‘The Mother of All Megatrends’ – What We Learned from RingCentral’s Analyst Event
Sunny Napa Valley, California, was the setting for RingCentral’s annual Analyst Summit, where, unsurprisingly, the artificial intelligence opportunity dominated discussions.
The event came in the wake of RingCentral’s quarterly results release, where strong earnings weren’t enough to overcome the general market malaise towards UC/CC companies.
RingCentral, Zoom, 8×8 and NICE have all seen their share prices drop over recent weeks despite meeting or beating analyst estimates, largely due to weaker-than-expected forecasts for upcoming quarters.
This is, of course, against the backdrop of AI uncertainty impacting the biggest technology companies in the world. Investors are pondering whether the billions of dollars spent on the infrastructure to power AI may have gotten out of hand.
But tech CEOs remain defiant, and RingCentral boss Vlad Shmunis is no different.
“AI is the mother of all megatrends,” he told investors last week – a cute line that was repeated several times by RingCentral execs throughout the analyst event at Bardessono Hotel & Spa.
Amid the nervousness around AI spending, Shmunis declared AI “the future of RingCentral”.
So, it was poignant that this event came just a week after the company revealed AI Receptionist – an agent designed to be the customer-facing, virtual front-of-house for businesses.
The system answers calls automatically, handles routine inquiries, routes complex calls to appropriate staff, and can schedule appointments with SMS follow-up.
The product is built directly into the existing RingCentral phone system rather than requiring third-party integrations. Setup takes minutes, as show in a demonstration at the Analyst Summit, and requires no additional applications.
Features include:
- Immediate call answering
- Automated handling of common questions
- Intelligent call routing based on names and conversation context
- Appointment scheduling capabilities
- SMS follow-up functionality
The system uses generative AI and natural language processing and can be trained using business websites and documents to provide company-specific responses.
Appointment scheduling functionality is scheduled to be available by the end of Q1 2025.
The scripted live demo at the Analyst Summit went without hitch, the product has expected latency issues encounted by most voice AI products. Whether a six second wait for an answer is a matter of personal opinion, but this will only get better over time.
RingCentral is, of course, grappling with the same AI dilemma as all communications companies. AI may be the future, but how? No one seems quite sure how it should be monetised.
RingCentral AI Receptionist is not yet generally available, so the leadership team has time to ponder the pricing structure. The vibe at the moment seems to be that organisations will purchase bundles of interactions and then be charged on a usage basis if they go over their tariff – but this is by no means finalised.
Beyond UC and CC
Recently anointed COO Kira Makagon said the AI boom is driving RingCentral beyond unified communications and contact centres and to a “system of experiences”.
She said RingCentral is transforming its portfolio into an experience platform that seamlessly connects employees inside organisations with customers on the outside.
RingCentral set the foundations for the day by visualising its portfolio as four core categories: UC, CX, events and video, and AI.
AI, of course, permeates and underpins the entire portfolio and is a potential driver of differentiation in an increasingly commoditised UC market, RingCentral believes.
Makagon said RingCentral’s AI strategy will “unlock human potential” and “augment human experiences” – although one can’t help wonder if a product called “AI Receptionist” is really positioned to augment rather than replace.
UC Remains the Lead Product…
Despite the above rhetoric, RingCentral execs were adamant that the company will continue to lead with UC, at a time when the likes of 8×8 and Zoom are pushing their Engage, X-Series and Zoom Contact Center products respectively to centre stage.
CEO Shmunis was bullish on the recent earning call, saying: “we’ve been hearing this persistent rhetoric that RingCentral is losing market share and in particular, losing to Microsoft and Zoom. That is simply not the case.”
This sentiment was compounded at the analyst event.
When asked if RingCentral is likely to pivot its focus to CX – in the same manner as 8×8 and Zoom – COO Makagon said: “We have the strongest EX product so it’s no wonder Zoom and Dialpad are leading with something else.
“We would like to be viewed as a company that has both – EX and CX – so it’s not a question of leading with one or the other.
“The bulk of the business for us today is EX; there’s a lot of opportunity to ride that wave for us and that business continues to grow.”
