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RingCentral has had a busy year, with new products, ongoing innovation, and several leadership additions. At the company’s 2026 Analyst Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, analysts received an update on RingCentral’s business momentum and a preview of upcoming announcements—some of which will be formally introduced at Enterprise Connect. In her first year as President and COO Kira Makagon, opened the event by framing the broader industry shift. She described the current moment as an inflection point, with AI reshaping how people work, evolving buyer expectations, and a market in transition. As she noted, “We’re in the industry that lets people communicate—we’re at the essence of what AI enables people to do.” Rather than replacing communication, AI enhances it. Makagon summarized RingCentral’s focus simply: “Our mission is to shape the communication that is now aided by AI.” Expanding the Portfolio with Agentic AI RingCentral has long been a major player in business communications, beginning as an early cloud telephony provider and expanding into meetings, collaboration, video, events, and contact center platforms. Today the company is embedding AI—and increasingly agentic AI—across both customer and employee communications. Over the past year, RingCentral introduced several new products while adding AI capabilities across its existing portfolio, including: AI Receptionist (AIR) AI Virtual Assistant (AVA) AI Conversational Expert (ACE) Workforce Engagement Management (RingWEM) Customer Engagement Bundle for informal contact centers AI Meetings (AIM) for video, meetings, and chat Adoption appears strong, as RingCentral reported more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue from new products in 2025. The “Three A’s”: AIR, AVA, and ACE A central theme of the event was what RingCentral calls the “Power of AND”—the way its three core AI offerings work together across the customer journey. AIR serves as the front door. This 24/7 voice AI agent greets customers, answers and routes calls, provides self-service, captures leads, and schedules appointments. When human interaction is needed, AVA assists employees in real time, acting as an AI coworker that provides guidance and support during the conversation. After the interaction, ACE analyzes conversations and calling patterns using conversation intelligence. The insights feed back into the system to support continuous learning and improvement. To explore RingCentral’s AI strategy in more detail, I spoke with Steven Zachok, VP and GM of AI. In the interview below, Zachok explains how RingCentral aims to deliver a “system of outcomes” that drives action throughout the customer engagement lifecycle. He also discusses how the three A’s work together to support customer engagement, and how RingCentral differentiates with a voice-first architecture where AI is built directly into the platform rather than added as a separate layer. AI Receptionist (AIR) AIR was one of the most discussed products at the event. The platform is designed to deliver a conversational, human-like experience while automating routine front-office tasks. AIR can: Answer and route calls Respond to common questions Capture and qualify leads Schedule appointments and reservations It can also run as a standalone solution alongside existing SIP-based PBXs, potentially opening the door for organizations that are not ready to replace their current phone systems. I spoke with Joe Fahrner, GM of AIR, about how organizations are deploying the solution. In the video below, Fahrner discusses common use cases, including how businesses use AIR to provide a 24/7 receptionist capability. He also outlines adoption patterns across several vertical markets and highlights operational and cost benefits customers are seeing. AVA: AI Assistance for Employees I also spoke with Ashu Varshney, SVP of EX Products, about AVA, RingCentral’s AI Voice Assistant. AVA functions as an AI copilot across RingCentral’s EX, CX, and meetings platforms. It allows users to interact with the system using natural language prompts similar to ChatGPT. During interactions and meetings, AVA can: Take notes automatically Generate summaries and insights Recommend next-best actions Transcribe conversations and meetings In this discussion, Varshney outlined several use cases and customer benefits, along with a preview of capabilities on the roadmap. ACE: Intelligence Across Interactions The third component of the “three A’s” is ACE, formerly RingSense, which provides conversation intelligence and analytics across interactions. ACE analyzes every conversation to identify why customers are calling, what topics they discuss, and even whether competitors are mentioned. The platform surfaces insights that help organizations identify customer friction points and convert those insights into operational improvements. CX Takes Center Stage RingCentral continues to expand its customer experience portfolio. In addition to RingCX, which targets mid-market and enterprise contact centers, and RingCentral Contact Center for large enterprises, the company now offers the Customer Engagement Bundle (CEB) for informal contact center environments. CEB runs on the RingEX platform and is designed for employees who interact with customers but are not traditional contact center agents. The goal is to provide contact-center-style capabilities with lower complexity and faster adoption. Since its availability in late 2025, more than 1,000 customers have deployed