discount of 40% off the standard rate applies to monthly recurring voice extension charges for up to 99 lines. Offer available for new accounts only, and only for purchases completed online. Discountdoes not apply to add-ons, features, hardware, or one-time charges. Taxes and fees not included. Services and billing will continue until canceled. You may cancel at any time through the Vonage online portal or by calling customer care, but cancellation within the contract term is subject to Early Termination Fees up to the total price of your service contract. To apply the discount, choose a plan and enter the promo code 40PERCENTOFF on the payment screen when you checkout online. Offer valid through 7/5/2023
Chances are, you already use some form of VoIP or internet phone service through your business phone line. If you’ve ever used Skype or Facebook Messenger - or any kind of internet service to make a call-you’re experiencing the power of Voice Over IP (VoIP).
VoIP systems have become the norm for businesses large and small, as they provide an easy, surefire way to make telecommunications more efficient—and affordable. For small and medium-sized businesses, these savings can make a big difference. The efficiency of a VoIP system can also ease some headaches for companies that may not have the manpower to handle complicated or less streamlined communication needs. Small businesses generally don’t need some of the more sophisticated VoIP features—like video conferencing that can accommodate 100 or more participants—but the flexible pricing, ease of operations, and customer service offered by many VoIP providers can be of real assistance.
When it comes to integrating VoIP into your business, there are some factors to consider before you choose a provider. The top VoIP providers can help you lower costs, reach more customers, and even enhance your mobility and productivity.
The most important features to look out for when searching for a VoIP solution are:
Switching to a VoIP system entails some initial costs, which are quickly offset by the savings. VoIP services can also increase the efficiency, convenience, and flexibility of your communications and help you incorporate the business tools of a larger company. Before you choose your VoIP provider, try to determine how easy it will be to adopt the system and operate it, and also if it has any specific features you need.
The full benefits of having a business phone system will depend on the size and type of business you own. However, loosely speaking, many businesses benefits from:
Lower Costs—Businesses on average see a reduction in costs of between 50% and 75% after switching to VoIP. This is a combination of reduced communication expenses and logistical benefits.
Productivity—Investing in internet phone allows companies to let their employees work remotely, which can increase productivity by almost 20%.
Reliability—Because of QoS (Quality of service) protocols, common issues like jitter, latency or delay are monitored for a satisfactory standard for business practice. In a recent study, less than 0.5% of survey respondents reported being dissatisfied with VoIP call quality.
Customer Satisfaction—Unsatisfied customers would rather switch services than complain, so customer service needs to be more aware of visitors needs than ever before. Giving your customers more ways to reach your business is simple with the help of VoIP. This could be helping employees work remotely, increasing office hours, or just offering the customers a number to call when a problem arises.
The biggest difference in costs is going to be dependent on the type of VoIP service you choose for your business. There are 3 main systems available:
Hosted System—Similar to a website hosting plan, this means that the vendor owns the hardware, and your business leases or buys the phones. Maintenance will be handled by the vendor, too. Companies will usually charge a subscription to use the internet business phone system.
Best for: Smaller businesses
On-Premise System—In this scenario, your business owns the hardware, which means you are responsible for any upgrades or maintenance work. This sort of setup can be prohibitive for a smaller business because of the higher initial costs of purchasing the hardware. In addition, the upkeep may require the manpower that a small company doesn't have. On the other hand, these systems can provide better options for customization and a higher level of security
Best for: Larger businesses
Managed System—With this system, the business still owns the equipment, but the vendor is in charge of set up and maintenance. This is a great “best of both worlds” option, in that it allows the customer to use their own equipment—like with the on-premise system—while still being able to enjoy the assistance provided by a hosted system.
Best for: SMBs
To help you make the best choice, and ensure you get all the features you need for the most competitive price on the market, we’ve done a lot of the hard work for you. Check out these comprehensive reviews to learn all about the features, pricing, and benefits of each of the best VoIP phone systems out there.