.. But Growth Will Come From New Products
That said, expect this to change over the next couple of years as RingCX gains a stronger foothold in the industry. Makagon went on to say she envisages a time when a customer could potentially buy RingCX as a lead product without buying the UC platform.
This was supported by a panel of channel partners who said that while they lead with RingCentral wholeheartedly for UC, it’s too soon to lead with it for CX. Significantly, though, they said this could change in the near future as RingCX becomes more established.
As expected, RingCentral execs said the majority of growth (as a percentage) will come from new products over the coming quarters – namely RingCX, RingSense, AI Receptionist.
RingCX currently has more than 700 customers. Some 200 customers were added in the last full quarter alone, with the attach rate to RingEX at over 50%.
RingSense also has an attach rate to RingCX of 50%.
The execs at the summit rattled through some of the key features that are gaining traction with customers, as well as revealing key customer wins and upcoming features which cannot yet be made public.
A key question since the launch of RingCX has been how it coexists with the NICE-powered RingCentral Contact Center (or, indeed, if coexistence is even the plan).
The answer to the question is still somewhat obscured. RingCentral execs say RingCX plays well down market where RingCC has typically struggled – but then caveat their answer by saying it also plays well in the enterprise.
The general vibe is that RingCentral’s sales team lead with RingCX, and keep RingCC in their back pocket in case it’s needed.
RingCX’s “aggressive pricing” (listed as $65 PUPM) further demonstrates RingCentral’s shift to its proprietary product.
However, the pricing should be assessed carefully. The initial $65 is for the core product, but AI quality management can be added for $25, while AI conversation analytics and agent/supervisor assist all come as paid-for add-ons. This is before you’ve considered the full RingSense package at $65.
Events Reinvented
The fourth component of RingCentral’s portfolio, events and video, received less attention than the other three (sort of).
Kristen Koeing – who joined RingCentral as part of the Hoppin acquisition and recently expanded her role to include meetings and webinars – revealed exciting plans to turbocharge this part of the offering.
She said events platforms are quickly evolving from “nice-to-have” into “must-have” communication channels, highlighting how meetings are becoming foundational to driving positive employee and customer experiences.
A number of recent customer wins, including Amazon Web Services, MSNBC and Target validates RingCentral’s events strategy.
Koeing outlined three key differentiators that set their solutions apart:
- External-first mindset: Enabling frictionless, one-click joining without downloads, which significantly improves the user experience compared to competitors requiring application installations.
- Customisable, branded experiences: Allowing customers to build their brand identity through events by using their own domains rather than Ring Central’s. This is a crucial concept for separating meeting platforms from events platforms.
- Community-building capabilities: Demonstrating how RingCentral “eats its own dog food” by using their platform for internal engagement series that foster pipeline growth for their other products.
Events is, of course, just one part of this portfolio segment. The webinar and video components were mentioned fleetingly but failed like notable absences from the day – although RingCentral execs did say this was purely a matter of time constraints.
Looking Ahead
The RingCentral Analyst Summit highlighted the company’s strategic focus on AI integration amid broader market uncertainties in the tech sector. While stock prices of UC/CC companies including RingCentral have declined despite meeting earnings expectations, leadership remains committed to AI as a central component of future operations.
The recently revealed AI Receptionist represents one implementation of this strategy, though like many in the industry, RingCentral is still determining optimal pricing and monetization approaches for its AI offerings. The company maintains that its unified communications platform remains its primary product, contrasting with competitors who are shifting focus more heavily toward customer experience solutions.
Growth projections indicate newer offerings such as RingCX, RingSense, and AI-enabled products will become increasingly important revenue drivers. With over 700 customers now using RingCX and plans to enhance events platforms, the company is expanding beyond its UC routes.
Questions remain about how RingCentral’s proprietary RingCX will coexist with its NICE-powered RingCentral Contact Center, with pricing structures that appear competitive at base level but increase substantially with AI add-ons.
As the communications industry continues to evolve alongside AI capabilities, RingCentral’s approach reflects the broader challenges companies face in balancing established offerings with emerging technologies.
