BN_CX_Without_the_BS_Solo-Brian_Nichols-webcam-00h_00m_01s_090ms-StreamYard === Speaker: [00:00:00] Being named a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant does not give you a free pass. It does not mean your support stops sucking. That's what she said Speaker: It does not mean your pricing stays honest after a quote, and it definitely does not mean you stop answering the phones when the system breaks. This week, we got two stories that are gonna prove it. The new Gartner UCaaS Magic Quadrant, and then NICE and RingCentral finally going bidirectional. Both look great in press releases, but both still leave the same open questions for the people who actually live with these systems. Yeah, it sucks. But what can I do? Speaker: Let's talk about that on today's episode of CX Without the BS Speaker: All right, folks. So we're gonna start out first discussing the Gartner Magic Quadrant specifically for UCaaS vendors in 2026. And there are four [00:01:00] names you probably know and are very familiar with, and that is Cisco, Microsoft, RingCentral, and Zoom. But now let's actually talk about what that square actually gets you. Uh, let's start with RingCentral because I see this myself in the day job with the conversations I have. They might have the largest gap, uh, between what we see publicly being presented and then what the actual customer experience is. It took me 10 minutes just to get an English-speaking operator Speaker: So it almost feels like there's two different worlds because on G2 and Capterra, you see RingX, which is Ring Central's, uh, product sitting at 4.2 out of 5. But then you go to Trustpilot, where the people who actually use the phones every single day and deal with billing leave reviews. It's 1.8 out of 5 out of what? A handful of reviews? No, 2,000 reviews. It's a lot of zeros Speaker: And the BBB, the Better Business Bureau, it's even worse. [00:02:00] They give a roughly 1.06 out of five stars with over 100 plus reviews. There have been over 596 complaints filed with the BBB in the last three years, 206 in the last 12 months alone. But I came to file a complaint Speaker: So recent stories are the same ones we keep hearing. 16 phone calls and two and a half hour calls just to cancel. All are very important to us Speaker: Four months of fighting to get an account closed. Overbilling that takes 90 days and apparently an FCC complaint before it moves. Uh, contracts that auto-renew without clear notice, just kinda happens. And overseas support, which turns it into a nightmare, I once spent two and a half hours on hold with Hewlett-Packard customer service just to complain about their customer service Speaker: uh, 'cause you can hear motorbikes and chickens in the background while s- agents struggle to solve problems. By the way, that's an actual comment that was made by a reviewer. They could hear [00:03:00] motorbikes and chickens in the background. I mean, a lot of their work can be done from India Speaker: These are not outliers. These are concrete examples of what customers are experiencing with every single day from these big vendors. And Cisco, I mean, they get called out in the same Gartner report for capping financial remedies on WebEx calling outages at 5% of the monthly fee. For large enterprises that lives and dies by uptime, 5% is not a remedy. That's a big, big issue. Microsoft's Copilot is still sitting outside the standard UCaaS licensing, and it carries its own price tag. Gartner has called that a potentially expensive add-on. Um, Zoom got flagged for inconsistent AI experiences and frequent licensing bundling challenges that leave renewing customers facing higher costs, shifting entitlements. So when Gartner walks back its own forecasts from 90% of [00:04:00] organizations running calling through their office suite by 2028 down to 70%, which that's not insignificant, it's a 20-point retreat in literally one year, I don't know, probably should tell you something. The market is not as clean as the marketing slide decks. Speaker: Leader status, it's not a shield. It does not, uh, fix ticket hell. It does not stop the first invoice from looking different from the quotes, and it certainly does not create one throat to choke when something breaks. See, real support answers the phone and owns the problem. Fake support hides behind a leader badge, and they lock you into a long-term contract. Choose accordingly Speaker: All right, so next we're gonna talk about Nice and RingCentral finally becoming, as my good buddy Mike Roberts over in Philly, hey Mike, he used to love to say it, [00:05:00] bidirectional. Um, that doesn't mean what you think it means Speaker: , So when you're looking at the RingCentral and Nice relationship, this part is the one that actually ma- matters to buyers here. , And this has been across the board. There has been a huge demand for a one-stop shop, right? A true one pane of glass UCaaS, CCaaS story. People are exhausted of