RingCentral Expands with New Australia Office, Regional Channel Chief

**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in April or here for our list of 20 top UCaaS providers offering products and services via channel partners.**

RingCentral is expanding its reach with a new office in Australia and has appointed Ben Swanson, previously with ShoreTel, as director of channels for the region.

RingCentral’s Zane Long

The company also has added partners, including Google Premier partner Dialog Information Technology, to spearhead sales efforts in the region. Down Under, applications delivery is done from service centers in Australia, and local billing in Australian dollars.

Zane Long, RingCentral’s senior vice president of global channel sales, tells Channel Partners the expansion creates new opportunities for partners, particularly for those with a global presence, such as distribution giant Ingram Micro.

“In addition, U.S.-based master agents, such as Telarus, are making a move to establish offices and people to attract subagents to their program,” he said. “The UCaaS market opportunity worldwide is a land grab right now. I’ve coined UCaaS ‘the product of the century’ as this is an extremely rare time of opportunity when a product is in early adoption phase, with a low market penetration rate of 7 percent. Additionally, considering that once customers commit to a solution, they are off the market for five to seven years, the time is now for partners to capitalize on the fresh opportunities at hand in Australia.”

The UCaaS market opportunity in Australia is emerging, Long said.

RingCentral’s Ben Swanson

“High-speed internet access is now more available than ever, providing the essential infrastructure for collaborative cloud communications solutions,” he said. “Customers are making demands of the partners (also known as trusted advisers) to help them make the transition from on-premises solutions into the cloud.”

Swanson has more than 20 years of experience leading channel sales efforts across Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand for companies including Avaya and ShoreTel.

“I’m extremely excited to join the industry leader, RingCentral, as we look to address the changing communication solutions needs of APAC businesses,” he said. “We are already seeing demand from partners and their customers. We are well-positioned to help these business customers migrate to the cloud for enhanced mobility, scalability and collaboration.”

More than 80 percent of IT buying in the region is done through channel partners, according to RingCentral. It’s working with strategic partners to bring businesses its cloud services.

With RingCentral’s Channel Harmony program, the company awards partners 100 percent commissions on all deals, while providing them the opportunity to work alongside vertical and segment-specific subject-matter experts from the company.

“The demand for communications has shifted from on-premises systems to cloud solutions as businesses look for new-generation solutions to scale their operations more easily, save on costs and drive greater productivity across their organizations,” said Glenn Irvine, Dialog’s national practice manager. “Our customers are already asking for RingCentral, and with this partnership, we’ll be able to provide them with a single integrated solution across voice, video, online meetings, and team messaging to achieve greater business outcomes.”

For multinational enterprises with branch offices in Australia, RingCentral offers Global Office, which provides a single global solution with native experience across 37 countries.