But we do want to balance both, investment for growth and profitability. And you’ve heard us call this out in prior calls, but upsell has been an area of the business that has — where we’ve seen some challenges. And we do feel that the new products being introduced will deserve investment and also will drive that upsell motion that we expect to see as the macro recovers.
Operator: The next question is from Kash Rangan with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Kash Rangan: First of all, Vlad, I’ve got to say congratulations on a 10-year stint as public company CEO. And bigger congratulations on hiring a former equity analyst from Lehman Brothers as your CEO and the future of our industry — my industry is really, really bright, it looks like. Having said that, I actually want to ask Tarek a question, if that’s okay. First of all, very impressive that you speak six languages, maybe over a beer one day, you’ll tell me how you managed to do that. That’s very impressive. But I’m curious Tarek to get your take on what is it that you’ve learned about the company that you can share with us, being on the Board that gives you the conviction to step into the hot seat and take questions from people like us?
I look forward to working with you. And what about — you’ve got tremendous background, being an equity analyst many years back, and you’ve been in the tech industry for a long time. What do you see as RingCentral’s primary — every company has challenges. So what you think is RingCentral’s primary challenge going forward? And what is going to be that secret sauce that you bring with your background, whether it’s pivoting towards a new segment of the market, or these acquisitions? I wanted to just be cognizant that there are challenges and how do you envision overcoming them in your future? Thank you so much and congrats.
Tarek Robbiati: Well, thank you very much for the intro. You made me feel a bit younger because when I was an equity analyst, it was 25 years ago, and we were with the same team with Sonalee. So, thanks for reminding me of this. Let me answer first by saying I see a tremendous opportunity at RingCentral and a vast potential. The opportunity that exists in UCaaS and CCaaS combined that Vlad has mentioned, is quite formidable. And it’s something that I’m very keen on capitalizing on for the future and realizing that full potential. Those use cases that you’ve heard about from Frontier Airlines are very telling. These are use cases where communications become more pervasive all the way from inside the office with a contact center, all the way on to field workforces or sales forces, any way you want to look at them.
These are unique use cases that RingCentral can pursue, and I’m very keen on making sure that we continue at RingCentral to innovate and to grow. Because the practical reality is that in this industry, the very first lever for value creation is growth, and we intend to continue to develop the growth here for all our stakeholders and obviously our shareholders. What stands in the way, to be honest, it’s a bit early for me to say what stands in the way. It’s true that I have the vantage point of having spent 9 months on the Board of Ring. And I think I know it somewhat. But I have to spend more time under the hood, so to speak, really in the operations of the business to figure out what stands in the way. And I will start doing so immediately upon my first full-time day on the 28th of August.
But between now and then, we’re not going to be waiting. I’m going to be spending some time with the management team, making sure I understand where they’re coming from, so that we can have a real solid operation moving forward.
