World Vision
World Vision shifts to RingCentral's cloud solutions to keep costs down, keep communication lines more open, and help more people in need
RingCentral had all of the communication features I wanted in a single package, the price was right, and everything came preconfigured so it was very easy to get started.
Randy Boyd
Infrastructure Architect, World Vision
World Vision is known for its commitment to community development, disaster response, and child well-being. The organization employs people in nearly 100 countries worldwide, including the US. Since 1981, World Vision US has been working with children and youth living in poverty and recently helping to get clean water to the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Controlling communications and collaboration costs supports work in the field
In 2017, 85% of World Vision's operating expenses were used for programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need. The other 15% went to fundraising (9%) and management (6%). Management’s 6% must cover a wide range of expenses, including the organization’s communications solutions, and any savings in this area goes right back into World Vision’s mission. “We are laser-focused on cutting our costs so that we can send more money to the field,” says Randy Boyd, Infrastructure Architect at World Vision US. “One-hundred percent of what we save goes right back into feeding children.”
When Boyd joined World Vision, he inherited a communications system that was expensive to manage and maintain. “It was actually nine separate phone systems involving six different telco providers for our 12 locations,” he recalls. He wanted to reduce the risk posed by those old systems and reduce costs. One factor that added to the cost was the need for skilled technicians to manage the PBXs. At times, World Vision didn’t have that expertise in house, so they hired consultants when necessary. “That was very expensive, but we had to do it from time to time,” he says. “The cost savings potential for switching phone systems was sizeable.”
Boyd reached out to World Vision’s trusted IT advisor, StrataCore, which guides businesses in adopting and improving network services and cloud strategies. Following a holistic assessment of the requirements, StrataCore reached out to eight qualifying providers who could meet or exceed World Vision’s expectations for its new solution.
INDUSTRY
Non-Profit
HQ
Federal Way, WA
YEAR FOUNDED
1950
EMPLOYEES
46,000
RingCentral deployment met deadline and expanded communications functionality
After extensively evaluating a number of solutions over several months, World Vision selected RingCentral. Because the organization was facing a hard deadline (to prevent automatically extending a three-year contract with one of its previous providers), Boyd brought in RingCentral Professional Services™ to assist in deploying RingCentral at its headquarters and its 300-person Washington DC office. “I really have nothing but praise for RingCentral Professional Services,” Boyd says. “They helped us implement the system several months faster than we could have done it on our own. All agree it was a very worthwhile investment.”
With RingCentral, World Vision US employees now have the full communications feature set that the IT department wanted to give them. Boyd says that as the users learn all the features they have with RingCentral, they are really excited about functionality they didn’t have previously, such as the bundled features of web meetings, desktop phone app, and the mobile application that lets them access their desk phones from their personal mobile phones.
World Vision also appreciates the fact that there is now only one bill for all communications functionality rather than 10 to 14 complicated bills. “All for one low price,” Boyd notes.
I really have nothing but praise for RingCentral Professional Services. They helped us implement the system several months faster than we could have done it on our own. All agree it was a very worthwhile investment.
Randy Boyd
Infrastructure Architect, World Vision
RingCentral savings add up and make a real difference in the field
World Vision has seen significant cost savings as a result of its RingCentral deployment.
Over a million-dollar capital cost avoidance. Boyd evaluated what it would have cost to replace the previous combination of phone systems with an on-premises PBX. By going with a UCaaS solution instead, World Vision avoided a capital expense of over a million dollars. The organization also avoided the $350,000 cost of upgrading its existing video conferencing equipment by using RingEX™ (with users’ laptop computers connected to high-end video cameras) instead.
One FTE salary. The ease of administration with RingCentral eliminated the need for on-site PBX skills. “We now are running our RingCentral system with technical people who don’t have extensive telephony experience,” Boyd says. “RingCentral staff manage the infrastructure, DIDs, calling plans, etc. This leaves us with user accounts, phones, and also creating/maintaining ACDs and IVRs, which do not require specialized skill sets with RingCentral.”
Savings of $7,500 in monthly audio and web conferencing fees. These were eliminated by the availability of RingEX.
Mobile phone costs and international calling charges. The availability of the RingCentral Phone™ app means that most people can now use their personal mobile phones to answer their desk phone. “That has helped us reduce the number of cell phones we deploy, as users can now access their business phone number on a personally owned cell device,” says Boyd. Also, users can make most of their international calls over Wi-Fi, greatly reducing those previous charges.
World Vision US looked at a standard five-year cost analysis on the RingCentral investment, and the break-even point turned out to be much shorter than expected—only 14 to 15 months. “That’s an incredible ROI,” he notes. “With RingCentral, we break even inside of two years and we get an extensive cloud-based collaboration platform out of the deal.”
World Vision views the cost savings made possible by RingCentral in light of the organization’s overall motivation for reducing costs. “It’s not to improve company profits that we look for cost efficiencies,” Boyd says. “One of the great things about my job is any cost savings we achieve result in money going directly to the field. In that sense, too, RingCentral is of great value.”