Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint—love them or hate them, these tools are the OG of productivity software, and they’re widely used in many workplaces. But what if you could integrate communications directly into those tools and not worry about switching apps for every feature?
Rather than acting as a standalone platform, RingCentral’s Microsoft 365 app integration helps transform your Microsoft software into an enterprise-grade communications hub, providing instant access to calls, texts, and video directly from Microsoft 365 Outlook and Microsoft Teams.
Here are five ways you can use RingCentral for Microsoft 365 to enhance existing workflows.
1. Get all your contacts in one place
Between internal teammates, cross-functional collaborators, and external partners and customers, most workers need to communicate with a lot of people on a regular basis. But it’s difficult for those communications to be agile when everyone has a different user name on each platform. RingCentral for Microsoft 365 centralizes all your RingCentral and Outlook contacts into one simple, easy-to-search screen, so whether it’s email or a voice call, it’s always easy to connect.
2. Communicate directly from Outlook and Microsoft Teams
Switching back and forth between platforms can slow you down in more ways than one. Not only does it take time to switch between apps and interfaces—when you’re in the zone, the disruption of doing so can disrupt your momentum. RingCentral’s Microsoft 365 integration does away with this switching all together because it turns Outlook and Teams into an all-in-one communication tool. Instead of navigating elsewhere, the integration allows users to make and receive calls and SMS messages directly from Outlook or Teams’ web interface.
3. Dial or SMS any number in your Outlook email
Communications don’t get more seamless than connection in just a click. When you combine RingCentral with Outlook, you can directly dial or SMS any number that appears in any email you receive. And when you need the insight of another stakeholder, you can add other participants instantly to any active call.
4. Schedule RingCentral audio and video calls from your Outlook calendar and Teams chats
If you think meetings are a drag on your time, consider the amount of time that gets wasted scheduling them—as much as two hours when 10 to 15 participants are involved, according to one study. Getting everyone to agree on a scheduling slot is just one time drain. Things like exporting, checking, and double-checking meeting information such as the link, meeting ID, and password also eat up precious minutes. RingCentral for Microsoft 365 eliminates these extra steps because the integration allows you to schedule meetings and automatically populate all the access details directly from your Outlook calendar.
5. Log all your communications in one place
Calls. Texts. Voicemails. Faxes. The baggage of communicating quickly adds up, and when you need to refer back, digging through disparate communications can be a huge (and often fruitless) time suck. Not only does RingCentral for Microsoft 365 centralize the act of communicating, but it also centralizes the footprint of all those calls and messages, providing a log of your complete communications history in a single view.
Transforming Microsoft 365 Tools into a robust communications platform
Collaboration and productivity go hand in hand, and even as teammates work remotely, they’re often reliant on each other to get the job done. While Microsoft 365 tools play a big role in the productivity end, the apps require added layers to facilitate the deep collaboration required. RingCentral for Microsoft 365 transforms these ubiquitous Microsoft tools into an all-in-one communications hub so that nothing stands in the way of a job well done.
Critical to the integration is RingCentral Office, which combines team messaging, video conferencing, and cloud phone into a single platform for all workplace communications. Under a single platform, users can switch between messaging and phone or video calls with a single click, making communication and collaboration as effortless as possible.
With the ability to integrate with critical business apps such as Microsoft 365, your employees can worry less about juggling technology and focus on what’s important: driving productivity.
Learn more about the RingCentral for Microsoft 365 integration here.
Learn about the importance of cloud-based integrations in our post, “What Exactly Are Cloud-Based Integrations?”
Originally published Aug 03, 2020, updated Jan 18, 2023