CEB. RingCX supports voice, along with 20 digital channels and recently added native workforce engagement management through RingWEM. RingCentral Contact Center, leverages technology from NICE for enterprise-grade deployments. In the following video, Jim Dvorkin, SVP of CX Products, provides an overview of the CX portfolio and recent momentum. He discusses the Customer Engagement Bundle, RingCX, RingCentral Contact Center, RingWEM, and AI Interaction Analytics. I also spoke with John Finch, VP, Global Product Marketing, about how RingCentral’s AI agents work together in real customer service scenarios. In this discussion, Finch explains how the company approaches automation across the full interaction lifecycle—before, during, and after conversations—and how AIR, AVA, and ACE combine to automate, assist, and analyze customer interactions while keeping humans in the loop. Bringing It All Together As President and COO, Makagon leads RingCentral’s product and technology organization, overseeing marketing, strategy, engineering, and operations. Throughout the event, she emphasized the company’s focus on practical innovation and customer outcomes. In this closing video, Makagon summarizes the event’s key themes, including RingCentral’s position in agentic AI and how AIR, AVA, and ACE work together under the “Power of AND.” She also highlights several sessions from the summit, including previews of upcoming announcements and discussions with customers and channel partners. Final Thoughts While RingCentral continues to innovate and increasingly focus on its CX and contact center offerings, it remains true to its roots as voice communications remain central to its strategy. Throughout the summit, executives emphasized the value of voice as a source of insight that can drive better business outcomes. The company has spent years enhancing its voice network, based on a redundant, reliable, secure standards-based architecture   With ongoing AI innovation and a broad portfolio spanning employee and customer communications – including calling, messaging, video, collaboration, and events, as well as a range of contact center and CX products, RingCentral is positioning itself to play a significant role as AI reshapes how businesses communicate.

At its Zoho Day analyst event in Austin, TX, Zoho marked several key milestones. The company celebrated its 30th anniversary and reported more than one million paying customers and 150 million users. For a privately-held company with a long-standing emphasis on engineering over marketing, these figures reflect sustained growth at scale. Strategic Context Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer, outlined the trends shaping Zoho’s strategy: AI has moved from experimentation to operational deployment. AI is accelerating innovation—and raising expectations. Best-of-breed buying has created application sprawl; organizations now seek consolidation and a single system of record. Spending is under scrutiny; value is increasingly tied to measurable outcomes. Systems of record, APIs, and infrastructure layers have become strategic assets. Sundaram argued that AI and agentic systems are reshaping the SaaS model. Under traditional SaaS, economic, security, and operational risk shifted from customer to vendor. With AI and agentic systems, elements of that risk shift back toward customers—particularly as they design, train, and deploy their own agents. Customers are no longer just users of predefined workflows; they are designers of behavior. As control increases, so does responsibility. Organizations must determine whether they are prepared to manage that risk. Zoho is approaching these changes in several ways: ·       Maniacally focusing on value, by building a model that delivers value while giving customers the freedom to customize Serving as the corporate system of record, providing context, permissions, and governance for AI. Driving customization through platform approach that allows customers and partners to build applications within a unified ecosystem. ·      Enabling massive automation with AI/agents The objective is to expand customer control without increasing operational exposure. Addressing Fragmentation Mani Vembu, CEO – Zoho Division, highlighted the core problem of enterprise software: enterprises run too many disconnected applications, systems are difficult to change, and each new tool often adds complexity rather than reducing it. The best-of-breed procurement model has led to fragmented architectures, overlapping vendors, and limited incremental value. AI amplifies this issue. Without unified systems, shared data models, and consistent knowledge structures, AI outputs are costly and inconsistent. Fragmentation exists at three levels: applications, middleware, and data. Users must navigate multiple systems, and IT retains limited centralized control. Vembu noted that mid-to-large enterprises average roughly 275 SaaS applications, while IT directly manages only a subset. Fragmentation, he argued, ends when software is designed as an integrated system rather than assembled from components.   AppOS To address this, Zoho introduced AppOS, a unified business application operating system. AppOS provides: A shared data foundation. Common business and process models. Built-in workflows and automation. Identity, permissions, and governance by default. Applications are built natively within the platform rather than integrated after the fact. Key implications: Data is structured consistently across applications. Business rules execute uniformly. Teams retain application-level control within centrally enforced standards. Applications can evolve without architectural rework. For customers, this translates to reduced time to value, lower total cost of ownership, and predictable governance.     