This year marks the tenth anniversary of the RingCentral Partner Program.
It’s been a remarkable ten years at that, filled with moments and milestones—for the company, the Partner Team, and our valued network of partners around the world.
While our approach, products, and offices have certainly evolved over the years, some aspects have remained the same.
The Early Days
From the beginning, the RingCentral Partner Program was born out of a “roll up our sleeves” attitude, doing whatever necessary to put our partners first.
Our organization looked a little different back then. Contracts were physically printed out and signed (the horror!). VoIP was still a novel concept, without an inkling of message or video capability. And our staff holiday parties were certainly smaller!
Nevertheless, our philosophy has stayed the same: keep the lines of communication open, respond to feedback, continually improve, and do the work required to set ourselves and our partners up for scalable success.
That proactive drive and flexibility to adapt was reflected earlier this year, when together with our partners, we helped countless organizations around the world rapidly pivot to remote work.
When critical industries like healthcare, education, and the nonprofit sector needed guidance, our team and partners were there to provide it.
Growing our Family
As the number of RingCentral partners grew, so did the team that supported them. After starting in the Bay Area, within two years we took the Partner Team global, expanding to RingCentral’s Manila office. Now, we have integral teams spread all across North America, Australia, and Europe.
No matter where they were based, we sought out teammates who thought outside the box, often drawing from industries well outside cloud communications. By embracing new ideas and approaches, we evolved into the worldwide team of dedicated professionals we are today.
Of course, RingCentral’s focus and products have changed dramatically in ten years. When I started, most businesses were still encumbered by physical hardware, for both communications and data storage. Since then, enterprise has embraced the cloud, and organizations can now deploy and scale critical services with a few clicks.
Similarly, what was once a budding but localized division is now a global network of partnerships and communal efforts. As the technology evolved and eliminated the need for geographic proximity, so too did our partner network grow beyond our physical reach.
Now, not only do we have partners around the world, but RingCentral continues to build its global presence with strategic relationships with international providers like Avaya, Atos and Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.
Game Changers
One turning point was the introduction of Channel Harmony in 2016, spearheaded by Channel Chief Zane Long shortly after he joined our growing team. By eliminating channel conflict and protecting partners from direct sales competition, Zane’s approach set the tone for what remains our guiding tenet—make it easy for partners to transact with RingCentral.
And if Channel Harmony was the launching pad, this year’s addition of RingCentral IGNITE! is the booster rocket. By learning from our shared experiences and becoming better at how we work together with partners, we can now bring our communications solutions to organizations around the world faster and more efficiently than ever.
But even before I joined RingCentral roughly ten years ago, the foundation was in place to grow something great.
At the end of my first week, I was approached by our Founder and CEO Vlad Shmunis, simply to chat and take some time to learn about each other. Even then, RingCentral was a fast-paced place to work, but the culture clearly prioritized getting to know the people who made it possible.
That people-first mentality is still reflected today, whether those people are partners, coworkers, or customers. It’s about more than business. It’s about creating an environment that attracts, supports, and cultivates the best in everyone we work with.
Consistent at our Core
Responsiveness, keeping the lines of communication open, and putting people first—these are the reasons why employees and partners gravitate toward RingCentral for long-term growth and success, both personal and professional.
In the early days, I was often asked, “So where is the cloud?”
We’d joke that “the cloud” was in Nevada, some vast array of servers in an underground bunker.
But that’s the irony: the cloud isn’t tangible or bound to any one location. It’s wherever you need it to be, waiting for you to reach out and harness its potential.
It’s the same with RingCentral and its Partner Program. Wherever customers have communications issues to solve, we’ll be there to help our partners serve as trusted advisors.
All you have to do is reach out.
Thanks for ten wonderful years!
Originally published Oct 23, 2020, updated Dec 30, 2022
