2003 founded RingCentral is a global provider of enterprise communication and collaboration systems, specialising in telephony and contact centre tools. The company is publicly listed on the NYSE and was named a Leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS, firmly establishing it as a pioneer in this segment. RingCentral is fully committed to supporting native telephony functionality in Teams, with several integrations across the Microsoft ecosystem.
As Microsoft launched more advanced enterprise telephony features in Teams (in addition to one-on-one audio calls), it seemed like it was positioned as a direct competitor to telephony specialists like RingCentral. However, with its myriad integrations for Microsoft products, the two software platforms can easily co-exist, and you can benefit from their mutual interoperability. Initially, the integration was limited to a conversation bot that would make it easier to share RingCentral call details. Now, with the launch of the RingCentral Cloud PBX for Microsoft Teams in 2020, you can enjoy direct routing integrations without ever leaving the Teams interface.
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Let us review these capabilities in more detail.
Inside the RingCentral App for Teams
RingCentral for Teams lets you control calling functionalities on RingCentral using the Teams interface. You can choose to make RingCentral the default app for audio and video communication on Teams instead of using Microsoft’s built-in tools. Essentially, it allows you to host outbound video and audio calls on RingCentral without leaving Microsoft Teams.
Here is a more detailed look at its features:
- Bot-based user interface – As mentioned, the RingCentral app uses a conversational interface where you can interact with a bot to get started with audio and video calls. You can use the @RingCentral Call command to generate a conference call dial-in and access code and the @RingCentral Meet command for video meetings.
- Support for Teams on Chrome browser – Apart from the Microsoft Teams desktop app, you can access RingCentral functions from the web-based edition of Microsoft Teams. By installing RingCentral’s Chrome extension for Microsoft, you can unlock a host of new capabilities – like setting RingCentral as the default app, sending SMS messages, viewing your call history, retrieving voice mails, scheduling meetings, and more.
- One-click meeting join-in – The RingCentral app makes it possible to quickly set up or join meetings without complex configurations or calendar hassles. You can initiate a meeting from virtually any space within Teams, and the bot automatically generates a meeting ID that can be accessed from inside Teams or elsewhere. There are codes for iPhone speed dial and regular telephony as well.
- Default calling app replacement – This is an incredibly useful feature for those using Teams for productivity and collaboration and RingCentral for mainline telephony. Using Teams on the web, you can designate RingCentral as your default call or video conferencing channel. Clicking on the audio-call or video-call option in a chat would then open up a RingCentral dialler within Teams.
- Call initiation from channel or chat – The RingCentral message extension lets you start a phone call or meeting in line with the rest of the conversation. This works for one-on-one calls as well as during group conversations on a channel.
- Advanced PBX telephony – RingCentral upped its Microsoft Teams game in 2020 with the introduction of cloud PBX for Teams, which essentially made the company’s global phone system capabilities (spanning 100+ countries), accessible to Teams users without leaving the app. Instead of choosing between Teams and RingCentral, you could now potentially use Teams as your telephony front end while enjoying RingCentral’s established infrastructure. The PBX capability enables features such as IVR call flows, incoming call routing, automatic call recording, call queue setup and call reports.
Why the RingCentral App for Teams Makes a Difference
As a Gartner MQ Leader, RingCentral is an excellent and necessary addition to the Teams app marketplace. RingCentral has millions of users around the world, with a sizeable overlap with Teams’ user base. Where the two systems co-exist, the integration would allow seamless interoperability, a hassle-free calling experience, and a centralised interface for call management.
On top of that, RingCentral Cloud PBX for Microsoft Teams enables all the features you’d expect from enterprise-grade telephony, including built-in call analytics, PSTN services, and more than ten languages.
What we Think
The RingCentral app for Microsoft Teams is a great example of how two competing solutions can co-exist, empowering the user without creating compatibility issues. The RingCentral dialler can be made available anywhere within Office 365 on the web, encouraging impromptu conversations at your convenience.
Download it here.