Vertical Integration Zoho is also pursuing vertical integration across the technology stack. The company operates its own operating system, database (optimized for GPU workloads), internally developed LLMs and SLMs, and is developing proprietary hardware (details remain under NDA). This “delayering” approach spans: User experience Orchestration and execution Software infrastructure Hardware infrastructure By controlling the stack, Zoho aims to improve cost efficiency, performance, and data sovereignty. It also enables tighter integration between AI models, data, and applications. Zoho manages its own data centers and supports cloud, hybrid, and on-premises deployments—an increasingly relevant capability as data sovereignty requirements expand globally. In a discussion on AppOS and vertical integration, LSP Chandrasheka, Managing Director, Zoho Canada, described Zoho’s evolution from a platform foundation  toward horizontal applications in HR, finance, and other domains. He explained that AppOS, once released, will serve as a platform layer that exposes core capabilities to partners and system integrators, enabling development of industry-specific solutions.     Zoho CX Within customer experience, Zoho emphasized orchestration across teams and workflows. The company’s CX focus includes: Unified CX work orchestration across customer-facing teams. Native, embedded AI for contextual intelligence. Personalization across stakeholders. A system of execution aligned to operational workflows. Modular architecture. Solution-oriented pricing. To get more insights into Zoho CX, I spoke with Dlip Nagarajan, Head of Product, Zoho CRM, and PVK, Head of Market Strategy, Zoho CX on CX Strategy  Cliq Zoho Cliq, the company’s team collaboration application, supports messaging, chat, voice and video calls, and meetings, didn’t get much attention on the stage, but is a key application for many customers. In a discussion with Shathantha Laksmi, Senior Marketing Analyst at Zoho, she noted that Zoho’s focus was on deeper AI integration into collaboration workflows. AI capabilities are being embedded directly into user workflows to act as proactive assistants. Zoho has also expanded workflow automation and unified related capabilities within the platform.   Customer Perspectives Customer sessions remain a core element of Zoho analyst events. I had the opportunity to speak with two customers who shared their experiences at the event. Newcross Healthcare Solutions Mo Umerji, Head of Enterprise Architecture, described Newcross’s use of Zoho One applications, including CRM, Creator, Recruit, Analytics, Campaigns, DataPrep, Expense, Desk, FlowMail, People, Sign, Survey, Contracts, Vault, and Cliq. Umerji emphasized that AI augments users rather than replaces them, noting “AI isn’t a replacement for a person. It’s about giving the user more power and more information to improve how they operate and how quickly they can do things." By building its healthcare application (Karivo) on Zoho Creator, Newcross can keep their data secure and centralized while reducing costs. Integris Credit Union Jeff Anderson, Vice President of IT, discussed Integris Credit Union’s use of Zoho applications, including CRM, Analytics, Directory, Expense, Cliq, Projects, Vault, Desk, Flow, SalesIQ, Campaigns, Assist, Bookings, DataPrep, Mail, Calendar, and Forms. Following a merger, Integris needed to integrate 30 applications, including Zoho and its in-house core banking system. Anderson explained that Zoho Analytics provides visibility into member behavior, churn, asset and loan aggregation, delinquency, and portfolio value. Key Themes Several themes emerged: ·      Platform over portfolio : Zoho is positioning itself as a unified application platform rather than a suite of loosely connected tools. With AppOS serving as the architectural foundation providing unification, rather than fragmentation, Zoho makes it easier for customer and partners to build custom app or customize existing Zoho apps using the same coding tools, with everything built on the same foundation. ·      Verticalized stack : By controlling hardware, infrastructure, database, operating system, and AI models, Zoho improves cost efficiency, optimizes performance, while better supporting data sovereignty by design. Zoho is in a unique position, as most competitors can’t provide this full stack at the cost and efficiency of Zoho. ·      Embedded AI : AI is integrated into the platform rather than layered on top. Internally developed LLMs and SLMs can be trained and deployed for specific customer requirements, with an emphasis on efficiency and latency control. ·      Data sovereignty and deployment flexibility : With owned data centers and support for cloud, hybrid, and on-premises models, Zoho addresses regulatory and geographic constraints. ·      Customization at scale : AppOS is intended to enable customers and partners to build vertical and team-specific applications using a shared foundation. Zoho’s goals for the event were to: ·      Strengthen its enterprise story year after year ·      Provide a clear understanding of the customer outcomes they want to create ·      Share its vision and strategy during this volatile, fast-changing time Based on what we heard at the event, the company succeeded in these areas.

