Virtual Office Resource

RingCentral (News - Alert) announced recently that it had successfully integrated Glip with its RingCentral Office solution. It will allow users to perform many collaborative tasks previously handled by separate apps from a single app on a mobile or desktop device.

Glip refers to the name of a Delray Beach, Florida-based company and a collaborative platform designed to improve productivity. The latter combines chat, tasks, file management, calendar, note, and video calling into one app. It also integrates with popular apps like Box, Dropbox (News - Alert), Google Drive, Evernote, Hangouts, and Stripe.

Glip, Inc. was acquired by RingCentral back in June. The company still maintains a separate website and its software is available as a standalone solution in free, basic ($5 per person, per month), and ($10 per person, per month). RingCentral customers can get an enhanced version of Glip at no additional cost to their plan. It provides additional features like click-to-call, corporate directory, audio and video conferencing, and online meetings.

‘Inbox’ is a dirty word to the folks at Glip, and understandably so. According to its website, a study conducted by MIT (News - Alert) found that 36 percent of an employee’s time is spent in the inbox. A 2011 study conducted by Fonality and Webtorials found similar results, and when combined with other unproductive tasks like going through spam and deleting it, or confirmation messages to make sure the intended recipient actually received the message, the total rises to 50 percent.

Collaboration solutions offer an improved way to communicate. According to a study conducted by ZK Research, “the benefits of collaboration are strong enough that companies should not wait any longer to deploy.” When implemented properly, collaborative solutions can have a strong ROI and increased productivity. They make it easier for businesses to accommodate a workforce that does not always work at the office and is not limited to desktop workstations running Windows.

RingCentral’s acquisition of Glip and eventual integration of Glip software into its Office solution appear to be sound strategic moves. Lots of companies offer cloud-based phone service and a growing number of businesses want more than that for their communications. RingCentral now offers a communications solution that supports collaboration, instead of just another cloud phone system.