In a move that signals renewed
commitment, RingCentral and NiCE have extended their long-standing
partnership to jointly promote the RingCentral Contact Center a solution built
on NiCE CXone Mpower and seamlessly integrated with RingEX, RingCentral’s
unified collaboration platform.
By
blending CXone Mpower's robust contact center capabilities with RingEX's
intuitive communications tools, the two companies empower businesses to merge
their CCaaS and UCaaS needs into a single, AI-driven, enterprise-grade
platform. Both offerings are leaders in their respective Gartner Magic
Quadrants, making this combination highly attractive to enterprises seeking
performance and scalability.
Over
the past five years, this partnership has grown into a strong, mutually
rewarding relationship. Now, RingCentral’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Vladimir Shmunis,
is excited to take it even further. During the company’s recent earnings call,
he said:
“We’re
excited to team up with NiCE to bring businesses a powerful, AI-driven cloud
telephony and contact center solution—especially for enterprises with complex
needs that demand more from their tech.”
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A Welcome
Relief After Industry Speculation
The
news comes as a welcome development for existing RingCentral Contact Center
customers, especially after months of speculation about the partnership’s
future. Industry chatter began in November 2023, when RingCentral introduced
RingCX, its standalone CCaaS offering, which has since gained
traction with over 1,200 customers.
Adding
more fuel to the rumor mill, NiCE introduced its own UCaaS platform, NiCE 1CX,
in July 2024. The back-to-back product announcements led many to question
whether the partnership had run its course.
In
fact, when RingCentral migrated its internal contact center team
from RingCentral Contact Center to RingCX in late 2024, Shmunis referred to
RingCX as the company’s “go-forward solution” without confirming if the NiCE
relationship would continue.
Back on Track: A New Chapter of Collaboration
Despite
past uncertainty, the relationship now seems to be firmly back on track. Scott Russell, CEO of NiCE, echoed this
sentiment by highlighting a renewed focus on collaborative growth:
"We’re
thrilled to strengthen our partnership with RingCentral and create a new
chapter—where AI seamlessly
connects customer and employee experiences like never before."
Russell
emphasized that the goal moving forward is to meet organizations wherever they
are in their AI journey, enabling them to modernize engagement, collaboration,
and service delivery.
This
renewed agreement also aligns with NiCE’s broader vision of becoming a “system
of interaction” offering enterprises a unified view of both customer and
internal conversations. As businesses increasingly route customer issues to
subject matter experts (SMEs) across platforms like RingEX, capturing these
internal interactions becomes critical for delivering truly connected customer
experiences.
Through
integration with RingEX, NiCE can now extract valuable conversational data from
a globally adopted collaboration platform adding depth and context to customer
case insights.
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What
Happens to RingCX?
Even
with the extended partnership, RingCentral remains bullish on RingCX,
positioning it as a key revenue driver for the future. In fact, the company
reported that half of its $1 million-plus deals last quarter featured RingCX.
Noteworthy
wins included a major U.S. restaurant chain and a university with over 5,500
employees, both of which adopted RingCX alongside RingEX and RingSense
RingCentral’s conversational intelligence tool for a fully integrated
enterprise communication ecosystem.
While
RingCX serves the needs of many mid-market and enterprise clients, RingCentral
acknowledges that some large organizations require broader, more flexible
solutions. For these customers especially those already using RingEX the
RingCentral Contact Center (powered by NiCE) continues to be a strong and
scalable choice.
Shmunis
reinforced this view:
“RingCentral’s
UCaaS and NiCE’s CCaaS solutions continue to be highly regarded, particularly
by large enterprises with complex needs. The combined solution continues to
deliver strong results.”
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Additional
Highlights from RingCentral’s Earnings Call
Beyond
the NiCE collaboration, RingCentral shared several other important updates
during its latest earnings report:
- The company
expanded its partnership with AT&T, which will now resell RingCX and
RingSense alongside RingEX broadening the reach of RingCentral’s
enterprise communication tools.
- Vaibhav Agarwal
has been named the new Chief Financial Officer, stepping in to succeed
Abhey Lamba, who will stay on as Executive Advisor through the end of the
year.
- RingCentral
reported $599 million in quarterly revenue, reflecting a solid 5%
year-over-year growth, landing at the high end of its projected guidance.
Final
Thoughts
With
this renewed partnership, RingCentral and NiCE are once again aligned to
deliver integrated, intelligent, and future-ready customer experience
solutions. As businesses continue to prioritize AI-powered communications, this
collaboration promises to empower enterprises with both agility and depth
bridging contact centers and collaboration in new and powerful ways.
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