The landscape of Unified Communications (UC) and Contact Center (CC) has shifted from a period of predictable cloud utility to an era defined by extreme complexity and rising costs. As enterprises move through 2026, CIOs and CFOs are facing a "sticker shock" that challenges the original value proposition of the cloud: flexibility and cost savings. This podcast examines the driving forces behind these price escalations and provides expert insights on how to mitigate financial risk. The Rise of the UC Oligopoly and "Enshittification" The industry has entered a phase of consolidation that has dampened traditional price competition. Joseph Williams, known as the "cloud economist," notes that 2025 saw a dramatic 20% lift in prices across the UC industry. He suggests that vendors are no longer competing on price but are instead squeezing their incumbent install bases. Williams observes that the high cost of switching, including security validation and customization, has left many enterprises captive. "I think what's happening... the competition is not as fierce and so rather than compete as much on price... they're working with their incumbent install base and just elevating the fees attached to what they're offering." — Joseph Williams This trend has been described as "enshittification," where vendors stop innovating substantially and instead focus on revenue growth through fee escalation. Williams predicts this environment is ripe for a market disruptor to offer a simpler, lower cost model to break the current oligopoly. The AI Premium: Value vs. Hype Artificial Intelligence is the primary justification for recent price hikes, yet many experts question whether the functionality justifies the cost. While vendors like Zoom and WebEx have included AI assistants at no additional cost, others have introduced significant price increases. Kevin Kieller highlights that these shifts are forcing a total re-evaluation of license value. "Come July 1st, 2026, licenses in the E series and F series, it's going to increase somewhere between 8% and 33% depending on your license. So obviously that's causing people to go and redo the math and figure out if they're getting value for what they're paying for." — Kevin Kieller Consumption Risk and Hidden Operational Costs The shift toward consumption-based pricing models—often using "tokens"—has effectively transferred the financial risk from the vendor to the customer. Beth English notes that many clients are experiencing sticker shock when they realize that every AI transaction incurs a cost. This unpredictability is further complicated by "hidden" fees in the infrastructure. Jon Arnold compares the current state of enterprise communications to the fragmented world of consumer media, noting that the "onus" should be on the vendor to provide better cost management tools. "This sounds so much like cutting the cord with cable for TV and you just revert... you go to streaming and before you know it you got 10 different streaming packages and you're spending twice the amount of money and frankly you were getting a much better deal with cable before." — Jon Arnold Strategic Renegotiation and the Search for ROI Despite the aggressive tactics used by vendors, the experts agree that these costs remain negotiable. Robert Harris points out that many price escalations are simply revenue growth strategies rather than reflections of new product value. Organizations should scrutinize renewals and challenge "fixed commitment" licenses that strip away cloud flexibility. Blair Pleasant suggests that the industry is moving toward a hybrid approach to balance the need for predictability with the reality of AI usage. "I think what we're going to see is really this hybrid mode... a base price plus consumption or usage because finance wants predictability but it gets really hard to do that predictability." — Blair Pleasant Recommendations for Senior Leadership To navigate this period of volatility, IT and finance leaders should prioritize the following actions: Conduct a Math Audit:  With major license increases hitting in mid 2026, organizations must redo their TCO models immediately to see if current seats are still justifiable. Evaluate Switching Costs:  Compare the long term cost of a 20% price hike against the one-time pain of migrating to lower-cost platforms like Google Meet. Implement Governance Tools:  Use automated monitoring tools to track AI consumption and disable "always on" agents that do not provide active value. Demand Predictability:  Push vendors for "hybrid" models that combine a stable base price with capped consumption fees to protect the bottom line. As the industry matures, the burden is on the vendor to prove that AI and unified platforms deliver the productivity gains they promise. Until then, the BCStrategies experts advise a cautious, data-driven approach to every new contract and feature activation. Watch the entire discussion here:

