7 Best Business Phone Systems For Small Businesses
Business Phone Systems: Despite a growing number of communication methods, the phone remains the preferred method of contact for the majority of customers, 72%, as well as 56% of business owners.
However, in recent years, the business phone has seen significant changes. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the variety of alternatives available when trying to select one that will meet your company’s goals and help your teams boost customer satisfaction.
Use this manual to sort through the noise and make a more reasoned selection. Small company owners like yourself may have some questions regarding today’s business phones, and we’ll do our best to answer them.
What are we waiting for?
What is a business phone system?
At their most fundamental level, small business phone systems are telephony solutions that enable your company to make and receive business calls. However, you will also want a system that can route and transfer calls to other numbers, such as your cell phone.
There are hundreds of virtual phone companies in each category, with some delivering quite more value than others. Choose from among these top 7 small business phone systems.
Business Phone Systems: When and Why?
You can add your regular or cell phone number to your WordPress site and start getting calls. However, your phone number won’t seem professional and won’t work well.
You can:
- Track call duration, hold times, and waiting periods, and use them effortlessly.
- Caller ID, call forwarding, call waiting, inbound call routing, call recording, and more are included in most business phone services.
- Share one company phone number with several users.
- You can make and receive calls using a desk phone system, cordless phones, or a computer.
- No I.T. technician needed to add new employees.
- Business phone systems use VoIP so that you may take your local or toll-free number wherever. You only need high-speed Internet.
- A competent business phone service may boost your online store or small company website. Phone sales and support may improve client interactions.
1. Dialpad
Dialpad is an Internet phone service that offers to businesses of all sizes. Standard features of Dialpad include unlimited calling and texting, unlimited video conferencing, AI-powered voicemail transcriptions, and interfaces with widespread platforms like Google Workplace and Microsoft Teams.
Pros:
| All strategies involve A.I. technology. |
| A free 14-day trial is available with specific plans. |
| An affordable starting plan is offered. |
| The Enterprise plan guarantees 100% uptime. |
Cons:
| Unlimited calls/texts are for the U.S. and Canada only. |
| The starting package allows for one office location but no personal phones. |
| Faxing may cost more. |
| Contact centers and sales dialers cost extra. |
2. RingCentral
RingCentral is a cloud-based communications provider that provides services, including unlimited domestic and international calling. In addition, it offers toll-free and local business phone lines, group chat, improved business SMS, and file sharing.
Annual RingCentral for Business pricing begins at $19.99 per user per month. RingCentral was founded in 1999 and has since expanded to include locations worldwide.
Pros:
| Created for the office, remote, and mobile workers of corporations big and small. |
| There’s no need to replace or upgrade technology in order to accommodate a growing user base. |
| Secure worldwide PBX services in over 40 countries. |
Cons:
| 20 users and 100 toll-free minutes per Essentials plan. |
| The basic plan doesn’t include things like video conferencing, app integrations, or 24/7 tech support. |
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3. Nextiva
Nextiva, co-founded by Tomas Gorny and Tracy Conrad and based in Scottsdale, Arizona, offers three levels of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, with prices starting at $17.95 per month per user on an annual plan for 100 or more users.
Pros:
| Free and unlimited Canada and U.S. domestic calls. |
| Video calling is included in every package. |
| 24/7 support. |
Cons:
| Few add-ons to the base plan that works with software. |
| The three-year plan is required for the lowest pricing. |
4. 8×8 Express
8×8 as the fourth-best business phone system of 2023. APIs, video conferencing, group chat, and call centers are all part of the package. 8×8, Inc., formerly known as Integrated Information Technology, was established in 1987 and changed its name in 1996 to the current iteration, 8×8.
Video pixels, or points of light, are the building blocks of several image and video compression methods, thus the name. It has locations in many different parts of the world, such as the United States (California, Boston, and Minneapolis), the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Pros:
| The Express plan’s starting price of $12 per user per month is incredibly reasonable. |
| Fully HIPAA and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant; also meets other international privacy requirements. |
| Unlimited calls to dozens of countries are included with many plans. |
Cons:
| Even at the highest tier of our plans, a maximum of 100 people can participate in a video conference at a time. |
| Only the company’s more expensive plans include 24/7 help. |
5. Ooma
Ooma is a phone service that caters to individuals as well as companies. They’ve added a lot of extra features to their small company programs. There are probably a lot of different things that your organization is paying for but isn’t using. Voicemail transcriptions and other essential functions are locked behind a price barrier.
Pros:
| No extra charges when calling the US, Canada, or Mexico. |
| Using short messages service (SMS) in North America. |
| Upgrade required for voicemail transcription. |
| Calls can be recorded (paid feature). |
| Auto-attendant. |
Cons:
| VoIP phones integrate with fewer third-party systems than other companies. |
| File sharing and chat rooms are not offered by the vendor. |
| The basic package lacks SMS and video conferencing. |
6. Intermedia
Intermedia is a leading provider of cloud-based communications services, providing over 130,000 companies worldwide. It is founded in 1993 and directed by CEO Michael Gold out of its Sunnyvale, California headquarters, has been around for quite some time.
It also offers video and audio conferencing, call analytics, group chat, file backups, and web-based fax in addition to traditional phone conversations.
Pros:
| Transparent pricing. |
| Affordable standard UCaaS functions and extensions. |
Cons:
| Not for Enterprise-level companies. |
7. Zoom Phone
Zoom Phone is a Voice over I.P. (VoIP) service that is “business only.” Customers that are qualified to use the service can do so across a variety of devices, including phones, tablets, and computers. The product also supports voice and video conferencing.
Many partnerships allow the business to provide hardware choices. As an added bonus, you can use Zoom Phone on the go with either the mobile app, desktop client, or web interface.
Pros:
| Per-minute and limitless options are available. |
| All the plans have premium options. |
| Includes unlimited international calling. |
Cons:
| It doesn’t offer phone support |
| 40-minute video conferences are allowed. |
| Offers fewer compatibilities than its competitors. |
FAQs:
A small company phone system allows independent business owners and expanding organizations to manage all work-related calls and messages. The most effective systems work like email inboxes, making it easy to evaluate conversations and create customer connections.
VoIP communication separates voice audio into smaller data packets that transmit over the Internet and reassemble in a corporate phone system. No copper wire is needed to add phone numbers and extensions to VoIP phone systems. VoIP allows scalable, mobile calling anyplace with Internet connectivity.
Landlines are widely recommended for businesses since they provide more options for communication than mobile phones. With a landline, you may use features like Computer Telephony Integration, Call Recording, and Call Reporting.
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