RingCentral is a leading provider of business cloud communications and contact center solutions based on its Message Video Phone (MVP) platform. RingCentral empowers modern mobile and distributed workforces to communicate, collaborate, and connect via any mode, any device, and any location.
RingCentral’s open platform integrates with leading third-party business applications and enables customers to easily customize business workflows.
Ringcentral Business VoiP Plans at a glance
RingCentral’s pricing comes in four levels which seems common in this segment.
The Standard tier should be able to cater to most needs of the small and medium-sized business enterprises, including access through a desktop app, mobile app or the web, especially when many people are working from home.
Though it does not claim to be the cheapest, RingCentral has kept adding features without significant changes in its core pricing. Hence, it is a valuable service.
RingCentral Essential
Key features: Message, Phone
User Limit: Up to 20
Includes:
- Business phone or toll-free numbers
- Unlimited calls within the US/Canada**
- Unlimited business SMS**
- Voicemail-to-text
- Team messaging
- Document sharing
$19.99/mnth
No Upfront Cost
RingCentral Standard
Key features: Message, Video, Phone
User Limit: No Limit
Includes: Essentials +
- Business phone numbers in over 100 countries
- Unlimited internet fax
- Unlimited audio conferencing
- Video meetings with up to 100 participants
- Up to 24-hour meeting duration
- Quality-of-service reports
- Popular integrations including Office 365, Google Workspace, Slack, and more
- 24/7 support
$24.99/mnth
No Upfront Cost
RingCentral Premium
Key features: Message, Video, Phone, Open API
User Limit: Unlimited
Includes: Standard +
- Automatic call recording
- Single Sign-on
- Multi-site admin and management
- Up to 8-digit extensions with site codes
- Hot desking
- Advanced call handling including whisper, barge, and more
- Video meetings with up to 200 participants
- Real-time analytics
- Popular CRM integrations with Salesforce, Zendesk, and more
- Industry-specific integrations with Canvas, Smarsh, and more
- Developer platform and custom integrations
$34.99/mnth
No Upfront Cost
Popular RingCentral Features and Details
- You can connect to the RingCentral VOIP with the RingCentral desktop client for either Apple or Microsoft PCs. If you can’t access your desktop client, you can opt for a dedicated mobile app. The mobile client has functionality on par with the desktop client.
- You can even switch calls midstream between the desktop and mobile.
- And if you have neither, you can use a web client that has the same basic experience as the desktop client.
- The plans shown here are of the Ring Central MVP (Message, Video, Phone) platform. Ring Central also offers free video meetings and messaging through its Ring Central Video Pro plan. It also has multiple plans for Call Centers with IVR, ACD, campaign management, outbound dialing and other capabilities.
- Prices shown above are for annual subscriptions which result in savings of upto 33%. Monthly plans will be a little higher per user per month.
- Price per user will reduce for 100 or more users.
- There is an allocation of toll-free minutes per month based on the subscription type. These are per account regardless of number of lines. Additional minutes are always available for automatic purchase, which bill at 3.9¢/min.
Pros
- RingCentral offers access through a desktop app, a mobile app as well as the web. The experience through either of these is quite similar in terms of features and navigation.
- The RingCentral network infrastructure extends beyond the US to Europe and Asia.
- You can add Unlimited users without the need to rebuild the database or add servers.
- RingCentral has a strong set of admin tools that allows users to manage how they use the system. This should be of interest to larger organizations. It also offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure they are responsible for the service.
- RingCentral can integrate with some existing PBX systems or local phone services. This integration is achieved through a physical Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) that connects to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) through local analog lines.
Cons
- Essentials plan limited to 20 users and 100 toll-free minutes.
- The entry-level plan does not offer video conferencing capabilities. It also does not have a 24/7 technical support.
- While the user experience is similar across the desktop app, mobile app and web, the workflow is not very intuitive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does RingCentral integrate with external applications?