B usiness C ommunications S trategies Expert analysis, insights, and opinions Search BC Strategies Welcome to Business Communications Strategies (BCS), your go-to source for expert insights and guidance for enterprise success in Communications and Collaboration. Popular Tags Artificial Intelligence (14) 14 posts CCaaS (4) 4 posts Future of Work (2) 2 posts UCaaS (2) 2 posts Generative AI (2) 2 posts 8x8 (2) 2 posts Follow Us Featured Article Enterprise Connect 2025 – A Farewell to the Gaylord Palms Blair Pleasant 6 days ago 13 min read Quick Picks Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Events Upcoming Events AI Videos Featured Expert New Expert Latest Research Latest Podcasts Latest Podcasts Key takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2025 - Part 2 Mar 28 Takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2025 (part 1) Mar 27 Latest Posts 8x8 Analyst Summit Takeaways – Track Some Mud on the Carpet My favorite line from A Complete Unknown – “ Don’t be afraid to track some mud on the carpet ”. My favorite line – and pretty much... Jon Arnold 30 minutes ago Q&A with Pete Lavache, Avaya CMO and Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion president and principal analyst Expert Blair Pleasant asks questions of Avaya's CMO Pete Lavache Blair Pleasant 4 hours ago Chalice AI: The DeepSeek of Ad Tech In this exclusive interview, Adam Heimlich, Founder and CEO of Chalice AI, breaks down how his company is disrupting the ad tech space by... David Maldow 23 hours ago Unified Communications & Collaboration The Future of Eye Contact in Video Calls: Which of These 3 Methods Works Best? David Maldow 23 hours ago 1 min read Vedubox: The All-in-One LMS with Zoom-Powered Live Classes David Maldow 23 hours ago 1 min read Customer Experience 8x8 Analyst Summit Takeaways – Track Some Mud on the Carpet Jon Arnold 30 minutes ago 8 min read Q&A with Pete Lavache, Avaya CMO and Blair Pleasant, COMMfusion president and principal analyst Blair Pleasant 4 hours ago 6 min read Artificial Intelligence Chalice AI: The DeepSeek of Ad Tech David Maldow 23 hours ago 1 min read RingCentral Analyst Summit 2025 Blair Pleasant Mar 11 4 min read Infrastructure Das AI: The Good, Bad, and Weird from My Week in Berlin Tom Brannen Sep 12, 2024 4 min read The AI Chefs With Kevin Kieller and David Maldow The AI Chefs: AI Kitchen Tools and Inspiration Rodizio Feb 17 The AI Chefs: A Deep Dive into DeepSeek Jan 30 AI Show With Rob Scott and Kevin Kieller AI Show - The Fifth Industrial Revolution and Why AI is Reshaping Everything Nov 27, 2024 AI Show - Is Ambient AI Watching You? The Rise of 'Always-on' Technology Nov 15, 2024

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Latest Events BC Strategies Expert analysis, insights, and opinions Recent Events Inside Enterprise Connect 2025: Conversations, Insights, and Industry Trends A Farewell to the Gaylord Palms In this article, BCStrategy Expert Blair Pleasant covers key announcements and news, and offering valuable insights through informative vendor interviews she conducted at Enterprise Connect 2025. Read More A Congregation of Thoughts Read BCStrategy Expert Kevin Kieller's high-level impressions and takeways from Enterprise Connect 2025. Read More Key Takeaways - Part 1 Join BCStrategies Experts Kevin Kieller, David Danto, Thomas Brannen, Jon Arnold, Melissa Swartz, Robert Harris, and Steve Leaden as they share their key takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2025, highlighting the most surprising revelations, compelling insights, and overarching themes shaping the event. View Here Key Takeaways - Part 2 In this podcast, BCStrategies Experts Blair Pleasant , David Maldow , and Martha Buyer discuss their key takeaways and insights from Enterprise Connect 2025, offering thoughtful observations on the event's most impactful moments. View Here