With more Cloud than the average British summer, today’s telecoms market is undergoing a profound change. Not so long ago, enterprise level communications relied on the now strangely old fashioned principle that you had had to have some sort of special infrastructure set up on premises in your offices – telephone lines, an IP PBX server, at least the software installed to manage the systems.
How quickly things have changed. Nowadays, thanks to the advent of the cloud, all you need is an internet connection. No building a network, no installations, no configurations, nothing. All you need to do is sign up to a service subscription, and someone else will manage the technical side of your communications for you. Simple, cheap, and incredibly flexible.
No wonder the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market is booming – set to enjoy a Compound Annual Growth Rate of near on 30 per cent to 2024, by which time it will be worth some $79.3 billion a year globally. That’s ten times what it was worth in 2015.
So who are the high rollers pushing UCaaS into the big time? Here we look at two of the most popular UCaaS solutions available, 8×8 Virtual Office and RingCentral Office, and ask some key questions about them – who are they for? What are their main points of difference? And if you had to pick one to be the standard bearer for cloud UC going forward, which would it be?
Please note, UC Today does not endorse, market or have any role in the sale of any product. Our reviews are entirely independent and aimed only at helping our readers make informed choices with their UC product purchases.
How Do They Look
Both platforms are designed to make the most of the ‘anytime, anyplace’ connectivity promised by the cloud, and therefore both come as desktop and mobile apps. 8×8 Virtual Office also has a web browser interface, which users can log on to without having to download the desktop app.
Comparing desktop interfaces, 8×8 is plainer in design, sticking to plain greys and pale blues with text-based menu layouts. RingCentral makes greater use of icons, branded in the company’s blue and orange, and overall is easier to scan and navigate than 8×8, which can appear a little busy.
It is a similar story with the mobile interfaces. Although both make use of list based layouts, navigation on RingCentral is more intuitive and it does a better job of using icons and hidden menus to keep the options easily scannable. As on the desktop, 8×8 tries to pack a lot into a small space.
The RingCentral desktop softphone is also designed to look like a mobile, complete with keypad, which we thought was a nice aesthetic touch at least.
What Can They Do?
The marketing for both products is careful to emphasise their credentials as a cloud based IP PBX system, and why not – voice remains, for now at least, the number one communications requirement for most businesses.
As hosted PBX software systems, there is little to choose between the two. Both offer the full range of call management functions you would expect, plus some special cloud enabled extras – automated receptionist, voicemail to email, unlimited call recording and options to select local, freephone and international toll free numbers regardless of where you are based.
And as hosted SaaS solutions, configuration and management of the PBX system is equally straightforward and user friendly in both cases. Pretty much all of the different functions can be set up and modified simply by logging into the application and going to system settings. This also unifies all telephony networks used by a business, desktop and mobile, under one single system, regardless of where they are based. With iOS and Android apps, both products allow a user’s mobile to become an extension of their business phone, with the full range of UC functions available
One advantage 8×8 has in the any time, any place, any device access stakes is that it offers a web portal as well as a desktop and mobile app. So if a user needs to log on quickly from a new device, they can do so without having to install an app, offering even greater flexibility. RingCentral offers this too via Google Chrome plugin which is rather swish!
Further differences emerge in some of the contact centre level functions offered as optional extras on 8×8 Virtual Office. These include a software based switchboard app, the option to create separate virtual branch offices and call queuing. In addition, Virtual Office offers an analytics suite available in three tiers, starting at data on active calls, abandoned calls, talk time, ring time and call detail records, and scaling up through call queue and ring group analysis up to real time data on call clarity and quality.
Both products support a range of different conferencing options, but here RingCentral outperforms its rival. Whereas the 8×8 conference bridge supports up to 15 participants per call for no extra call, RingCentral’s innovative system can support up to 1000, with a host code and access code for every user account.
Both also offer virtual meeting platforms, with HD audio, video and screen sharing capabilities. However, RingCentral again gets the upper hand with the option to add RingCentral Rooms, an enhanced physical-to-virtual meeting room platform designed to augment existing H.323/SIP room systems and compatible with a wide range of off the shelf meeting room hardware. Finally, RingCentral also offers more options for team collaboration through the Glip app, which combines message, video chat, file sharing and task management all in one place.
8×8 and RingCentral have both designed their UCaaS platforms to be compatible with a range of other enterprise applications. RingCentral Office offers great integration with productivity platforms like Google apps, Microsoft Office 365 and Outlook, plus the likes of Oracle Sales Cloud, Salesforce and Zendesk. But here 8×8 Virtual Office has the stronger hand, with easy configuration as a plug in for an impressive range of applications, especially CRM platforms like NetSuite, eAgent and Act! As well as Salesforce and Zendesk.
Which do we like?
Both are excellent UCaaS products, and while there is little to choose between them in most areas, they do have some particular strengths of their own. For 8×8 Virtual Office, it is the ability to plug into a greater range of other enterprise software platforms, and some of the contact centre level functions available. For RingCentral Office, it is the better range of conferencing and collaboration features.
What could be improved?
If you took the strengths of each and combined them into a single offering, you would have a formidable UCaaS product.
Who are they for?
8×8 Virtual Office offers the better support to businesses which rely on external communications as a key part of their operations. The contact centre level features, plus the analytics suites and compatibility with a range of CRM platforms, are ideal for businesses handling high volumes of inbound calls, which are looking to add value to their customer facing operations. Many of the features are geared towards the mid-market to enterprise level.
RingCentral Office, on the other hand, plays its strongest hand on internal communications, with better support for conferencing and collaboration. This will appeal particularly to agile businesses with distributed workforces and flexible working patterns.
RingCentral has just released ‘Live Reports’ which offers companies a live dashboard of call statitics which really looks pleasing to the eye. For richer contact centre features, RingCentral has partnered with InContact.com who has seamlessly integrated their solution into RingCentral.
UC Today Opinion
So which is king of UCaaS? I think the only honourable result of this heavyweight title contest is to declare a draw, for there really is little to choose. Both have their particular strengths which will appeal to certain audiences, as discussed above. But overall, as exemplars of the strengths of UCaaS – flexibility, convenience, scalability, value and the ability to deliver a unified communications package from any access point – 8×8 Virtual Office and RingCentral Office do the market proud.
Do you agree? Have you used one, the other or both, and if so, what has your experience been? Are there any strengths you think we have missed, or weaknesses we have overlooked? As always, we would be delighted to read your thoughts in the comment section below. And why not share this article with friends and colleagues and get them involved in the conversation too?