RingCentral Rapidly Expands Capabilities of RingCentral Video

Rhea-AI Summary

RingCentral (NYSE: RNG) announced enhancements to its video and team messaging platforms aimed at improving online collaboration. Key features include Overlay for engaging presentations, video virtual backgrounds, and Breakout Rooms for more interactive meetings. The RingCentral mobile app continues to gain traction, rated 4.6 on both Google Play and Apple Store. The new capabilities facilitate better integration of communication modes, catering to the hybrid workforce. Industry experts commend RingCentral's commitment to innovation in response to evolving workplace needs.

Positive

• Introduction of new video features like Overlay, video virtual backgrounds, and Breakout Rooms enhances user engagement.
• RingCentral mobile app is highly rated at 4.6 on both Google Play and Apple Store, reflecting strong user satisfaction.
• Innovation in features supports the needs of a hybrid workforce, potentially leading to increased user adoption.

Negative

• None.

RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG), a leading provider of global enterprise cloud communications, collaboration, video meetings, and contact center solutions, today announced a range of new video and team messaging capabilities to enhance online meetings and enable people to effectively communicate and collaborate from anywhere. In addition, as people continue to work from anywhere, the RingCentral mobile app is gaining significant momentum. It is the highest rated app in its category on Google Play with a rating of 4.6 and among the top ranking apps in its category on the Apple Store with a rating of 4.6*.

A select few new RingCentral Video capabilities include:

• Overlay: Enables users to keep audiences engaged during their virtual presentations by overlaying their video on top of the content on their screen, creating a “weather person” visual effect. Presenters can interact directly with the content by moving themselves around on the screen in order to guide the message and stay visually present throughout their journey. This helps the presenter hold the audience’s attention and allows the audience to keep an eye on the presenter while following the material being presented.
• Video virtual backgrounds: Along with static images, users can now upload video files as virtual backgrounds to have more fun during meetings and express themselves creatively while maintaining their privacy. Backgrounds such as a cozy fireplace or waves on the beach can be used to create an enjoyable virtual experience, and help users maintain a professional presence by hiding their physical backgrounds.
• Breakout Rooms: Meeting moderators can quickly split up participants into smaller groups for a side discussion or brainstorm during a video meeting. This feature can create an experience that is similar to an in-person group exercise for more interactive and intimate conversations. This capability will be available by the end of Q2 2021.
• Picture-in-picture: Allows meeting participants to multi-task within the RingCentral app during a meeting. Users can quickly reference conversations in team messaging through a separate window on their screen while participating in the live video meeting.

A few new capabilities for team messaging are listed below:

• Personal folders: Enables users to group together relevant teams and conversations by creating folders for added ease and efficiency and improved organization.
• Export message data: The message data export tool helps admins narrow down their search parameters, saving time and reducing the amount of data being exported. This type of feature enables companies to export historical messages for compliance needs.
• External guest controls: Admins can elect which users have the ability to invite external guests into the organization’s RingCentral system. Additionally, admins can choose whether external guests have the ability to start conversations with internal users.
• Mobile app resource center: Instead of searching around for help and relevant resources, users can now access all of that in one place, directly from within their mobile app so they can resolve issues quickly, even while on-the-go.

“How we work is changing and the capabilities we need to have to communicate and collaborate will evolve,” said Nat Natarajan, executive vice president of products and engineering at RingCentral. “We are rapidly delivering new capabilities of RingCentral Video that not only make video meetings more enjoyable and more effective but combine video with team messaging so people can get more work done more effectively before, during, and after their meetings.”

To provide greater integration between different modes of communication, including message, video and phone, and to manage concerns for when people get back into their offices and ensure they are safe, we are announcing:

• Mobile phone as RingCentral Rooms controller: Users can start, join, and manage video meetings in any conference room using their own RingCentral mobile app (connecting to the room via Bluetooth) so they can avoid touching the shared controller tablet. As some workers begin to return to the office, while others remain at home, RingCentral Rooms allows all participants to join the meeting while adhering to the physical distancing requirements and without using the communal iPad or device to control the Rooms system.

Roopam Jain, Industry Director for Unified Communications and Collaboration at analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, said, “The rapid pace of new video capabilities demonstrates RingCentral’s strong commitment to innovation and addressing the needs of today’s evolving hybrid workforce. The wide variety of new features that RingCentral has added to RingCentral Video™ will help drive even greater engagement for people working from anywhere - enabling them to connect and build relationships while driving business outcomes.”

RingCentral customer Elliot Hamby of Envera Systems, a leading provider of technology-based security solutions said, “With RingCentral Video our customers and employees are able to join video meetings from a laptop or mobile phone with the click of a button and screen sharing is just as easy, which has helped us increase our productivity. We’ve been pleased to see the rapid pace of new innovations like virtual video backgrounds and closed captioning. We couldn’t be happier with our choice to embrace RingCentral as our unified communications platform.”

Cody Broderick, founder & CEO, inWhatLanguage, a RingCentral customer that provides innovative translation solutions said, “RingCentral enables us to work smarter and faster by integrating video meetings and team messaging all in a single application. We have the RingCentral application on our laptops, mobile phones and tablets so we can communicate from anywhere on any device. We’ve been impressed with the speed of innovation and availability of new RingCentral Video features, like overlay presenter mode and breakout rooms, which have enabled us to share experiences both externally and internally as we continue to work together from anywhere to shape a better future.”

For a full list of RingCentral Video features, visit https://www.ringcentral.com/hybrid-work-solutions.html. To learn more about some of the features we’ve announced today, read our latest blog.

*Rating as of April 19, 2021

About RingCentral

RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG) is a leading provider of business cloud communications and contact center solutions based on its powerful Message Video Phone™    (MVP™) platform. More flexible and cost effective than legacy on-premise PBX and video conferencing systems that it replaces, RingCentral empowers modern mobile and distributed workforces to communicate, collaborate, and connect via any mode, any device, and any location. RingCentral offers three key products in its portfolio including RingCentral Office® , a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platform including team messaging, video meetings, and a cloud phone system; Glip ®   the company's free video meetings solution with team messaging that enables Smart Video Meetings™; and RingCentral cloud Contact Center solutions. RingCentral’s open platform integrates with leading third party business applications and enables customers to easily customize business workflows. RingCentral is headquartered in Belmont, California, and has offices around the world.

© 2021 RingCentral, Inc. All rights reserved. RingCentral, RingCentral Video, Message Video Phone, MVP, RingCentral Office, Glip, Smart Video Meetings, and the RingCentral logo are trademarks of RingCentral, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210420005356/en/

FAQ

What new features were announced by RingCentral in April 2021?

RingCentral announced new video capabilities such as Overlay, video virtual backgrounds, and Breakout Rooms, along with enhancements to team messaging.

How highly is the RingCentral mobile app rated?

The RingCentral mobile app is rated 4.6 on both Google Play and Apple Store.

What does the Breakout Rooms feature do?

The Breakout Rooms feature allows meeting moderators to split participants into smaller groups for focused discussions.

What is the significance of the new video features for remote work?

The new video features aim to enhance communication and collaboration for remote and hybrid work environments.

How does RingCentral cater to the hybrid workforce?

RingCentral's new capabilities integrate video, messaging, and phone communications, supporting flexible work arrangements.