With a CEO change and an extension of its conversational intelligence business, RingCentral threw the cat amongst the CX pigeons last week.
Yet, amongst the frenzy that followed, some may have missed the biggest news of all: the launch of RingCX, the vendor’s new CCaaS solution.
The platform plugs a longstanding gap within its enterprise communications suite, which includes UCaaS, CPaaS, telephony, and more.
For many years, it has somewhat smoothed over this thanks to a reseller agreement with CCaaS market leader – as per the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant – NICE.
However, what NICE provides is a fully-fledged platform with premium capabilities that extend across workforce optimization, process automation, journey orchestration, etc.
While such an offering is ideal for many of RingCentral’s enterprise clients, SMB and mid-market customers often desire something more manageable.
Enter RingCX
"In listening to our customers, we’ve recognized an additional need for a native intelligent contact center solution that would be better suited towards addressing simpler use cases," said Vlad Shmunis, Founder & Chairman of RingCentral.
By optimizing RingCX for these simpler use cases, RingCentral will integrate the solution with its UCaaS MVP suite.
In doing so, contact center agents can collaborate on customer queries, engage with external experts, and share knowledge in one platform. Many businesses crave that tech convergence.
Moreover, RingCentral can bring CCaaS tools to those outside the conventional contact center – including new communication channels, reporting tools, and more.
With this capability, service teams may draft employees from other business realms to converse with customers when contact volumes peak.
Hinting at these new possibilities, Shmunis stated:
In conjunction with MVP, it will allow contact center agents and employees beyond the contact center to act as one unified organization focused on addressing customer needs, leading to improved customer satisfaction and greater efficiency in handling calls.
In addition, with a simplified CCaaS solution, organizations will expect speedy deployments, high ease of use, and a lower price point – currently touted at below $100 per agent per month.
If RingCX can provide all that, it may lessen concerns around managing the tech stack, allowing smaller service operations to spend more time “addressing customer needs” – as Shumnis puts it.
The Cornerstone Features of RingCX
Despite its framing as a simplified CCaaS solution, RingCX will boast over 1,000 features at its launch, currently touted for Q4 2023.
These features include inbound and outbound voice alongside 20+ digital channels, ranging from SMS and live chat to various messaging apps and video.