Today’s customers need a lot more than just a one-size-fits-all solution to their communication concerns. As businesses continue to evolve to suit increasing customer demands, they need strategies that allow them to take a DIY approach to evolution. Fortunately, as-a-service solutions and APIs have opened the door for this custom development.
RingCentral is one of the most popular and highly-renowned collaboration and communication companies in the market today. The company has a reputation not just for its pre-build services and products, but also for its robust API and developer environment.
I caught up with Sangeeta Walsh, the Director of Product Marketing for RingCentral to learn about how RingCentral makes API integration and development simple for their community.
What do You Do for RingCentral?
Sangeeta is the Director of Product Marketing, Platform, and Analytics. She works with the RingCentral development team, product management group, and the RingCentral partners too. With Walsh’s team, RingCentral is building out their ecosystem by guiding technology partners through their platform and helping them to build world-class apps.
Walsh has been a RingCentral speaker at numerous events; her team has also won multiple API awards for the Connect Platform delivered by RingCentral.
According to Sangeeta, she and her team make building solutions with RingCentral simple, “Say you’re a business that sells AI tech that helps to drive business workflows. You need to collect as much communication data as possible, so you turn to RingCentral as a leader in UCaaS.”
How Do Developers Start Building with RingCentral?
Walsh told me that RingCentral’s developer platform is very easy to use. “A developer can simply set up an account and start building in our sandbox immediately. We have more than 500 API endpoints for them to experiment with depending on the kind of workflows they need to build.”
For instance, if a company just wanted to make sure that they were effectively gathering and using their RingCentral data, they would build an application, have it approved, and then possibly publish the app on the App gallery to showcase how they utilize communications in their applications, which in turn drive value for our mutual customers or prospects. “The app gallery is an excellent way for our premier partners to show others how they’ve helped their business with their app creations. They can even get new leads through RingCentral.”
People who publish on the App gallery become “authorised partners.” Sangeeta’s team can also look at the apps that are getting the most attention and contact the developer or partner to ask if they want to extend their relationships with RingCentral and become a “premier partner.”
Is the Platform Easy for Beginners?
Countless companies are beginning to see the benefits in using APIs and applications to enhance their communication platform. However, developers are coming into the marketplace with different backgrounds. Some have no idea how to get started with SDKs and APIs. I asked Walsh how easy it is to start building. “Anyone can get involved. We have tutorials to offer, you can tap into our developer community, and there are examples to look at from other developers too. We also have case studies so you can get an idea of what workflows could be created.”
RingCentral offers plenty of support to developers at all levels. What’s more, as Walsh told me, the company has also recently revealed a product named “RingCentral Embeddable.” This product makes it easy to simply copy and paste lines of code into a website to give a webpage access to RingCentral’s high quality code for a softphone that allows you to do key features, like click to dial a phone number or send SMS messages.
If you’re looking for that basic functionality, you can get it set up with a proof of concept in fifteen minutes or less.
“We’re making widgets and easy to use solutions available to people who need communication features, without complexity.”
What Kind of Apps are Most Popular?
RingCentral has a very diverse and comprehensive platform for APIs and development. I was interested to find out if the brand had noticed any apps that appeared to be more popular than others. Sangeeta told me that most of the popular apps are in the “productivity” space.
One of the most-loved apps is the Chrome extension that RingCentral can offer. “This allows people to schedule or join their meetings within Chrome very easily, without even installing the RingCentral app.” Another popular option is the integrations that RingCentral offers with Microsoft portfolios, like Outlook, Office 365, Skype for Business, and Dynamics.
“These are the integrations that are driving simplicity and productivity for teams.”
What Does the Future Look Like for Your Open Strategy?
RingCentral is committed to delivering a simple and open solution for developers and partners going forward. Walsh told me that she sees a lot of exciting opportunities in the future, particularly as the business continues to build on their open solutions.
“With our embeddable solution, for instance, we have a unique opportunity to bring communications solutions to customers in a very simple manner. We’re going to continue to make this strategy more mobile, and more customisable too.”
Additionally, RingCentral plans to continue building out their API portfolio with new integrations with other companies. A focus on ongoing development within AI is also an essential consideration for the team, as they want to make sure that their solutions continue to learn and get smarter.
“I think that there’s a lot we can do going forward with embeddable tools, acquisitions, and AI. I believe that with a combination of these things, we can make our solutions more accessible and attractive for businesses of all backgrounds.”
