RingCentral Set to Acquire Connect First

RingCentral, a leading provider of enterprise cloud communications and collaboration solutions, has announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Connect First, a cloud-based blended/outbound customer engagement platform for mid-sized and enterprise companies. Connect First’s platform is deployed by many customers, including: the ASPCA, Carnival Cruise Line, Party City, & PBS, and Business Process Outsourcers (BPOs) for large service providers such as Charter Cable and Comcast.
The enhanced RingCentral Customer Engagement portfolio will include RingCentral Contact Center for inbound comms and Workforce Optimization (WFO), RingCentral Engage for digital customer engagement, and Connect First for outbound/blended customer contact, post-acquisition.
“Maximising agent productivity in today’s rapidly changing customer service environment is becoming increasingly challenging. Customer service organisations need to seamlessly blend outbound calling activity with customer call backs and communications over digital channels,” said Jim Dvorkin, senior vice president, Customer Engagement, RingCentral.
“The acquisition of Connect First complements our current Customer Engagement portfolio and will provide transformative and differentiated customer experiences. We’re excited to welcome the Connect First team to RingCentral.”
The Connect First cloud native platform is built from the ground up on a microservices architecture that is highly scalable and reliable, and runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS). All of Connect First’s capabilities are available through web-based APIs that enable rapid innovation and easy integration.
“At Connect First, we’ve been focused on building an innovative outbound/blended customer engagement platform with a state-of-the-art architecture,” said Geoff Mina, founder and CEO, Connect First. “This acquisition validates our technology leadership, and we’re confident that by joining forces with RingCentral we will broaden our market reach and scale to deploy our platform to enterprises worldwide.”
Some of the key features of the Connect First platform improve the outbound/blended customer experience and responsiveness of agents.
These include:
Outbound/blended
Preview, progressive, and predictive outbound modes to maximize the effectiveness of agents
- Telephony Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) tools to manage compliance rules and regulations
- Dynamic Agent Scripting to guide agent interactions with customers
- Call blending for managing outbound and inbound interactions to deliver optimal agent productivity
- WebRTC-based agent desktop for flexibility and ease of management
- Real-time and historical reporting and analytics for managers and supervisors
- Open APIs for easy integration with third-party applications
Cloud native architecture
- Microservices architecture running on AWS
- Fully redundant platform for high availability
- Proven deployments of multiple thousands of agents per customer
“As RingCentral continues to be chosen by larger businesses, the need to support outbound customer interactions and campaign management has increased,” said Sheila McGee-Smith, President of McGee-Smith Analytics. “With its born-in-the-cloud microservices architecture, Connect First brings technology that has already been successfully deployed across midsize and enterprise organizations and will complement RingCentral’s existing portfolio.”
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close in Q1, 2019, and is estimated to have no material financial impact for the year ending December 31, 2019.
Source: uctoday
Industry: unified communication news

Latest Jobs
-
- Sailpoint IIQ Consultant
- London
- Up to £75,000
-
SailPoint IIQ consultant- London We are looking for a strong SailPoint IIQ consultant to work for this global enterprise, in this position you will be the lead consultant in regard to the IAM and PAM tools Duties include Responsible for designing, developing, testing, implementing, and integrating IAM (SailPoint) systems and solutions. Assessing requirements for Identity and Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs. Provide support for production IAM infrastructure systems and processes. Ensures the maintenance, patching, operating, and monitoring of IAM systems. Ensures senior management and staff are informed of any changes and updates in a timely manner. Experience with Maintaining and supporting SailPoint IIQ Assessing requirements for Privilege Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs We are looking for someone with the following experience SailPoint IIQ experience Expertise working with SailPoint Identity IQ platform - Access Lifecycle Management, Certifications, Role Management Expertise in onboarding applications with various connectors like Active Directory, JDBC, SCIM 2.0, Azure Active Directory Expertise in developing APIs (SCIM, REST) leveraging Java based developmentExperience of Privileged Access Management concepts and use cases Unfortunatly we are unable to provide sponsorship for this opportunity, therefore applications will need to be able to work in the UK
-
- SailPoint Consultant- Netherland-
- Netherlands
- upto €700 per day
-
We are looking for a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ Consultant to work on a major deployment project. The ideal candidate will have experience with all aspects of SailPoint IIQ, including development, configuration, and administration. They will also be able to work independently and as part of a team to deliver high-quality results. · Responsibilities · Develop and configure Sailpoint IIQ solutions · Integrate SailPoint IIQ with other systems · Support SailPoint IIQ deployments · Provide technical support to users If you are a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ consultant who is looking for their next project, we encourage you to apply. look forward to hearing from you!
-
- Lead CyberArk deployment Consultant
- London
- Upto £80,000 plus benefits
-
CyberArk Consultant is needed to be responsible for leading the deployment of CyberArk solutions for this expanding IT services business, You will work with customer both pre and post sales, getting involved in CyberArk Solution Design, helping to create CyberArk Strategic Roadmaps, on-boarding accounts, product and process integration into the CyberArk Solution and Proviso of Installation and technical Documentation. We are looking for this individual to have experience in: Installation of CyberArk PAS for V11.X and V12.X (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Upgrade of CyberArk from V9 and V10 (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Installation and Upgrade of Privilege Session Manager and Privilege Session Manager Proxy As some of your client will be government site, all individual will need to be put through SC clearance, therefore you must be eligible to receive this and happy to be put through(With a British Citizen or to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years) We are unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this opportunity
-
- Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, London
- London
- £400 per day outside IR35
-
Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, Based in London Project- to engage with colleagues and stakeholders to investigate and model business functions, processes, information flows and data structures, using a range of business analysis techniques. • You will translate the solution to the business problem into detailed requirements by creating user stories and well-defined acceptance criteria. • Elicit end-to-end business requirements for a live cross-government service • Working across the Government departments to bring together varied business and operational outcomes to form a holistic overall set of service requirements Current SC clearance is required. As is the ability to travel to London.