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6 minute read
Summary
On this episode of Catching Up with, the Collab Collective’s Craig Durr speaks with Kristen Koenig, GM of Video at RingCentral. Filmed during the RingCentral Analyst Summit 2026 in Arizona, the conversation explores how AI is reshaping meetings, video collaboration, and workflow automation across the enterprise. Kristen shares insights into RingCentral’s shift toward AI Meetings, how meeting intelligence integrates with broader AI workflows, and the company’s focus on simplifying meeting experiences for organizations of all sizes.
Their discussion covers:
- AI Meetings Evolution: Why RingCentral rebranded its meeting experience to AI Meetings and how AI capabilities now span the entire meeting lifecycle.
- Workflow Automation Integration: How RingCentral’s AI framework—AIR, AVA, and ACE—connects meetings with broader workflow automation across pre-, in-, and post-meeting experiences.
- Meetings as a Voice Channel: Why video meetings are increasingly viewed as another modality of voice communication and how AI capabilities developed for voice are now enhancing meetings.
- Presenter Experience Improvements: New capabilities that allow presenters to see real-time audience reactions, chat, and feedback while sharing screens.
- Rooms as a Service: How RingCentral is delivering simplified, subscription-based meeting room systems designed to serve SMB and mid-market customers.
- Hardware Partnerships: Collaboration with vendors such as HP and Yealink to deliver integrated room experiences with lower upfront costs.
- Industry Use Cases: Opportunities for integrated voice and video workflows, including scenarios like telehealth and browser-based virtual appointments.
Transcript
Craig Durr: Hey, everyone. This is Craig Durr, Chief Analyst and Founder of the Collab Collective. I am here at the RingCentral Analyst Summit 2026 now. I've had a chance to do this for the last couple of years, which is a lot of fun, because what I get to do each year is check in with some of the executives, and then bring you an update of what's transpired in the last year.
So today, I am meeting with Kristin Koenig, who is the GM of video, which is near and dear to my heart, being kind of a video guy. And if you remember a couple years ago, we sat down and had a cup of coffee. I don't know what we have planned this year, but I'm gonna find her and…
Kristen, how are you doing?
Kristen Koenig: Craig, good to see you.
Craig Durr: All right, coffee?
Kristen Koenig: No, I didn't get my workout this morning, so I think we need to do an alternative.
Craig Durr: I did not either. So wait, instead of coffee, we're gonna do what?
Kristen Koenig: Biking. Yes, can we even do biking?
Craig Durr: All right, is that it over there?
Kristen Koenig: I think it is—the beach cruisers.
Craig Durr: All right, I really wanted coffee, but we'll try this. Do you have a route in mind?
Kristen Koenig: Just around the property
Craig Durr: Okay, I'm supposed to try and remember how I'm going to ask you questions here. It's been a year since we spoke. Not that long ago, in November, you had kind of an update. You announced a new… almost branding around what meetings are right now, right?
Kristen Koenig: Yes. We used to call it RingVideo, but now it's called AI Meetings. Coming from the meetings and events industry, our customers are talking about how they meet, when they meet, so it just was a natural evolution.
Craig Durr: And what RingCentral is doing around AI is really interesting. They have what you guys are calling the three A's, and you're still leaning into that same idea with meetings as well.
Kristen Koenig: One hundred percent. What we're doing with meetings is really making it embedded into the workflow automation processes so when you think of AIR, AVA, and ACE, which is really making sure that everyone you know from pre, during, and post is analyzing, assisting, and meetings are a part of that for sure.
Craig Durr: But it's also kind of following that same work process of Teams. You're talking about the pre experience, the in meeting experience, and then you're also talking about the post meeting experience as well, right? Which is a natural evolution. What's really nice is that the AI investments you're making that are very prevalent in the voice modality is the same that's in the meeting modality as well.
Kristen Koenig: Yes, so I think of meetings as another channel of voice. And we talk about voice as it relates to the phone, but voice is so prevalent and even sometimes larger than phone because you're in meetings for a larger length of time on average in the industry. So when we think about meetings, I think that's super important, as we have these different modalities, and making sure that's a part of the entire experience and all the workflows that we're doing.
