There is a paradox built deep into the heart of the role digital technology plays in business and industry.
If there is one single defining reason which explains the digital revolution of the past 20 years, it is that technology makes things simpler for the end user. For businesses, that means simpler infrastructure, easier deployment, and most important of all, making work processes faster and more efficient, adding up to achieving better results.
If this wasn’t the case, there would be no case for digital transformation.
The paradox is that the technology itself is far from simple. As work-based systems have become increasingly reliant on software, programming has reached ever new heights of sophistication and specialisation. We may now all take the internet for granted, but the physical network of global data centres, routers and carrier infrastructure it is built on is beyond the imagination of what any business telecoms engineer could ever have dreamt up.
This is a point Sahil Rekhi, RingCentral’s EMEA managing director, emphasises in the role of cloud communications. For Sahil, the Cloud has been and will continue to be critically important in delivering better consolidated, intuitive and responsive communications solutions to businesses. It is also very good at hiding the complexity it requires to achieve those ends.
Sahil said: “Business wants consolidation of tools and users want the ability to work anywhere and on any device - a system that delivers on these points while enabling cross functional tools will see success in the long run.”
The next frontier
Mobility and flexibility have long been the watchwords of cloud solutions. But consolidation is a relatively new frontier in battle for the hearts and minds of end users. And it does not just means consolidation in the sense of having all tools accessible at a single point on a single platform, as in a /unified-communications/ucaas solution. It means consolidation of all communications and IT systems, everything working as one through open integration and cross-functional compatibility.
Sahil believes this will become even more important as emerging technologies enter the mainstream of business communications.
“Collaboration suites with integrations into other cloud services and AI platforms will be next frontier of competition and drive significant adoption for cloud communications in the marketplace,” he said."
“Automation is the buzz word in the market alongside AI and building a communication system that gives customers the flexibility to adapt the system to more efficient workflows across multiple applications will be key for future growth.
“Video and AI will become more mainstream in the future. End users are seeking a Facetime-like simplified video experience for video in business use, telepresence rooms are old school. Faster decision making across the business is coming out as a key driver for business change and this ecosystem as a service will be a key ask in the future.”
RingCentral has worked hard on establishing strategic partnerships and has moulded its UCaaS platform RingCentral Office to offer plug-in compatibility with a wide range of business applications, including Salesforce, ZenDesk, Box, G Suite, Microsoft Office 365 and Oracle. It also has an active developer platform offering extensive open APIs and SDKs for developers to to create their own plug-ins into chosen software.
