“The new normal.” You hear it more and more every day. Whether it’s the way we shop, learn, entertain ourselves, or work – uncertain times have changed the way we live our lives – permanently. For the last 100 years, the Western world has been defining work as being on-site, in the same place, for a preset number of hours, week in and week out. In an instant, a simple, unwelcome virus has turned that thinking on its head and permanently redefined how we work. Work is no longer a place we go; it’s part of our life that we need to be able to do anytime, anywhere on any device.
“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” —Deepak Chopra
Employers have been reluctant to embrace the work-from-home model. Why? Often, because they doubted workers productivity outside the office. And they may have had a point. Until just recently, we lacked the right technology to communicate and collaborate efficiently and productively when physically separated. The disruption caused by COVID-19 has forced us into the biggest work-from-home experiment ever. The results are in – according to a recent Gallup poll, 60% of Americans prefer working from home. The benefits they cite include being more productive, saving money, and improving the environment.
We now have volumes of evidence that demonstrate that the technology is ready. We also have irrefutable proof that on-premises communications systems are not dynamic enough to manage the business needs of companies in the digital era. Although COVID-19 created a tipping-point for the adoption of cloud-based communications solutions, there are many reasons business operations change very quickly. Cloud-based communications provide the flexibility organizations need to stay nimble and competitive in a myriad of business circumstances. Further, technology needs to adapt to user preferences and context, not the other way around. What that means is the integrated and unified experience across all modes of communication – Message, Video, Phone (We refer to it as #MVP) is critical
Delivering Innovation When It’s Needed Most
RingCentral was founded to connect employees with customers, partners, and each other. To further deliver on our mission, we announced two new offerings In Q1 2020. Both have already helped companies of all sizes around the world protect their business and employees during the pandemic. These innovations unify all modes of communication, Message, Video, Phone (MVP) in a secure, user-friendly, and mobile-first platform that enables teams to be “Remote Together.”
The introduction of RingCentral Video® on April 2 is the culmination of years of work to integrate MVP into a single, secure application platform that enables fast, unified, open, and trusted video meetings. We were very intentional about the development and release of our RingCentral Video (RCV) product. We leveraged our extensive experience to offer a thoroughly tested, stable, high-quality video experience that seamlessly integrates into our communications platform. By developing our own offering, we can better control integration, user experience, and security.
Earlier this week, we announced a new RingCentral Desktop application designed to support the way people work today with a simple interface and the ability to easily switch between devices and modes of communication.
In response to the pandemic, we made RingCentral Office® and the RingCentral Customer Engagement Solution available free of charge to organizations at the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. Being able to deliver these capabilities when the world needs it most has been an honor, over 4,000 organizations and 50,000 people are using RingCentral as a result of this offer.
Confidence and Trust
We value the trust and confidence our customers have placed in us. To honor that trust, we prioritize security and privacy above all things. Our RingCentral Video product is based on WebRTC; the same browser-based security people trust to conduct billions of dollars in web-based transactions every day. We continue to invest resources in protecting you, our customers, by developing features that make working from anywhere just as easy as working from the office.
Customers Put Safety First
Seeing our customers use our solutions to respond to the pandemic has been humbling. So many of you have placed the wellbeing of your employees, customers, and communities above all else. We share your commitment and look forward to your businesses not only surviving but thriving as a result.
As important as safety is, there is no time for a lengthy transition cycle, companies must act now to create a work environment that is competitive today and in the future. This is true for companies of all sizes; the idea that groups of people need to be closely co-located is contradictory to public safety. Companies that make this pivot quickly will be best positioned to recover from the setbacks caused by the Coronavirus.
The Need for Learning Never Stops
Schools may be closed, but the need for learning and education never stops. Like so many institutions, Texas Christian University had to rethink their operations. They became fully virtual after 150 years of serving students on-campus. Using RingCentral technology, they were able to easily transition their 1,000 person staff and 10,000 students to an online-learning environment in days with minimal disruption.