RingCentral has the capability of integrating with a wide set of applications for different use cases. It integrates with communication apps such as Slack, Outlook, Skype, Amazon Alexa, and Canvas. It also integrates with Google G Suite as well as Microsoft 365. Its integrations with Microsoft and Google are bi-directional. These integrations make document sharing and document management easier and can help your team members work more efficiently.
It also integrates with popular CRM platforms such as Salesforce, Zoho, Agile CRM, and Zendesk, so you can manage your business’s external relationships within your existing phone system. However, these integrations are only available in the Standard, Premium, and Ultimate plans, not in the entry-level Essentials plan.
Does RingCentral Have Unified Messaging?
Unified messaging is one of the core features of the platform. You can use your RingCentral number to receive all communications in one place, including calls, faxes, team messaging, and other notifications. This means there’s no need to purchase multiple systems or phone numbers for other business locations or remote employees.
Being an internet-based system, I am concerned about security. What security options does RingCentral have on its platform?
For the protection of its users, RingCentral comes with seven layers of data and physical security, including Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol and Transport Layer Security (SRTP/TLS) encryption between endpoints. RingCentral also meets third-party audit requirements for SSAE 18 and SOC 2/SOC 3, two compliance standards that are important for data centers.
RingCentral is HIPAA compliant, so doctor’s offices and other medical facilities can use the system. Your company will need to request a Business Associate Agreement from RingCentral upon purchasing a plan, if you need HIPAA compliance. The way we structure it is that RingCentral will then act as a business associate and manage your HIPAA obligations. Of course, the responsibility for compliance will be on your company eventually.
Does RingCentral make use of any Artificial Intelligence-driven features?
AI is developing technology and RingCentral is actively working on integrating it into some of our features. We already have AI embedded into several parts of our product, such as Analytics. They have recently acquired DeepAffects, a company that specializes in analyzing conversations, whether audio or video, and identify speech patterns as well as carry out what is known as sentiment analysis. It can recognize speakers from their voice imprint and even detect accents. They are hopeful we will be able to integrate many of these exciting features over the next 12 months. Along with the real-time transcription feature that is already available, it should make their AI-enables suite of services quite strong.
Can I purchase an international number with RingCentral?
Yes. RingCentral offers a variety of options for you to expand your international presence.
You can purchase RingCentral Global Office licenses for your employees at international offices from the supported countries. You can choose a preferred number, and activation is only a few clicks away. RingCentral Global Office comes with inclusive calling minutes for international outbound calls.
You can also purchase international numbers (local or toll-free) as a caller ID from over 75 countries by contacting RingCentral at 800-921-4302. An international number takes 7-21 business days to be added to your account, depending on the requirements from each country. You will be notified once your international number is activated.
I am considering a VOIP phone system for my office. Can you tell me exactly what it is?
VOIP is an acronym for Voice Over Internet Protocol. What it essentially means is that phone service can be provided through the internet network, and need no longer rely on the copper wire infrastructure laid out for telephony.
All you need is a good quality internet network.
Some people use VOIP in addition to their traditional phone service, since VOIP service providers usually offer lower rates than traditional phone companies, but sometimes doesn’t offer 911 service, phone directory listings, 411 service, or other common phone services. While many VoIP providers offer these services, consistent industry-wide means of offering these are still developing.
About RingCentral
RingCentral Inc. is a provider of cloud-based communication and collaboration solutions for businesses.
It was founded in 1999 by their current CEO Vlad Shmunis and CTO Vlad Vendrow. It has gone through several investment rounds and finally came out with an IPO in 2013 to go public.
It employs about 3100 people and its products and services reach over a hundred countries.
RingCentral offers three key products in its portfolio:
- RingCentral Office, a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platform including team messaging, video meetings, and a cloud phone system, now known as RingCentral MVP, or Message, Video, Phone.
- Glip, the company’s free video meetings solution with team messaging that enables Smart Video Meetings.
- RingCentral Cloud Contact Center solutions.
