Market Perspectives

The potential of the workforce relies on the ability of team members to efficiently communicate and share information with one another and external customers, partners and suppliers. Disjointed communication leads to halts in projects and overall growth potential. A digital platform tailored to an organization’s needs will allow workers to effectively complete tasks and provide the resilience needed for organizations to thrive in any situation.

RingCentral offers a unified communication platform that enables for contact centers that addresses a broad array of needs for small to large businesses in a secure and reliable manner. RingCentral MVP is a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) that combines phone calls, video conferencing and messaging into one platform. Organizations can set up business lines on workers’ personal devices, and calls can be switched between different applications. International phone calls can also be made to over 45 countries through MVP. Video meetings use artificial intelligence (AI)-driven features to filter background noise and transcribe conversations. Included in video meetings is the Team Huddle feature, which acts as a virtual room where workers can enter and leave at any time, allowing workers to collaborate when necessary and facilitate dynamic collaboration. Advanced Meeting Insights is a new feature in MVP that will create a summary and highlights from a recorded meeting for team members who are unable to attend. The messaging application can connect with organizations’ existing collaboration tools, such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, to send and receive files. External users can also be added to existing group chats. Its newer RingCentral Webinar is an add-on to the MVP service that provides several key features, such as preparation and rehearsals, as well as customization to personalize events with an organization’s branding. Further, MVP Analytics monitors usage of the system and troubleshoots issues quickly. RingCentral focuses on features that are easy to implement and use, with the ability to rapidly connect users globally on a unified platform.

Reassessment of digital communications software is important for organizations to ensure workers have the smartest and easiest tools ways to communicate and collaborate effectively. Ventana Research asserts that by 2025, two-thirds of organizations will realize that enterprise-wide digital communications do not satisfy workforce expectations, resulting in decreased productivity and worker engagement.

RingCentral MVP offers tools that can be used in organizations of all sizes and across multiple industries, such as education, healthcare and financial services. Small businesses and enterprises alike have access to fast onboarding, system monitoring, and several different application integrations that can configure the software to an organization’s needs. Information is digitally secured in MVP with features such as penetration testing, data encryption and toll fraud prevention. Security should be a top priority in choosing a digital communications platform to avoid large-scale breaches that will compromise not only internal data but also sensitive external data from any party.

Organizations considering RingCentral MVP as their UCaaS software will have to assess the platform to see if the simplicity and ease of implementation and manageability will meet their needs. Adoption of a digital communications platform is increasingly becoming a priority for organizations that intend to establish one platform across all departments and teams. RingCentral’s largest challenge is clarity in its differentiation and how it plays a role in both unstructured collaboration beyond simply communications. One for which is that RingCentral brings a contact center offering that is integrated together with its unified communication offering to meet engagement needs for customers. Understanding the importance of this differentiation will allow RingCentral to expand the potential of MVP to capture the interest of teams, departments and the entire organization, and more importantly the preferences of the workforce to increase engagement.

In a highly competitive market for digital communications software the path forward for RingCentral is to continue to build a complete suite of capabilities while expanding its platform to adapt and meet the unique needs of specific vertical industries. RingCentral does not yet articulate publicly the customer experience it offers which is essential in the evaluation of a vendor selection and will need to be investigated. Organizations looking for an alternative to larger communications suites, as well as a more unified digital phone and suite of tools should examine RingCentral. The customer base and strong product organization make RingCentral a vendor with the potential to be a simpler and more unified communications option for just about any sized businesses.