In today's world, collaboration has never been more important. Distributed teams and remote employees need fast, easy, and secure ways to communicate and collaborate. Among the best online collaboration software striving to meet this demand today is RingCentral, a veteran of collaborative solutions. In this RingCentral Message review, we'll take a look at the features that help this provider stand out from the crowd, the types of pricing and plans available, and how they stack up against the competition.
Plans and prices
Team Messaging is available as a standalone app, called Glip, or as part of RingCentral Office plans, which also include document sharing, toll-free and work numbers, PBX, video conferencing, and unlimited calling in the US and California. and professional SMS. As a standalone app, Glip is free for teams, with unlimited chat, storage, guest users, integrations and teams, plus 500 minutes of video conferencing or screen sharing. The app also has calendar and task management features. For €5/user/month you get 1000 video minutes for each user per month, 24/7 support and reporting features.
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RingCentral Glip is available as a free or paid standalone application. (Image credit: RingCentral) As part of RingCentral Office, messaging is integrated with the RingCentral app, along with document sharing, toll-free and work numbers, and unlimited US talk and text. And Canada. There are four levels of RingCentral Office, each with additional collaboration tools. The Essential plan ($19.99), limited to 20 users, is best for small businesses looking for basic collaboration and light phone services. It includes team messages and all the features mentioned above. The Standard plan ($24.99) has no user limit and adds video conferencing capabilities (up to 100 people), 24/7 user support, and integration for popular apps like Microsoft 365, G Suite, and Slack. The Premium plan (€34.99) includes a number of business features such as single sign-on, automatic call recording, eight-digit extensions, real-time analytics, and other integrations with CRM and industry-specific software such as Salesforce and Canvas. . The Ultimate plan ($49.99) adds unlimited storage and device status reports and alerts.
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Messaging is included in all RingCentral Office plans, along with other collaboration features. (Image credit: RingCentral)
Features
RingCentral Messaging, either as a standalone Glip app or integrated with the RingCentral app for Office plans, has plenty of features to help teams get things done. Users can be organized into an unlimited number of teams or projects, each with its own space for messaging and file sharing. This is facilitated by drag-and-drop file sharing capabilities and easy integrations with G Suite, Office 365, DropBox, and more. An unlimited number of guest users can be added to projects, allowing for easy collaboration with people outside of the company.
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Messaging, file sharing, and video conferencing all in one app. (Image credit: RingCentral) The messaging app also comes with a rudimentary task manager – you can organize your assigned tasks and assign tasks to others as needed. A number of handy features make it easy to find files and messages, including @mentions, favorites, pinned messages, and a files tab for each project and conversation. Standalone apps and RingCentral Office include video conferencing capabilities, allowing you to send messages, share files and chat face-to-face from the same app. The video chat feature is powered by Zoom, so the interface will be familiar to anyone who has used this popular video conferencing software.
Interface and in use
Messaging can be accessed through a web browser or through native apps for Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, and Android. The standalone Glip app and the RingCentral Office app are almost identical, except the latter includes tabs for business phone and video conferencing solutions. Getting the app up and running was quick and easy. Of course, like any collaborative software, getting started always takes more time: creating teams and projects, entering user information, etc. Fortunately, RingCentral can make it easy to import from Google Teams or Office 365, which is a useful feature.
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A familiar and intuitive interface. (Image credit: RingCentral) Overall, the app is easy to install and use, light on resources (averaging 5% CPU and 125MB RAM on our 7-core Intel Core i6 MBP at 2,6 16 GHz with 4 GB of DDRXNUMX) and easy to configure for multiple teams and projects.
Support
Glip's free plan does not include any support, although there is a rich knowledge base and FAQ on the website, a community support section where you can ask questions and get answers from other users. , and a chat functionality open to the public for sales. General questions and requests. The Glip Standard plan and all RingCentral Office plans include 24/7 live XNUMX-on-XNUMX chat and phone support, as well as access to RingCentral University, which has plenty of tutorials and video guides to get you started and getting started. maximum benefit of the product.
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RingCentral's strong knowledge base. (Image credit: RingCentral)
fullfilment of security requirements
Data security is of the utmost importance when working with collaboration and messaging, file sharing, and video conferencing. RingCentral supports TLS and SRTP encryption between all endpoints. It has also been externally audited and certified by HITRUST and McAfee, achieving the highest security ratings possible. Finally, data is stored in 18 data centers, with multiple digital and geographic redundancies, to protect against data loss or corruption.
Competition
Slack is one of the most popular business messaging services, thanks to its intuitive interface, one-click video calling, and thousands of integrations. Slack's standard plan at €6.67/mo is also a cheaper alternative to RingCentral (which is billed per user), though it lacks some business features like task management. Another comparable alternative is Zoho Cliq. At just €1/user/month, it's a cheaper option than RingCentral. Plus, if you're already using Zoho CRM or any of its other desktop apps, the integration is seamless and intuitive.
Final verdict
Overall, RingCentral Messaging, as a standalone or integrated with RingCentral Office, is an excellent solution for communication and collaboration. The interface is intuitive and, although it is more expensive than the competition, it has more features, especially if you subscribe to an Office plan. If you have business telephony and PBX needs, but also want a messaging and collaboration app, this should be your choice.