Integration approach with RingCentral Office and RingCentral Voice
We were receiving many requests from customers asking for us to add support for RingCentral’s platform. So, we began our investigation into the various options to determine the best approach that we would use to make our integration with RingCentral. Our research led us to the Busylight .NET SDK as the obvious approach, since that meant less coding and a library that is ideal for the RingCentral API. For us, it did add a bit more time on the research side to learn how to use their API correctly. But because RingCentral has a well-maintained library it added less risk while also increasing reliability.
Once underway and getting the settings configured, it was in fact quite easy to build our solution. We found that RingCentral has done a great job with documentation, which is readily available on their website. In addition, we also found technical documentation on the APIs that are open source and available through GitHub. The source code available there allowed us to read about all the features and logic involved in the SDK and also contains sample code, which further eased the learning curve.
When developing our UC Platform integrations, having well-documented APIs and access to different events is crucial. We have to say that RingCentral delivered. Their APIs provided all the Call events needed to allow us to easily trigger the Busylight to change according to the RingCentral presence state. This allows us to sync to the user’s presence and display it in the office on the Busylights.
kuando Busylight’s color-coded presence is simple to understand
So, what is the Busylight?
kuando Busylight is a presence and call alert system designed to eliminate distractions and interruptions while keeping you aware of incoming calls. Busylights are placed in the office (or home office) in a visible location on the monitor, notebook, cubicle, or even outside of offices.
Typical Busylight office deployment
This is a simple but effective productivity device that displays your presence status in real time. “Presence” is visible on the 360-degree LED light and lets you know your colleague’s status so you can stay clear and “safe”—while avoiding unnecessary interruptions. A ringer “Sound” makes sure you hear your incoming calls—whether in the office or at home in the kitchen—ensuring business continuity. This makes it an ideal addition for RingCentral users on either Windows or Mac.
Two models integrate with RingCentral—Omega and Alpha
Benefits of working with RingCentral
The team at RingCentral is very supportive. They responded promptly to questions and challenges—usually within the same day. One of our challenges was around persistent authentication so users would only have to authenticate one time. The RingCentral team was quite helpful in describing an approach to resolve it. Without this resolution, it would have been a real annoyance for customers having to continually authenticate so the Busylight would be able to sync with their presence.
Getting through these types of issues fast is very important so there is no wasted time or frustrations. This is especially true for us, as our developers are in Denmark, so the time-zone differences could cause a full-day delay, if not even longer. We felt a real sense of commitment from RingCentral to help partners like us make the integrations for our joint customers successful.
Plenom is the manufacturer of kuando Busylight and works with companies globally in over 50+ countries. Visit the App Gallery to learn more about kuando Busylight for RingCentral.
Originally published Nov 20, 2020
