https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501 Application
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501 Application
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Digital Service Providers
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • CHANNEL PARTNERS ONLINE
 Channel Futures

Digital Transformation


Shmunis RingCentral ConnectCentral 2018

RingCentral Takes On ‘In Decline’ Cisco, Avaya, Touts AI Partnerships

  • Written by Edward Gately
  • November 13, 2018
Day one of RingCentral's ConnectCentral 2018 kicked off with executives boasting superiority over legacy providers.

(Pictured above: RingCentral’s Vlad Shmunis at ConnectCentral 2018, Nov. 13.)

RINGCENTRAL CONNECTCENTRAL — Legacy providers like Cisco, Avaya and Mitel are no match for RingCentral when it comes to replacing legacy systems with born-in-the-cloud solutions.

That’s what Vlad Shmunis, RingCentral’s founder, chairman and CEO, told attendees at the start of this week’s ConnectCentral 2018 conference in San Francisco. This is RingCentral‘s third annual conference, and attendance has grown from 250 for the first event to more than 1,000 at the ongoing conference.

The theme of the conference is “Unite.”

“We’re here to unite as an organization, to learn and inspire each other,” said Riadh Dridi, RingCentral’s chief marketing officer. “We can unite and unify all modes of communication into one experience for users. When we’re united, all ideas can be flowing freely, all voices are heard and innovation happens. Innovation not only is essential for competitiveness, but for survival.”

RingCentral has completed six straight quarters of revenue growth. The company’s growth and the “negative growth of legacy providers is perhaps not an accident,” Shmunis said.

The world is ready to move away from on premises and “folks like Cisco and Avaya are in decline,” he said.

“The current reality is, organizations are distributed, every enterprise is running multiple apps, is operating internationally, and people are mobile and mobile from home,” Shmunis said. “Legacy systems are just not designed to do that. You need to reimagine the way that businesses communication, not just here’s a different dial tone. That’s why Cisco is in decline and Avaya (was in) bankruptcy. Cloud is winning and RingCentral is winning in the cloud.”

RingCentral’s product strategy is to evolve with its customers needs: more distributed, more collaborative and more mobile, Shmunis said.

“The future of the industry is fairly clear and fairly noncontroversial,” he said. “It will be legacy is dead, long live the cloud. Everything is going to go to cloud. There [are] a few hundred million seats out there that are legacy and will eventually change to cloud. Major legacy providers, Cisco, Avaya, Mitel, do not have a born-in-the-cloud platform. They cannot replace that, we can.”

During the conference, RingCentral announced new voice analytics artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships with Gong.io, ThetaLake and Velvetech to deliver real-time and post-call voice analytics services to global customers.

David Lee, RingCentral’s vice president of platform products, said there’s a lot of promise for AI in business communication.

“And we’re uniquely positioned in this space because we help our customers capture a lot of their digital conversations … and AI happens to need data to do anything useful,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been attracting close to a dozen partners in the AI space to come and work with us, and they’re doing very interesting things that have business outcome impact, so sales performance improvement especially has been a big area. Two of the three new partners we announced today are in the sales coaching, sales training and sales performance improvement space.”

Other areas for AI in business communication include assisting in compliance, such as detecting if employees are saying things that violate a company’s regulatory requirements, Lee said.

“You can see these early adopters all focus on driving and improving business outcomes,” he said. “It’s all because you have this AI service that can surface and characterize successful conversations, and help a company try to train the rest of their sales force who may not be as successful to say and do successful things.”   

RingCentral also announced the availability of the RingCentral mobile app, a reimagined collaboration-centric experience for enterprise communications, and RingCentral Engage, a digital customer-engagement platform based on its recent acquisition of Dimelo.

Dave Sipes, RingCentral’s chief operating officer, said digital business transformation is being driven by changes in employee behaviors and customer behaviors, and “we’re enhancing that through modern communications.”

“Time is short, this is happening quickly and you don’t want to be a laggard toward it,” he said.

John Wernke, NICE inContact‘s vice president of channel marketing, said RingCentral’s strategy is similar to his company’s strategy. The company provides cloud contact center software.

“If you’re not born in the cloud, it’s really hard to get to the cloud, and that’s what we see with these companies that weren’t born in the cloud,” he said. “It’s a real struggle across not only product, but commission structures and payments, and how you manage your accounting and all sorts of things. It becomes very complicated. A lot of companies tried to make the shift 10 years ago and they hit the skids because that changeover from license revenue to subscription is a tough one to manage financially. So born in the cloud is the way to go.”

