RingCentral AI Receptionist launches in UK to help SMEs scale faster

18th September – London – RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG, a global leader in AI-powered business communications, today announces the launch of its AI Receptionist™ (AIR) in the UK. An AI phone agent, RingCentral AIR™ handles calls, routes inquiries, books appointments, and engages customers in multiple languages – helping SMEs grow and scale operations sustainably. 

AIR builds on early momentum in the US where more than 3,000 businesses have already implemented the solution since initial launch in February. Demand for AI-powered communications amongst SMEs is skyrocketing and achieving measurable results from revenue generation to productivity and cost savings.  

“While much of today’s conversation focuses on AI replacing jobs, our mission is to empower UK SMEs to grow sustainably by reducing the burden of role consolidation,” said ​​Russell Tilsed, VP of International Sales, RingCentral. “Too often, a single employee is forced to juggle three, four, or even five roles. As SMEs contribute over £2.4 trillion to the UK economy, RingCentral AIR helps these businesses navigate repetitive call-handling, enabling businesses to focus on higher-value work that drives long-term growth.” 

For many SMEs, adopting new technology feels daunting. They rarely have IT teams or the bandwidth to trial complex tools. RingCentral AIR is purpose-built for small businesses: instantly deployable, intuitive to manage, and delivering ROI from day one. By addressing a universal challenge every business with a phone faces, handling customer calls efficiently, it also offers one of the clearest and most accessible entry points into AI adoption, reshaping how SMEs scale and grow.  

Powering UK SME growth with Agentic AI

Beyond accessibility, AIR directly tackles one of the biggest operational strains on small businesses: employees stretched thin across multiple responsibilities, with call-handling eating into valuable time. 

Research shows that in the UK, 60% of SMEs fail within their first three years, with 20% shutting their doors in year one. A major driver is cost. Hiring a receptionist costs around £24,000–£25,000 annually, but once employer National Insurance, pension contributions, holidays, onboarding, and IT are included, the true cost climbs closer to £35,046 per year. By automating routine inquiries and routing, AIR provides operating leverage, allowing employees to focus on the high-value work that drives sustainable growth. 

Our research among small business leaders also indicates that 40% spend up to two hours daily answering customer calls, with 75% reporting that these calls significantly interrupt other important work. AIR helps SMEs unlock the full potential of voice, reimagining inbound calls as a strategic growth channel, transforming what was once a cost centre into a source of new business. 

Leveraging advanced voice recognition, contextual understanding and dynamic call routing, ​RingCentral ​AIR acts as a proactive, intelligent agent that can interpret and execute tasks.  

Key capabilities include:

• · Instant activation: Activates in minutes, automatically scans the company website for key information, requires no IT support, and is easily customisable by any team member. 
• · Resolves routine customer inquiries: Uses generative AI with context from websites and documents to answer routine customer questions about the company’s services, business hours, and location. 
• · Scalable for multiple locations or departments: Can be deployed for a single storefront or multiple business locations. 
• · Call transcripts and analytics: Provides transcripts for every call to give insights into what customers are calling about. Helps businesses understand peak hours via analytics around call volumes and trends. 
• · Appointment booking: RingCentral AIR seamlessly schedules appointments in Outlook and Google Calendars directly during calls, eliminating the back-and-forth that often leads to lost opportunities and streamlining customer service. Coming soon in Q4 2025. 
• · Expanded language support: ​​S​​eamless call handling in UK and Australia ​in ​English and French, serving diverse customer bases in their preferred languages. 

About RingCentral

RingCentral is a global leader in AI-powered business communications, contact center, conversational intelligence, video and hybrid event solutions. RingCentral empowers businesses with conversation intelligence and unlocks rich customer and employee interactions to provide insights and improved business outcomes. With decades of expertise in reliable and secure cloud communications, RingCentral has earned the trust of hundreds of thousands of customers and millions of users worldwide. Visit ringcentral.com to learn more.

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