Who is Vlad Shmunis? The Godfather of UCaaS

An introduction to UC Leader of the Year 2020

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Vlad Shmunis
Unified CommunicationsInsights

Published: April 8, 2021

Rebekah Carter - Writer

Rebekah Carter

RingCentral stands out as one of the better-known companies in the communication industry. An innovator in cloud communications, and a UCaaS Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for 6 consecutive years, the value of RingCentral is hard to overlook.  

Though many factors have contributed to RingCentral’s success over the years, perhaps the most important is its leader, Vlad Shmunis. One of the most respected names in the communication industry, Vlad Shmunis founded RingCentral with a quest. He wanted to leverage cloud technology to transform the way that people communicate.  

Today, RingCentral supports the modern workforce in collaborating, communicating, and connecting on any device, from anywhere. RingCentral is a globally respected solution for flexible, cost-effective communication technology, capable of overtaking the on-premises phone system environment.  

Let’s have a look at Vlad’s journey to creating an award-winning company like RingCentral.  

Who Is Vlad Shmunis? An Introduction 

Vlad Shmunis is an innovator with a passion for creating incredible solutions to problems. He was originally born in the Ukraine when it was still a part of the Soviet Union, and his parents moved to the United States in the seventies. Shmunis ended up in San Francisco, where he and his younger sister attended public high schools. Later, Shmunis successfully graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in computer science, which he further evolved into a master’s degree.  

Straight out of school, Vlad started his career in the tech landscape, as an engineer for a small start-up company in Silicon Valley. He discovered quickly that he couldn’t see a future for himself in a corporate setting. Shmunis believed that he would be better off working on his own and decided to pursue entrepreneurship.  

Vlad, like many budding entrepreneurs, used his vast knowledge of the software environment and his understanding of the marketplace to look for a problem he believed he could solve. It was a desire to create more flexible and accessible communication solutions, free from the restrictions of traditional boxed services, that prompted the creation of RingCentral.  

The Catalyst for RingCentral’s Creation 

RingCentral today is recognised as one of the fastest-growing pure-cloud communication providers. As the top-ranked company for the Omdia North American UCaaS report, and a leader in innovation for the Frost and Sullivan UCaaS report, RingCentral gets plenty of positive attention. 

So, where did this incredible company come from? 

Shmunis is a well-known veteran of the software industry. Before RingCentral, Vlad founded a company named Ring Zero Systems. This business was intended, like RingCentral, to support companies in creating the communication systems best suited to their needs. According to Vlad, he never understood why communication products a few decades ago had to be so restrictive and complex. He wanted to build a software system running conventional computing devices that would empower the modern workforce.  

Ring Zero Systems was surprisingly successful. At the time, Shmunis had truly little business experience. He had a highly technical background in software engineering and didn’t fully have a grasp on how to run a business. Match that lack of experience with a lack of funds, and it’s amazing that the company did as well as it did. Ring Zero Systems became the number one supplier of desktop communication software in the PC OEM landscape. Though Ring Zero Systems offered a fantastic source of experience for Vlad, he wasn’t done with his innovation just yet.  

Back in 1999, Vlad decided to take what he had learned during his time with his first business and create something new. Once again, he wanted to transform the communication landscape. This time, his plan was to create a recurring revenue, subscription-based model.  

The Rise of RingCentral Under Shmunis 

The RingCentral business was an incredible step forward for Vlad. The company immediately started to gain traction and earned most of its growth organically. It wasn’t until 2006 that RingCentral first took a round of funding to accelerate its growth. In eleven years, RingCentral increased its sales revenue from $5 million, to around $500 million, proving the demand for cloud communications. 

Under Shmunis, RingCentral has rapidly evolved from a simple start-up company gaining around $12 million in funding during 2006, to a massive, publicly traded corporation, with a market cap in the billions. The development of RingCentral’s highly mobile cloud communication solutions makes the company one of the biggest market leaders in UC&C technology. It’s one of the number one cloud communications companies, with support from more than 350,000 businesses worldwide.  

Shmunis took his passion for technology and his understanding of the communication landscape and used it to create something incredible. In the UC Today 2020 UC Awards, Vlad Shmunis earned the title of UC Leader of the year. UC Today recognised Vlad for his incredible vision, his dedication to the communication market, and the fantastic growth he delivered for RingCentral.  

Today, it isn’t just the innovative mind of Vlad Shmunis, or his ability to understand his customers that makes him such a major player in the UC space. Vlad also sets himself apart as one of the few leaders truly dedicated to ensuring the success of both his customers and his employees.  

A World-Renowned Leader 

Shmunis grew up in a world of technology, where he discovered his passion for coming up with unique solutions to problems. RingCentral is the second successful company created by Vlad, and it’s still got plenty of growing to do in the years ahead. There’s virtually no limit to what RingCentral can accomplish now, particularly as the company continues to invest in new strategies, like partnerships with Avaya, and collaboration technology.  

The entire team behind RingCentral have something special to contribute to the development and evolution of the brand. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that it all started with a single man who wanted to access more flexibility from his communication solutions.  

Vlad is now among the highest-rated and most respected CEOs in the world. We can’t wait to see what he accomplishes next for RingCentral.  

 

 

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