Tags: Cloud Service Providers Digital Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Cloud Digital Transformation Strategy Technologies

Related


  • Data center
    Netrality Data Centers Unveils Expanded Partner Program
    Data centers are an integral component of a hybrid architecture.
  • CP-Expo-Logo-1050x618 web
    Day 1 Wraps at Channel Partners Virtual, Big Day 2 on Tap
    With day one of CP Virtual in the books, we offer a recap of highlights and look ahead to day two.
  • ldquoAlliant was fortunate enough to actually be in the control of their production with NetBond so we had already made a sale and we turned the service up to one of our customers We sold the connection to Microsoft Manager It was the very first one sold through the Partner Exchange and we turned it up with absolutely no problem at all It39s a very valuable tool to help add value to the MPLS network that they have Customers today are trying to determine do they keep their MPLS or do they move t
    Why Fortinet for my MSSP?
    With hundreds of thousands of customer nodes under management, and billions of dollars of assets under their protection, the world’s top MSSPs hold their firewalls to extremely high standards for reliability, functionality, and flexibility. Read on to learn why Fortinet stands above the crowd of security vendors when considering solutions to address their complex requirements. […]
  • security centric
    Small and Mid-Size Business Security: 4 Steps to Success
    SMBs are attractive targets for hackers, and in the modern age, weak security can put a stop to both of those things. Not to fear though as SMBs, even with limited budgets and manpower, can significantly reduce their risk by using the right technologies that were designed to work together and offer strong protection while […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Backup Vulnerability: 4 Targets Hackers Might Utilize to Infiltrate Your Backup Solution
  • Exertis Continues Calls for Diversity with LGBTQ+ Discussion
  • Channel Partners Virtual 2021 Is Here — Take Advantage of the Amazing Content
  • Massive SolarWinds Hack Prompts Up to $25 Million in New Security Costs for Company

Galleries

View all

From The Second City: How to Use Improv as a Business Tool

March 3, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

5 Ways XDR Can Improve Operational Efficiency for MSPs

March 4, 2021

Multi-Cloud: Strategy or Inevitable Outcome? (or both?)

March 3, 2021

Backup Vulnerability: 4 Targets Hackers Might Utilize to Infiltrate Your Backup Solution

March 2, 2021

Webinars

View all

A Partner’s Perspective on Channel Success in 2021

March 23, 2021

XDR and Why it Matters to MSPs

March 24, 2021

Top Security Trends Impacting Technology Security Providers In 2021

March 25, 2021
  • 1

White Papers

View all

Why Fortinet for my MSSP?

March 2, 2021

Small and Mid-Size Business Security: 4 Steps to Success

March 2, 2021

How SMBs Can Secure Endpoints and Remote Workers for the Long Haul

March 2, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

FASTCHAT: How SOAR Eliminates Security Challenges and Elevates Service Provider Revenues

January 6, 2021

Happy Holidays from Channel Partners & Channel Futures!

December 21, 2020

FASTCHAT: How Old, Unpatched Technologies Are Creating New Security Threats for MSPs and Their Customers

December 3, 2020

Twitter

ChannelFutures

Chinese hacker group #HAFNIUM exploits critical @MSFTExchange Server vulnerability, could impact thousands.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 7, 2021
ChannelFutures

Our latest #Cybersecurity Roundup highlights #CPVirtual, @Huntresslabs, @Entrust_Corp and @InsightEnt.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 5, 2021
ChannelFutures

RT @Channel_Expo: A HUGE thank you to our amazing #CPVirtual sponsors and exhibitors! 👏 @ATTBusiness @DellTech @8x8 @lumentechco @telarus @…

March 5, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@okta acquiring rival @auth0 in $6.5 billion all-stock transaction. #security dlvr.it/Rtzwdp https://t.co/4LvHCJuwsR

March 4, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@MicrosoftTeams features are coming to @MSFTDynamics365, the company announced at @MS_Ignite. #MicrosoftIgnite… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 4, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@PreciselyData acquired by Clearlake Capital, @TAAssociates. #digitaltransformation dlvr.it/RtzbKg https://t.co/1rNYnTScxq

March 4, 2021
ChannelFutures

Thanks for attending #CPVirtual. Here's a Day 3 wrap and a look ahead to #CPExpo Homecoming in November!… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 4, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@Veeam announces six annual Impact Partner Awards, with @SHI_Intl, @LogicalisUS, more. #cloud… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

March 4, 2021

MSSP Insider

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Channel Partners Online

Want more? Find more channel news and analysis on our sister site, Channel Partners.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Online
  • Channel Partners Events
  • MSP 501
  • MSSP Insider
  • IoT World Today
  • Webhostingtalk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X