A dependable business phone solution is critical to a small business’s success. According to Invoca’s Buyer Experience Benchmark Report for 2023, jumping on the phone with a business is the preferred means of communication for 68% of customers seeking help with a buying decision, beating out emails, in person, live agent chats, and chatbots.
Consumers are more than half as likely to call a firm for assistance when making high-stakes transactions including insurance, healthcare, telecom, auto, home services, financial services, and travel.
Most small business owners want a phone system to ensure that they do not miss out on prospective purchases. The good news is that times have changed, and complicated on-premise business phones are no longer necessary. The high prices are also gone, which is good news for small enterprises.
Experts here are available to assist you. Each service’s pricing, benefits, and potential drawbacks are factored into our Best Small Business Phone solutions ranking. Many of the most significant considerations to consider when selecting a new service are described on this page as well.
What is a Business Phone System Solution and When Do You Need It?
In most cases, you can simply add your landline or cell phone number to your Word Press site and utilize it to receive consumer calls. Your phone number, on the other hand, will not appear professional, and you will be unable to interact properly.
You can perform the following with a competent business phone service:
- Call duration, hold times, wait periods, and overall usage may all be easily tracked.
- Call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, inbound call routing, call recording, and other features are included with most phone solution for small business.
- Share a single business phone number with multiple users at the same time (auto attendant feature allows you to route a call to the first available representative)
- To receive and make calls, you can use a desk phone, cordless phone, a mobile phone, or a computer.
- Adding new personnel is simple and does not require the assistance of an IT professional.
- Voice over internet protocol VIOP business phone solution allows you to take your local or toll-free number with you wherever you go. A high-speed internet connection is all you’ll need.
Be informed that this business phone solutions can be of help to small business owned by housewives or small business owned by teenagers.
So, let’s take a look into some of the best phone systems small business solutions available which can also be referred to as online phone solution.
1.Nextiva
Our top pick for the Best business phone solutions in 2023 is Nextiva. Nextiva’s Essential plan is inexpensive and includes an auto-attendant that can assist a growing firm manage calls. If you choose a month-to-month plan, the monthly rates are slightly more, but you get a lot more bang for your buck with an annual subscription because of all the extras Nextiva offers.
The Essential package includes Google Contacts and Microsoft Outlook integrations, as well as voicemail to email notifications, unlimited internet faxing, and toll-free lines. It also offers 24/7 customer service, which is beneficial for small firms without an IT department or tech-savvy personnel.
Note: Nextiva is being utilized as our business phone solution. Nextiva is, in our opinion, the greatest small business phone solution on the market, in terms of both functionality and affordability.
Our favorite benefit as a small business is that Nextiva allows us to add a business line to our mobile phone, allowing our staff to accept incoming calls from our office or while working remotely without having to divulge their cell phone numbers. The Nextiva app is compatible with both iPhone (iOS) and Android (Android) devices.
Professional Opinion: Nextiva is the finest overall business phone solution for small businesses with reasonable enterprise-level plans, according to our research.
2.RingCentral
Another popular business phone solution for businesses of all kinds is RingCentral. They provide one of the most feature-packed small business phone solution available.
Unlimited calling, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting and transfer, sharing one line across numerous mobile devices and users, SMS texting, and more are all included in their business phone platform.
It also includes video meetings with screen sharing, group chat, 1000 toll-free minutes, and interfaces with Gsuite, Dropbox, Microsoft, and other services.RingCentral is a superb phone solution for both physical and virtual companies wanting to replace landline phones.
When compatible, it can function with your existing phone system, or you can use their virtual phone system via the RingCentral desktop and mobile apps, which are compatible with all devices (iOS and Android).
This enables you to connect with other services such as automatic transcription, real-time analytics, voice-over call recording service, Chorus.ai sales call insights, integrations with call center software, connection with support help desk software, and many other add-ons to create an integrated customer contact center.
Expert recommendation: RingCentral is a superb business VOIP option for small-to-medium-sized organizations.
3.Ooma
Ooma is a prominent business VOIP phone company that offers low-cost business phone lines and toll-free 1-800 numbers. A toll-free number can be added to any Ooma office subscription. They will pre-select a toll-free phone number for you by default, but you can change it if you like.
Virtual receptionist, extension dialing, music-on-hold, smart mobile phone apps, call records, and other strong capabilities are included in the Ooma office platform. Best of all, the setup is simple and takes only a few minutes.
You can effortlessly monitor calls, add new team members, and more using their management panel.
Professional Opinion: For typical office environments with desk phones, we believe Ooma is the best business phone solution. It’s also fantastic for remote teams that want to improve collaboration with their new features.
4.GrassHopper
GrassHopper is a voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) service that provides virtual phone numbers for solopreneurs and small enterprises. Any phone number or mobile device can receive calls from a virtual phone number. Outgoing calls, on the other hand, will require a conventional phone line.
