Last week, RingCentral and Avaya announced a strategic partnership making RingCentral the exclusive provider of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions to Avaya. Together, RingCentral and Avaya will jointly develop programs to leverage Avaya’s global sales and partner network, as well as build automated technologies for seamless customer transition to RingCentral’s leading global UCaaS solution.
The announcement, made October 3, 2019, will result in the creation of a new solution: Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral, a customized solution based on RingCentral’s Office suite. Avaya Cloud Office will bring RingCentral’s leading UCaaS platform to Avaya’s installed base of over 100 million users and over 4,700 partners, providing long-term growth opportunities for both companies.
News of the partnership was warmly received by market analysts and observers. Industry analyst Mark Smith called it, “… the biggest move in the UC market to date!” NoJitter’s Irwin Lazar called it, “positive for both organizations.” But perhaps the most glowing review came from Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, who in an interview with RingCentral’s CEO, Vlad Shmunis, called it the “…biggest win I’ve seen in 2019.” Check out the full video below.
As a result of the announcement, RingCentral stock rose over 28% in the first 24 hours, with Avaya also climbing 6.5%. RingCentral’s per share price target also moved from $143 to $225.
To learn more about the partnership, view the press release.
Originally published Oct 17, 2019, updated Aug 11, 2020
