Summary Bullets:

• RingCentral continues to aggressively grow its portfolio of AI-infused features both for team collaboration and communication as well as for contact center.
• The most significant enhancement to RingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR) is the introduction of a standalone version called AI Receptionist Everywhere (AIR Everywhere).

RingCentral has maintained a very aggressive cadence of compiling AI-infused features in its portfolio. That is true with respect to both its team collaboration and communication platform called RingCentral RingEX (RingEX) as well as its contact center platform known as RingCentral RingCX (RingCX). Mirroring a growing trend, it has also implemented features that link team collaboration/communication and contact center, allowing for employees throughout an organization to influence the customer experience. RingCentral’s latest portfolio fortification has arrived in the form of new features for RingCentral AIR.

RingCentral AIR is an AI phone agent that can answer or route customer calls using natural language capability. RingCentral AIR now includes appointment booking with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook, and it now supports British and Australian English, Spanish, and French, including Canadian French. In addition, RingCentral AIR will be available in the UK and Australia by the end of September 2025.

The most significant enhancement to RingCentral AIR is the introduction of a standalone version called RingCentral AIR Everywhere. RingCentral AIR Everywhere is especially intriguing because it brings the capabilities found in RingCentral AIR to third-party telephony systems – and thus to users who are not RingCentral customers. RingCentral AIR Everywhere is currently in controlled availability.

The addition of new languages to RingCentral AIR coupled with the compatibility of RingCentral AIR Everywhere with third-party telephony systems will allow RingCentral to expand the RingCentral AIR customer base. That is saying a lot because RingCentral AIR has already seen rapid adoption and growth since its release only six months ago. RingCentral AIR boasts more than 3,000 customers at the end of Q2 2025, triple the number compared to Q1 2025.

RingCentral AIR is also noteworthy because it marks RingCentral’s entry into the latest phase of AI, agentic AI. Agentic AI is an advanced form of the technology that stretches beyond merely generating content, featuring agents that perform tasks independently on behalf of users ranging from the mundane to the complex. Agentic AI can act autonomously, make decisions, and take actions without human intervention. It can adjust its approach based upon new information or changing circumstances.

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. RingCentral AIR joins the ranks of rival offers such as Agentforce from Salesforce, Copilot Agents from Microsoft, and Webex AI Agent from Cisco.

Although positive on balance, the launch of RingCentral AIR enhancements suffers a blemish, with no expiration date indicated for the controlled availability period for RingCentral AIR Everywhere. RingCentral is losing an opportunity to generate a dash of market momentum. Even a vague launch date such as ‘Q4 2025’ would be preferable over staying mute. Still, once RingCentral AIR Everywhere does become generally available, RingCentral will officially have yet another impactful offer in its portfolio.

Summary Bullets:

• New Zoom Workplace features are emblematic of the advent of agentic AI and the rise of Zoom as a competitor.
• A rapid accumulation of Workplace features provides Zoom with the challenge of drafting clear messaging regarding security and market positioning.

Earlier this month Zoom continued its steady drumbeat of enhancements to the Zoom Workplace platform with the latest round of new features. As with previous rounds, the new capabilities enable users to be more productive by saving time during their workday. However, the real headline is that the features are emblematic of the advent of agentic AI and the rise of Zoom as a competitor.

All the new features add value, but two are especially worth noting. With the Custom AI Companion add-on, AI Companion can attend meetings on a user’s behalf held on platforms from three of Zoom’s biggest rivals – Microsoft, Google, and coming soon, Cisco – and automatically transcribe, summarize, and deliver actionable follow-ups. Also with the add-on, users can connect to 16 third-party apps to complete tasks without ever leaving Zoom. For example, resolving customer support tickets with Zendesk and ServiceNow; updating project statuses, assigning tasks, and setting deadlines with Asana and Jira; and expediting recruiting, interviews, and onboarding with Workday.

A common thread running through the announced features is the latest phase of AI – agentic AI. Agentic AI stretches beyond generating content, featuring agents that perform tasks on users’ behalf. Agentic AI can act autonomously, make decisions, and take action without human intervention. It can adjust its approach based upon new information or changing circumstances. Zoom and each of its competitors are leveraging agentic AI in some shape or form.

Most significantly, the new features symbolize a profound metamorphosis taking place at Zoom. After its video meetings capability became renowned virtually overnight in the dark, nascent days of the pandemic, Zoom ignited a steady evolution of its platform. With the October 2023 introduction of Zoom AI Companion, that evolution took a sharp trajectory upward and morphed into a full-blown renaissance marked by the introduction of GenAI features. With the implementation of agentic AI capabilities – both those recently and newly introduced – Zoom has entered yet another chapter. Now, Zoom has taken an important step in that chapter with the integrations between competitor platforms and roster of third-party apps.

Zoom is converting the Workplace platform from an island of collaboration into a centralized hub connecting with external tools. With a critical mass of functionality available from within Zoom, Zoom creates much stickier relationships with users and enables them to get work accomplished much more rapidly. However, there are disadvantages to having extended functionality under one roof.

Within the last few years, Zoom experienced a security incident which made headlines, labeled ‘Zoom bombing.’ The company promptly restored trust, resolving the problem quickly and communicating to the public what types of security measures it had in place. Today, with Zoom Workplace linking into other tools, the issue of security becomes top of mind again. Zoom needs to resurrect the strong security message it previously drafted and remind users what safeguards are in place to reduce the chance of a major breach.

