turnkey offering that bundles 8×8 cloud communications with telephony hardware, a laptop, online file storage and backup in a complete package.

“Our partnership with CSG allows 8×8 to further extend its footprint and better serve our valued customers in Asia Pacific as part of our ongoing Global Reach strategy,” said Vik Verma, 8×8’s CEO. “The growing demand for enterprise cloud communications in key international markets such as Australia and New Zealand has become critical for our customers.”

IDC projects that Australia will be the largest unified communications as a service (UCaaS) market in all of the Asia Pacific, outside of Japan. Additionally, the Australian UCaaS market is expected to reach a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent over the next several years, according to Frost & Sullivan.

All of this offers a “powerful and significant market opportunity,” Signore said.

“Today, we have nine data centers and sophisticated localized media routing,” he said. “The most recent data center was launched in Sydney.”

8×8 expanded its U.K. presence with the acquisitions of DXI and QSC in May. It also recently unveiled VCC Global, which uses local connectivity and natural-language translation to provide personalized customer experiences worldwide.

“So because of this infrastructure and innovation, 8×8 channel partners can now sell to international and global enterprises, and go to market with a powerful suite of 8×8 cloud communications solutions,” Signore said.