Craig Durr: Okay, all right, I'm building up my calories. Did you have breakfast at the end of this, by the way?
Kristen Koenig: Yes, we're having eggs—a lot of protein.
Craig Durr: Well, all right. Now I actually saw that you did have some new kind of fun features that came out recently. Were you actually taking some of the learnings in event experiences and bringing it to meeting experience, especially to the presenters? What is that you're talking about?
Kristen Koenig: Yeah, we just launched our next level and next generation experience, and the presenters are usually the last ones to get leveled up in a meeting. So what we've done is making sure that when you share your screen as a presenter, you can feel the audience.
Craig Durr: What do you mean by that… feel the audience?
That means that when you are sharing your screen with every other video provider right now in the space, you can't really see the chat, the comments, the questions coming in, as well as the emojis. So when you're sharing your screen, it's popping up natively on your computer.
Craig Durr: That's great. Okay, so I get feedback, so I get to see the thumbs up, I get to see the chat. So all of a sudden I've got real time feedback from my audience, not just from the AI-generated agenda? That's kind of cool. I like that.
So we're coming into the Enterprise Connect timeframe, and I know that RingCentral is going to have one of the keynotes there. Do you have some announcements or some things kind of aligned to that?
Kristen Koenig: Yes, we do.
Craig Durr: You probably can't tell me.
Kristen Koenig: I was gonna say if I could, I would kill you. But I think for us, it's making sure that meetings, as that voice channel, are part of the entire workflow. So there’s AIR, AVA, and ACE, which we announced, and a lot of those things we talked about at Earnings, those items and products are coming into the meeting experience as well.
Think of it this way: when you are a healthcare provider and you want to set up a telehealth or virtual appointment, you should be able to do that with a nice browser version from answering a call. So there's just so many things that you can do relative to video and voice and those aspects.
Craig Durr: Okay, I got it. I love it.
Kristen Koenig: It's a little bumpy here.
Craig Durr: I know. You know one thing we didn't talk about—you and I have connected in the past on your room experience itself, so not even just meetings, but what's taking place in that room environment.
Kristen Koenig: Yes, rooms… I would say it's my new love of a product. I think when I took over this role, I really needed to make sure that I connected with our customers. And our customers were saying one small business and mid market are underserved. I think for the room's experience, we think of it as a complication, very heavy, high produced, and high cost. And for us, it's making sure that for these small business customers have rooms as a service, and that's been really well delivered to our SMB customers.
Craig Durr: Now define what rooms as a service is in the RingCentral.
Kristen Koenig: Think of it as a subscription model, and that is really highly valuable to the entire experience, and our customers are loving it because they can have a high-end room system at the fraction of a cost and pay a monthly fee that's lower. And I will tell you, like the customers who have maybe one office or even their executive room at home, it's super important.
Craig Durr: You're doing this in partnership with a bunch of hardware solutions.
Kristen Koenig: Yeah, we partner with HP and Yealink, and there's a lot of other ones that I'm in discussions with and seeing where we can add. But at the end of the day, I really want to ensure that we have the utmost focus on solving customer problems. I think where we came in with rooms as a service is a result of that.
Craig Durr: Got it. This is beautiful. I like what you did here. So this is a new way to experience Arizona on the bicycle. It is burning calories, talking about meetings, and bringing it all together.
Kristen Koenig: I mean, meetings don't need to be complicated. Let's simplify it. Let's make sure the prep, during, and post are really well integrated. We spend so much time on the during and the in the post and not as much in the prep. So there's more to come.
Craig Durr: I love it. So here we are. We're wrapped up. Great time to conclude this. I love what you guys are doing in the meeting space here. I'm gonna go ahead and do this. I think we'll have the valet park for us. Good information. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for your time today. Thank you so much for the update.
Kristen Koenig: Until next year
Craig Durr: And I have no idea what you're gonna do for me next year, but anyway…
Everyone, this is Craig Durr with the Collab Collective, here in beautiful Arizona. Another update from the RingCentral Analyst Summit. We'll bring you some more information later on. Take care.