having to stitch a UCaaS solution and then a CCaaS solution together, essentially having two entirely different platforms that are attempting to talk to each other, but it's like, you know, one person speaking a sign language and the other person speaking Chinese. I could open it up like Nixon did China Speaker: It's just not working. And on paper, it gives both sides what they were missing, kinda. Nice is getting a real UCaaS play, sure. RingCentral is getting deeper into the enterprise CCaaS base, but look at what we were just talking about, that support track record or lack thereof. RingCentral's Trustpilot [00:06:00] and BBB numbers are not a secret. They are publicly stated. And when the tightly integrated system breaks at 9:00 PM on a Friday night, whose queue does that ticket actually land in? Does the customer get one company that owns one outcome, or are they gonna get two companies pointing at each other, bi-directional, Speaker: While the partner is left holding the ticket and unfortunately getting the angry phone calls as well from the customer. See, the analyst quote is the quiet part being said out loud. Enterprise buyers are gonna look past the reseller model. They will want proof of integrated workflows. They're gonna want proof of consistent administration, proof of reliable data sharing, and proof of clear implementation ownership. Commercial foundations are in [00:07:00] place. Execution still has to prove it works as tightly as their press release says it does Speaker: All right, and a final plug here as we wrap things up on today's episode of CX Without the BS, and that is the Telarus Partner Summit. Um, and look it, this week's theme is pretty simple. Um, leader badges and partnership announcements are not the product. Support that shows up and pricing that doesn't surprise you on a first invoice, those are what you're actually trying to sell. And next week is the Telarus Partner Summit, August 11th through the 13th in Grapevine, Texas. And if you're heading there, find me. Uh, we're gonna be at booth 801. I say we, I'll talk about that in a second. Um, and if you're there, yes, find me. We'll talk about real support, real flexibility, and we'll talk about how to stop owning the mess when the big vendors will inevitably drop the ball.. You know, it seems like all you do lately is drop the ball Speaker: Um, but that's gonna be it for this one, folks. If you got some value from today's episode, do me a [00:08:00] favor, hit that subscribe button, hit follow, or connect with me over on LinkedIn. And if you want to get in contact, shoot me a message here on LinkedIn. And yeah, if you're gonna be at the Telarus Partner Summit next week, . And , if you want to say hi, I'm gonna be there. Head over to booth 801. I will be there for the day job carrying the badge of Level365, Which, yes, is the best UCaaS vendor in the Telarus portfolio, though that may be my bias. But we are UCaaS only, and we have 100% US-based support, month-to-month by default, meaning no ETFs, no three-year lock-ins, meaning no nasty surprises. And by the way, we help you as a partner sell to your customers the way that they want to buy, meaning you're not gonna buy a 36-month contract for Disney+ just because your kid really, really likes Bluey. Inside voice Speaker: Trust me, I get it. I have two kids, and they both really, really like Bluey. But then you take that parent, you put them into a buyer's role, and you say, "You're gonna buy a three-year contract for your phone system." It's backwards. So Level365, not only are we [00:09:00] meeting people where they're at and selling to them in a way they want to be sold to, but we're also bringing solutions to the table that are supported and offering real value. So for example, Voice IQ is a really cool product that we are just announcing and officially, uh, releasing at the Partner Summit. Go ahead, check that out. It is AI built to help people, not replace them. I am Computron your answer to everything Computron is just one of the many modern devices that I have incorporated into the office Speaker: So, uh, if you wanna learn more about our Voice IQ product, how it can hook into our unified communications platform and capture every single phone call from your desk phone to the soft phone to the mobile app, go ahead, meet me at the Partner Summit. Or if you're not gonna be there down in Dallas next week, shoot me a message one more time here on LinkedIn or email me, yes, for the day job, bnichols@level365.com. And of course, head down below into the comments, let me know your thoughts. Have you been a RingCentral or NICE customer? What have your [00:10:00] experiences been? Um, also, have you been a Cisco user or have you been a Zoom user? Let us know your thoughts and your experience down below. But that's it for this one. Thanks for joining us. This is Brian Nickel signing off on CX Without the BS. We'll see you next time On experiencing emotion