AWS has launched a partnership with RingCentral to offer new employee and customer communications tools to its client roster.
These include RingCentral MVP (Message Video Phone) and RingCentral Contact Center solutions, now available within the AWS marketplace.
The latter may help AWS draw in more interest from SMBs, as its Amazon Connect CCaaS platform continues to win significant business in the mid-market and enterprise space.
Yet, the deal may also benefit the Connect platform, pulling it closer to RingCentral’s UCaaS solution, which - according to the recent Gartner Magic Quadrant - is a market-leading offering.
Easy access to such a solution will please many Connect customers. After all, 2022 Metrigy research suggests that the most prevalent reason companies ditch Amazon Connect is that they want to use a single integrated platform for both UC and the contact center.
The new partnership with RingCentral may alleviate such concerns and allow AWS to catch up with competitors such as Five9, Cisco, and Genesys in its CCaaS retention rates.
Of course, AWS also offers its own UCaaS solution: Amazon Chime. However, it is yet to resonate with businesses in the same way Amazon Connect has.
Indeed, Amazon Connect leads the CCaaS market in customer acquisition, as per Metrigy’s study. The RingCentral deal may fortify this position.
RingCentral Also Secures Significant Benefits from the Deal
The deal benefits RingCentral by opening up its UCaaS platform to an expansive base of potential customers as it strives to become the chief competitor to Microsoft Teams.
In addition, Mo Katibeh, President and Chief Operating Officer at RingCentral, highlighted that AWS reps will proactively sell the platform. That is an exclusive benefit for RingCentral.
During an earnings call, Katibeh stated:
While products from other UC vendors are available today on the AWS Marketplace, RingCentral MVP is the sole UC solution that AWS reps will be proactively selling and receiving commissions for. This arrangement does not exist for any other UC service from another provider.
Moreover, as AWS typically attracts larger organizations with Amazon Connect, RingCentral may frame itself as the contact center vendor of choice for SMBs within the ecosystem.