RingCentral Review: Is It the Phone System Supplier for Your Business?

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Will RingCentral ‘ring true’ for your business? Find out before you invest


What is RingCentral?

With clients spread across 190 countries, there’s no denying that RingCentral is one of the world’s top VoIP telephone system suppliers. Big brand names such as Orange GroupArco, and Triumph have all partnered with RingCentral, proving that RingCentral Office – the company's flagship VoIP phone system – is capable of holding up heavy telecommunication infrastructure (with 99.99% uptime).

It’s not just big businesses that can benefit from a RingCentral phone system, though. With a department dedicated to serving small businesses, RingCentral Office is designed to help businesses grow, and remain at the top of their game.

In a world where unified communications (UC) is becoming integral to business success, RingCentral is right at the forefront. Beating the likes of Mitel and 8×8 to the top spot in OMDIA's 2020 UCaaS (unified communications as a service) Service Provider Scorecard, RingCentral has proven its ability to lead the way when it comes to modern telephone system communications.

Fast facts

In 2020 alone, RingCentral Office was awarded…

  • Best Unified Communications Platform of the Year by UC Today
  • Unified Communications Product of the Year (for RingCentral Video) by TMC’s Internet Telephony magazine
  • Top 100 Mobile App of 2020 by CRN

RingCentral has also been recognized in The Financial Times list of The Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies in 2021.


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RingCentral Office's Features and Benefits

RingCentral Office provides all the standard VoIP features, including:

  • Call forwarding
  • Voicemail
  • Call holding
  • Auto attendant
  • Conference calling
  • Interactive voice response systems

But we wanted to show you the ways in which RingCentral Office stands out from the rest. Here are our favorite things about the system:

✓ Unified communications

As we’ve already mentioned, unified communications is becoming integral to the way in which modern businesses operate – and according to the stats, RingCentral is pretty good at it!

‘Unified communications’ means that all the different ways a business communicates are integrated into one system. Your phones, instant messaging, emails, video conferencing, and even communications through webforms and social media can all be accessed and monitored from your RingCentral hub.

In fact, RingCentral's video conferencing tool, RingCentral Glip, is an excellent free add-on that enables you to host video calls with up to 100 participants. Or, you can pay an extra $11.99 per user, per month to boost that limit to 200 participants, and benefit from 100 hours of cloud recording per user, and advanced analytics for video and messaging.

✓ Your office can be anywhere

Before VoIP, phone numbers were fixed; to call from your business phone number meant being in the office. Now, thanks to VoIP technology, you can make calls from your business phone number on any device – wherever you happen to be.

RingCentral Office’s app makes it super easy for employees to work remotely . Whether they’re working from home or out in the field, all they need to do is sign in to the app using their work email address. They’ll then have access to their work number and communication channels.

✓ Integrate RingCentral with over 100 apps

Email, CRM systems, project management boards, social media channels – RingCentral integrates with a whole host of tools to make managing your business from one place a breeze. With all of your tools working together, you’ll be able to improve efficiency, as well as create detailed business reports.

✓ Make RingCentral work for you

Thanks to RingCentral’s software development kit (SDK), your team of developers can program the app to your specifications. This makes RingCentral Office particularly great for enterprise businesses, as integration with unique or customized bits of software is made possible.

✓ 24/7 Customer Service

The great thing about RingCentral Office is that you don’t have to invest in one of its more expensive packages to benefit from 24/7 customer service. You’ll also find plenty of documents online for support if you get stuck when using a certain feature or application. Developers can even involve themselves in an online developer community, where they can share useful solutions and tips with each other.



RingCentral for Small Businesses

RingCentral made it to both our best unified communications as a service (UCaaS) providers and best virtual phone numbers lists – and it did so especially for its particular suitability to small businesses. This is because RingCentral understands that a simple, yet well performing VoIP system is integral to growth and sustainability.

Here’s what a small business can expect when it invests in RingCentral Office:

Easy to use software – your staff will be able to get the hang of the software easily, so there’s minimal downtime

Heaps of useful features – grow your business with customer management tools

Affordable monthly cost – don’t spend any more than you need to, and see a good return on investment

Mobile and desktop applications –use the RingCentral Office app in the office and on the road, on any device

Scalability – as your business grows, so does your RingCentral phone system. It’s just a case of adding more users, and upgrading packages

Case Study

As a director of product development at a small to medium-sized business, Charles uses RingCentral’s features every day. Often experiencing high levels of phone calls, he finds the call reporting function particularly useful. This is because it enables him to see who’s called within the last 60 days, and how often they’ve called.

He also finds the ability to create multiple greetings messages useful, as it means he can let callers know whether the office is open or closed, or if they can expect a longer waiting time due to staff being out of office.


RingCentral Office's Pricing

The great thing about RingCentral Office is that its pricing is very transparent. The company offers four telephone system packages – Essentials, Standard, Premium, and Ultimate. The price of each package will depend on how many people intend to use the system.

Here’s a breakdown of the price per user, per month, if you pay annually:

Package1 user2–10 users11+ users
Essentials$29.99$19.99Unavailable
Standard$34.99$27.99$29.99
Premium$44.99$34.99$34.99
Ultimate$59.99$49.99$49.99

It's worth noting that RingCentral does offer free trials, but only to businesses with 50 or fewer users, and not for the Ultimate package.


Answer a few questions about your business to get personalized quotes from the best phone system suppliers for you

Expert Verdict

There’s no doubt that RingCentral is at the top of its game. As one of the leading providers of unified communications technology, its VoIP phone system has proven to be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes.

While its prices are a touch on the expensive side, RingCentral’s VoIP system is a solid product that’ll improve your business’s communication and call management processes.

With four tiered packages available, businesses will never pay more than they need to – and thanks to this pricing structure, RingCentral’s systems are easily scalable, too.

Even though we’ve supplied the pricing structure for a RingCentral phone system, this doesn’t cover additional costs, including installation and hardware. In fact, to gain a true idea of how much a phone system will cost you, it’s best to talk directly with system providers.

Our free quote-finding service can help with that. We'll ask a few questions about your business and its communication needs, before using the information you provide to match you up with the right phone system suppliers for your business. They'll then be in touch directly with personalized quotes for you to compare, and answers to your questions. It's the quickest, easiest way to zero in on the best options for you.

Written by:
Aimee profile image
Aimee is Expert Market’s resident telephone systems and point of sale go-to. If she’s not writing about business products, you’ll find her daydreaming about dog walking on Dorset beaches.
Reviewed by:
James thinks all businesses can improve if they use the right technology. At Expert Market, he utilises his 4+ years experience as a researcher to offer specialised advice on a wide range of categories from CRM to Fleet Management.