Vonage is a UCaaS platform offering VoIP and SMS, live chat, and video functionality—these three features are becoming increasingly popular with young audiences. Its Business Communications platform has basic phone-system features and collaboration tools.
The Vonage desktop, browser, and mobile apps come with standard calling features, including routing via auto attendant and call management tools like call holding, forwarding, and parking. Queues and multichannel business inboxes are also available as add-ons.
This service's team messaging lets individuals and groups communicate easily. Video calls come with collaboration features like whiteboards with 20 participants, team chat, waiting rooms, and integration with calendar apps for scheduling.
Kevin Peña, Strategic Partnerships Manager at Headsets.com, says, "Since moving to Vonage Business Communications, we have team members working in home stations, office stations, or both, and they are able to seamlessly log in from wherever they are that day. We can log in to our VBC accounts and make or receive calls from a cell phone just as easily as an office phone with a simple, user-friendly interface that keeps calls, voicemails, and messages all in one place."
Why we chose Vonage: Vonage Business Communications offers straightforward VoIP features that are easy to use. It also includes Vonage Meetings, with voice, video, and messaging collaboration in every plan.
Our experience: We liked Vonage's video collaboration whiteboards and team messaging. Its desktop click-to-call feature was particularly convenient for spur-of-the-moment communication.
Zoom Phone is Zoom's VoIP phone system, not to be confused with its Meetings video-conferencing app or Zoom One collaboration platform. Zoom Phone includes team chat and bundles with Zoom One, to make collaboration more available and intuitive to remote workers. The Zoom app—available on desktop, browser, and mobile—unites all of the company's applications in a seamless interface, but also works with Zoom Phone alone.
This phone system is perfect for companies that want an advanced phone-only solution without other communication channels. All three pricing plans have the same features, varying by unlimited calling area and call-pricing structure: a US- and Canada-based pay-per-minute plan, a US-Canada unlimited calling plan, and unlimited domestic calling plans in over 40 different countries. The two unlimited plans also come with an add-on allowing limitless calling to 19 other countries. Local and toll-free Direct Inward Dial (DID) numbers can be purchased in several countries worldwide.
The Zoom Phone system provides access to an expansive library of advanced call center features. These include unlimited queues, ring groups (a cluster of phone extensions that share incoming calls), call distribution, voicemail transcription, call recording, routing via IVR, and flipping between devices. While Zoom Phone doesn't provide analytics, it does deliver call-center monitoring through supervisor surveillance, barge, and takeover. The chat and video functionality are also standard but can be greatly improved if you bundle Zoom One as a synchronous UCaaS platform.
Why we chose Zoom Phone: Zoom Phone boasts a wide variety of advanced call center features, with unique global and domestic unlimited calling options.
Our experience: We like that Zoom Phone offers affordable pricing plans and unlimited queueing, but wish it had queue analytics for greater visibility.
RingEX is a teamwork-oriented UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service) platform. It has built-in collaboration tools like VoIP calling, SMS messaging, team chat, and video conferencing.
The platform lets you invite users by email and build a custom phone system with voicemail transcription, call recording, and adaptive Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menus for self-service routing. You can also create dozens of team-chat channels where members can message each other, send images, share files, and assign tasks with due dates.
HD-video meetings host up to 200 participants and are supported by AI-based tools. These include auto-generated insights, background noise reduction, live transcription, and collaborative drawing whiteboards.
According to Emma Grotluschen, Senior Manager of Customer Service at Swanson, RingEX Contact Center enables their entire team "to improve [their] customer service operation." She adds, "The reporting capabilities help us continually monitor and improve our performance, and [with] the automatic call recording, our supervisors tripled the calls they can review."
Why we chose RingEX: RingEX offers VoIP plans with a collaborative, well-rounded UCaaS platform suitable for large and small businesses. All plans also enable unlimited calling in the US and Canada.
Our experience: We liked how we were able to get set up in minutes. RingEX's app was also easy to use and let our team members instantly interact through various mediums.
businesses clicked on a VoIP service this month
