INTERVIEW Sahil Rekhi - RingCentral
“We see the SME market as being focussed on mobility as a key factor with which to drive their business
forward but they also want a single solution for multiple forms of communications.”
Sahil Rekhi, Managing Director, RingCentral, EMEA
Driving the UCaaS Market
Comms Business talks to Sahil Rekhi, Managing Director, RingCentral, EMEA about Unifi ed Communications
in the SME and Mid-Market. What advice does Koura have for resellers?
CBM: What are the drivers for
UCaaS in the SME market and
how does this differ to those
in the mid-market?
Sahil Rekhi (SR): RingCentral is
still growing globally at a rate of
over 34% a year, our run-rate
is $800m a year and we have a
commitment to reach $1bn by
2020 which is on track.
is is mostly through
organic growth in our UCaaS
and cloud contact centre
business plus our acquisition
of French company Dimelo
last year. Dimelo is a digital
engagement platform that
enables enterprises to manage
all their digital customer
interactions, whatever the user
preference, through a single 1 00-platform.
All these markets are
growing and we are enjoying
particular success in verticals
such as smaller GP surgeries
and the retail sector.
To answer your question,
we see the SME market as
being focussed on mobility
as a key factor with which to
drive their business forward
but they also want a single
solution for multiple forms of
communications. e SME is
price conscious but when you
begin breaking this down the
full UCaaS suite options begin
to gain traction.
e mid-market user needs
are evolving; if you look at
the 100-500 user space where
organisations have dedicated
sales and service teams, and
examine what other apps they
are using in the IT stack and
how we can add value then you
arrive at a contact centre sitting
alongside a UCaaS proposition
from RingCentral.
CBM: What have been the key
channel highlights for you in
the last 12 months?
(SR): e continued success
of our Harmony channel
program which has now been
running for four years. e
volume of partners is growing
and the percentage of business
from channels is now 55%.
We are looking to realistically
accelerate this share to 65-70%
over coming months.
CBM: Where’s all that new
channel business going to
come from all of a sudden?
(SR): We announced last month
that we have entered in to a new
agreement with Westcon where
they will act as our master
distributor and agent.
With Westcon acting as a
master agent for RingCentral
initially in the UK and Ireland, it
is anticipated that Westcon will
draw on its established EMEA
footprint to extend RingCentral’s
reach across multiple markets in
Europe.
With proven expertise in
uni ed communications as
a service (UCaaS), Westcon
will enable speedy partner
onboarding, enabling them
to secure fast ROI on their
investment.
RingCentral’s portfolio
is attractive to new resellers
across many industries,
with a market potential that
extends beyond traditional UC
players. We believe Westcon
has the reach, relationships,
and drive to help accelerate
RingCentral’s business growth
here in the UK and Ireland.
CBM: But aren’t Weston
steeped in the traditions of
Avaya, Cisco and to some
degree Mitel?
(SR): Legacy suppliers such as
Avaya and Cisco have not made
it in the cloud but Westcon
has a signi cant footprint of
resellers. RingCentral will
therefore open up the market
for Westcon in new and
di erent ways.
Westcon have seen a shift
in the market over last 18
months with very strong
demand coming from channels
for leading UCaaS services to
address the wider UCaaS needs
and RingCentral o ers great
value for their channels.
CBM: How important is the
effective use of application
program interfaces (APIs) for
Ring Central?
(SR):We now have over 2,500
apps in our app store that can
be clicked and added to your
account instantly all of which
are available for integrations
with RingCentral. 25 apps
have been built by ourselves
but we make no charge for
exposing these third party apps
to our community.
You can’t get this from
CPaaS – we are out of the
box ready to drive change.
ere are also three sandbox
developer account software
developers can sign up for and
there are 3,000 developers
already signed up. It’s a
di erent business model - we
don’t charge developers.
Sahil Rekhi,
Managing Director,
RingCentral, EMEA
70 | Comms Business Magazine | September 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
/www.commsbusiness.co.uk