RingCentral Online Blog: Communicating in Developing Countries with RingCentral

RingCentral customers have been sharing their stories with us since this company began. Now, I’d like to tell my story because besides working for the company, I am also a user and a fan.

I’m writing this post from a small 3-room stone house on a hilltop in Kenya's Central Rift Valley. In this scenic rural environment, I get up with the sounds of outdoors—namely the roosters and more than a dozen tweeting birds in an array of candy luminous colors. If I hear children playing, I know that the hour is getting too late.

For three months, I am working for a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Africa as part of a master’s program with an Italy-based university. Since I started classes in November 2007, I have been in more than 25 different cities in six countries and three continents—through it all, RingCentral Online has been an invaluable asset to me.

For instance, while I may not have indoor plumbing here, I can feel rest assured that with RingCentral I am connected to business associates, partners, family and friends around the world, 24/7. (In Kenya, many people from the banker to the farmer have a mobile phone, and some of the more expensive models allow you to connect to the internet.*)

Through my wireless connection, I can retrieve voicemails in my email, send and receive faxes to people across the globe, and I can make inexpensive international calls from my laptop with my RingCentral softphone. The beauty of it is this: My US-based business associates, NGO workers and family members simply dial my RingCentral toll free number to get in touch with me and to leave voicemails. Then, at no cost to me, I can pick up the voicemails from my laptop.

It occurs to me that RingCentral is a good communications solution for US-based government and NGO workers and volunteers who travel overseas, particularly to some developing countries. With RingCentral’s Virtual PBX, they can connect with other workers and volunteers located in different areas across the globe. They can keep in touch by picking up voicemails in their email inboxes and forward those voicemails to multiple email addresses. With RingCentral’s Internet Fax and Fax from the Web component, they can send faxes to other organizations through their personal email accounts. Most importantly, they can always stay in touch and communicate new developments easier and faster—even from the most remote corners of the globe.

Note: If you're an NGO with a mobile technology solution that you'd like to explore but lack the technical skills, consider this: On October 29, the VON Conference in Boston will convene a group of world-class programmers to develop a mobile solution for the NGO with the best idea. The programming team will create an application using voice and text technologies in a manner that supports the goals of the selected nonprofit or NGO. While all ideas are welcome, areas for NGOs to consider include: Alert and notification services (e.g., mobilizing volunteers via SMS to gather at a particular time and place); Mobile data gathering (e.g., using mobile technology to record evaluation data/wildlife sightings); Mobile persuasion (e.g., using mobile technology to influence attitudes and behaviors, for example, encouraging people to vote or donate to your cause).

To be considered for this opportunity, NGOs/nonprofits from anywhere in the world are requested to submit a one page, or less, proposal including the following information: A brief description of your organization, or website link, and the specific program that could benefit from an enhanced communications application. A brief description of how you envision a communication application can improve your program. A brief description of how you would go about measuring the outcome of using this communication application. Organizational leadership contact information.

The deadline for proposals is October 20, 2007. Entries should be sent to: to: pmcape@gmail.com. The NGO selected will be notified by October 27, 2007.

All work on the application will be done for free, with emphasis placed on developing low cost solutions. It will be up to the NGO selected to obtain funding to implement the solution provided. For further information, contact: Patrick Murphy, pmcape@gmail.com.

*According to the World Bank ICT, 108 out of 1,000 people in Kenya are mobile subscribers.