An Ivy League University with over 15,000 users needed to replace an outdated PBX that was difficult to maintain. Plus, it simply did not support staff requirements to work remotely. RingCentral’s complex call handling capabilities and integrated MVP technology enables employees to make and receive business calls from anywhere on any device (without using their personal phone numbers), helping them successfully work outside their offices while reducing costs for the university.
Through our COVID-19 offer, the Gloria Deo Academy, a 200-student private K-12 school in Texas, is using private meeting rooms within RingCentral Office to continue their hourly learning schedule. Each of the 30 teachers has a private, secure meeting room they use as virtual classrooms enabling them to maintain a sense of normalcy in learning.
Keeping Healthcare Providers Connected
During a pandemic, it is imperative healthcare workers stay connected. Unfortunately, they are often the hardest hit. One of the largest providers of pediatric and adult care in the United States faced losing millions in revenue when their call center employees could no longer come to the office. Using RingCentral’s cloud-based platform, they returned to productivity in 23 states up and running remotely – almost immediately.
PM Pediatrics provides urgent care at 53 offices throughout the United States. Their newest locations were already using RingCentral as the company’s PBX system had become unmanageable. Increased demand due to the pandemic quickly overwhelmed their legacy system – exposing its limitations. To better deliver COVID-19 testing to patients, they accelerated adoption of our cloud-based solution. Headquarters and back-office employees can now work from home and calls are seamlessly routed between offices. The solution rolled out in a matter of days and meets their stringent compliance, security, and privacy.
With more than 800 supported offices in 22 states, Pacific Dental Services initially implemented RingCentral to simplify their technology and reduce costs. Our cloud-based solution replaced six collaboration and communications tools and a legacy PBX. From day one of the pandemic, they continue providing patient care and reduce the risk of exposing patients and staff to COVID-19 by offering TeleDentristy services.
Helping Financial Services Companies Transition
Like many companies, when COVID-19 hit, Goosehead Insurance needed to immediately transition its 2,000 agents to work from home. Using RingCentral’s cloud communications solutions, the seamless transition only took a few days. Leveraging RingCentral Office and RingCentral Contact Center™ capabilities, they maintained expected premium growth in April despite the pandemic.
Many of our customers want to replace an existing PBX not only to reduce costs but also to add capabilities for their staff. After a 60-day trial, a Fortune 500 financial services company decided to move the 5,000 employees at its headquarters and additional 4,000 employees working at 150 locations throughout the United States to our cloud-based solution as part of their efforts to modernize technology.
Maintaining Business Continuity
A U.S.-based personal storage company is keeping revenue coming in and paychecks going out. Our cloud-based platform enabled them to smoothly transition hundreds of sales associates to working from home in just a matter of days. Thanks to their ability to communicate, collaborate, share files, add tasks, and message each other essential updates, they feel they’re in a strong position to weather the storm.
For NFL teams, the pandemic meant reimagining one of the most highly anticipated events of the year, the draft. The Detroit Lions relied on RingCentral Voice to provide a secure and reliable MVP connection for their general manager during the draft. Moving forward, they will use the RingCentral platform to reduce the number of applications they subscribed to and help their sales professionals be more productive.
From Legacy Technology to the Cloud
Leading cybersecurity provider Forcepoint turned to RingCentral when it needed to update its disparate PBX-based communications systems around the world that were difficult and expensive to maintain. They are improving their ability to work from anywhere by providing employees MVP capabilities and eliminating hard phones (except for conference rooms) at locations in 13 countries.
Times of trouble not only force change, but they also bring people together. We are fortunate to be in a position to help companies and people stay connected and working during this time. While COVID-19 has disrupted lives, the resilience we see today gives me confidence that we will build a “new normal” together, full of opportunity and powered by innovation and ingenuity. As the pandemic passes and you reopen your offices, know that at RingCentral, we are committed to offering you the choice in how your teams Work Together. From Anywhere.
