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RingCentral has entered the agentic AI space with the launch of RingCentral AI Receptionist (RingCentral AIR), an AI phone agent that improves the customer experience by answering customer questions and performing basic tasks on their behalf. Though the launch positions RingCentral as an early leader, uncertainties regarding rollout date, pricing, and availability remain, making it difficult to evaluate the offer’s impact on the market according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
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RingCentral AIR is currently available to select US businesses during a controlled availability phase, with a one-month, 100-minute free trial included. A broader rollout is planned during the second quarter (Q2) of 2025.
Agentic AI operates without human intervention
Gregg Willsky, Principal Analyst, Enterprise Technology & Services at GlobalData, comments:
“Agentic AI, which debuted in the second half of 2024, represents the next big phase of artificial intelligence (AI). It stretches beyond content generation, featuring agents that autonomously perform tasks—ranging from simple to complex—on behalf of users. Capable of making decisions and adapting to new information or changing circumstances, agentic AI operates without human intervention.”
AI Receptionist changes the game
AI Receptionist joins the ranks of recent rival offers such as Agentforce from Salesforce, Copilot Agents from Microsoft, and Webex AI Agent from Cisco Systems (Cisco) (coming soon). With AIR, RingCentral is tipping its toe into the agentic AI waters on the early portion of the adoption curve, reversing a tendency to play the role of follower and unspooling a long lag time versus competitors.
Willsky continues: “With AI Receptionist, RingCentral is continuing its very aggressive tempo of compiling AI-infused features in its overall portfolio. Relatively recent enhancements to the RingCX contact center solution help agents raise customer satisfaction by delivering a more positive customer experience and enable supervisors to address agent roadblocks. With the December 2024 introduction of ‘RingCentral AI Assistant’ on RingEX, RingCentral joined the ranks of competitors that offer personal AI assistants such as Microsoft with ‘Copilot’, Zoom with ‘AI Companion’, and Cisco with ‘Cisco AI Assistant in Webex Suite’.”
Despite the competitive benefits that AI Receptionist brings to RingCentral, there are some downsides.
Willsky concludes: “RingCentral AIR suffers from a somewhat vague launch date. No details regarding pricing have been issued. In addition, the scope of the ‘broader rollout’ remains a mystery. Fortunately, these questions will be answered relatively soon, and RingCentral will officially have an impactful new offer in the market.”