To manage your account and phone service, they provide user-friendly web and smartphone apps. Your phone number might have many extensions, and you can choose between local, toll-free, or vanity phone numbers. It provides local and toll-free lines in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
All of the typical capabilities are included in GrassHopper, including call forwarding, routing, waiting, call hold music, voicemail to email transcripts, and more. Because you can add extensions that can be utilized from anywhere via mobile or desktop apps, it’s ideal for remote teams.
Expert Recommendation: GrassHopper is the best business phone solution for freelancers and solopreneurs, according to our research.
5.AT&T
Get an AT&T Business Phone when you need high reliability and uptime. Scale your company on an AT&T foundation, safe in the knowledge that AT&T Business Phone has you covered.
AT&T is one of the most well-known and respected names in the communication technology industry, having been in operation since 1885. AT&T now offers VoIP (Voice Over IP) services, which allow you to upgrade your current phone system to a modern, internet-based one.
This service is for those who own a home, a small business, or a company. Depending on the sort of voice service you select, the options and features differ significantly.
Small businesses will most likely choose to adopt AT&T’s Firm In A Box bundle plan, which allows you to move your business to VoIP while keeping your existing landline phones.
Because this system may link to current key systems or PBXs, it saves money on equipment. An integrated router, built-in firewall, built-in wi-fi access point, VPN termination, and a built-in LAN switch are all included.
Business Phone Solutions FAQs
How does VoIP function and what is VoIP?
VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is a phone technology that allows you to make and receive calls over the internet rather than using traditional phone lines.
We created a comprehensive explanation that explains what Business VoIP Solutions are and how it works.
Is a corporate VoIP phone service less expensive than a traditional landline phone?
Yes, VoIP business phone systems are less expensive than traditional landlines since they rely on your current internet connection rather than a separate system or hardware. By simplifying the overall procedure, VoIP business phone service reduces internal IT and support burdens.
Call queuing, call transfer / automatic call forwarding, music on wait, extension dialing, Conference Bridge, and other sophisticated call services are typically charged extra by traditional landline phone companies.
Is it possible for me to go from a landline phone to a corporate VoIP service?
Yes, your landline business phone system may be readily converted to an online business VoIP service. When transitioning from a landline to a VoIP phone system, all of the leading business phone solutions providers, such as Nextiva and RingCentral, make it simple to preserve your existing business phone number.
What are the drawbacks of VoIP phone systems for businesses?
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) business phone services allow you to make calls over the internet. The most significant downside is that if you do not have a stable internet connection, the quality of your customer calls will suffer.
Additionally, if your business loses power, your internet router would most certainly lose power as well. Calls may be dropped as a result of this. To avoid call quality concerns, we always recommend utilizing a battery backup with your internet router.
These drawbacks are readily overcomeable, and the benefits of VoIP business phone solutions far outweigh any drawbacks.
Which Business Phone Solutions is Right for You?
We believe that Nextiva is the best business phone solutions company on the market after thoroughly reviewing all of the top business phone solutions companies.
Their plans are reasonable for organizations of all sizes, and they provide a wealth of strong features as well as excellent customer service.
The best thing is that Nextiva routinely runs free promotions for sophisticated business phone systems like the Poly VVX150 or Nextiva X-885, which are used by many professionals for multi-line handling and more.
RingCentral came in second place in our research. Their VOIP phone system has many of the same capabilities as Nextiva, and in the end, price and customer service were the deciding factors for us. Vonage, 88%, Verizon, Skype, and a few more are not mentioned in this article.
We hope you found this information useful in your search for the best business phone solutions.
What are private branch exchange (PBX) systems?
A private branch exchange (PBX) is a company-wide phone system that relays calls between users on local lines while allowing all users to share a limited number of external phone lines. Unlike the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a PBX’s primary purpose is to save money by removing the need for each user to have their own line to the telephone company’s central office.
How does PBX work?
The equipment used in a PBX varies depending on the system’s complexity, such as whether it’s a standard PBX with copper telephone landlines, a PBX that can accept a mix of analog and digital lines, a PBX that uses voice over IP (VoIP) hosted at the organization, or a cloud-based PBX system.
Landline copper-based telephone lines enter a business’s premises and are connected to a PBX box in traditional PBX phone systems. This box contains telephony switches that allow calls to be delivered to various phones in an office and for those phones to access a limited number of outside lines, known as trunk lines.
Conclusion
It all starts with picking the proper phone system if you want to increase productivity, improve teamwork, and provide world-class customer service. For less than $30 per month, you can get great call quality, reporting, and reliability with virtual business phone solutions like Grasshopper, RingCentral, and AT&T.
Read our Guide To Business Solutions