The rapid accumulation of features on the platform over an abbreviated period has resulted in a mosaic of capabilities. Zoom needs to craft a clear ‘identity’ for its suite of tools and send an unambiguous positioning message to the market. Cisco provides a good lead for Zoom to follow. In communicating what its Webex Suite stands for Cisco has erected three pillars: hybrid work, customer experience, and workspaces. Zoom needs to decide what its pillars are and mold a message accordingly.

By continuing to regularly augment the platform while drafting strong messaging regarding security and market positioning, Zoom will be poised to continue its ascent.

Summary Bullets:

• New Zoom CX features are noteworthy for their value and symbolize the rise of Zoom.
• The features connect two key trends – the arrival of agentic AI and the transformation of contact centers.

Earlier this month, Zoom announced new features that are noteworthy for the value they add to its customer experience (CX) platform, Zoom CX. However, the real headline is that the features sit at the intersection of two key trends – the advent of agentic AI and the transformation of contact centers – and are emblematic of the rise of Zoom as a competitor.

A quick examination of the features is in order to better understand their weight. Zoom Virtual Agent 2.0, a self-service customer support agent, can complete complex tasks without the need for human intervention such as processing returns, updating account details, or booking appointments. It also demonstrates reasoning capability, understanding context across interactions, and recalling recent conversations to provide personalized support.

In addition to Zoom Virtual Agent, capabilities that enhance contact center operations were unveiled. Zoom CX Analytics helps assess operational efficiency and service quality; Zoom CX Insights, planned for availability later in 2025, provides recommendations for improving agent performance; Zoom AI Scheduling forecasts demand for agents and generates scheduling accordingly; Zoom AI Topic Detection identifies trending themes in customer interactions so that issues can be isolated and analyzed in real time; new features for its advanced quality management score customer interactions and enable supervisors to surface insights into agent interactions through natural language.

The common thread running through the announced features is agentic AI. Agentic AI debuted in H2 2024 and is already considered to be the next big phase of AI. Agentic AI is an advanced form of AI that stretches beyond merely generating content, featuring agents that perform tasks independently on behalf of users ranging from the mundane to the complex. Agentic AI can act autonomously, make decisions, and take actions without human intervention. It can adjust its approach based upon new information or changing circumstances. Zoom and every competitor, it seems, is leveraging agentic AI in some shape or form.

Agentic AI is not the only link connecting the features. They also reflect the profound transformation contact centers have been undergoing with the concept of a ‘contact center’ yielding to the broader concept of ‘customer experience’. Contact centers are converting from having human agents to including AI agents, from reactive to proactive, from transaction-oriented to relationship-oriented, and from generic to deeply personalized. Zoom and rivals such as Cisco, Microsoft, and 8×8 have been rolling out a steady stream of capabilities to help organizations make the transition.

Most significantly, the new features are symbolic of the profound metamorphosis taking place at Zoom over the past 20 months. After its video meetings capability became renowned virtually overnight in the dark, nascent days of the pandemic, Zoom ignited a steady evolution of its platform. With the October 2023 introduction of Zoom AI Companion, that evolution took a sharp trajectory upward and morphed into a full-blown renaissance marked by the introduction of GenAI features. With the implementation of agentic AI capabilities, Zoom has now entered yet another a new chapter. It is safe to say Zoom is poised to continue its ascent.

Summary Bullets:

• A history of offers that are difficult to distinguish is a significant hurdle holding back Microsoft in the contact center space.

• Implementing a definitive flagship contact center offer coupled with Microsoft Teams would go far in alleviating competitive pressure.

Microsoft tore the wrapping paper from its latest contact center offer with the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center on July 1, 2024. When it comes to Microsoft, contact center is the gift that keeps on giving. Pre-dating this new arrival is a string of ancestors born annually, featuring overlapping functionality and sometimes bearing similar names. Sorting through the morass is confusing.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center is a contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) offer that works across channels including voice, SMS, chat, email, and social media apps. It incorporates Microsoft Copilot, a proprietary generative AI (GenAI) and natural language processing engine to provide personalized self-service as well as automate repetitive agent tasks such as summarizing conversations, drafting emails, and offering suggested responses. Intelligent routing can transfer self-service requests to an agent best qualified to assist. Real-time reporting allows supervisors to assess center operations. Users can also connect to customer relationship management (CRM) systems and custom apps they already use.

While the benefits of the offer are clear, what is not clear is whether Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center is a unique persona or merely a twin. The name reads like a cross between ‘Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform’ released in July 2022 and ‘Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service’ released in March 2023. Also, functionality bears a striking resemblance across the three offers. For example: the option of self-service capability or connection to a virtual or live agent; support for numerous customer engagement channels; suggested responses to customer inquiries; automation of multiple agent tasks; and extensive use of GenAI.

The confusion does not terminate there: Microsoft also just introduced ‘Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service Premium,’ which takes Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center and layers on top another service – the similar sounding ‘Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise.’ The combined offer is an integrated contact center and CRM service solution that creates personalized customer journeys. However, the value of the offer gets lost in the shuffle of confusing naming conventions.

A sequence of contact center offers that are difficult to parse is only one Achilles’ heel that Microsoft needs to resolve. Competitors such as Cisco, Zoom, and RingCentral bring contact center offers to the market as well, and they are continually enriching them with new features and capabilities. In addition, they don’t suffer puzzling nomenclature, nor do they come with historical baggage attached: Customers avoid the struggle of attempting to decipher the portfolio.

Microsoft could alleviate some of the competitive pressure by mimicking those same rivals and coupling Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center with Microsoft Teams to fill the growing need for integrated unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) and CCaaS that allows all customer-facing employees to better serve customers.

It is surprising that Microsoft has not taken that logical step. If it does and plants a firm stake in the ground with an unwavering, definitive, flagship contact center offer, it would make for a nice springboard for future success in the contact center space.