The best phone systems are fundamental to any small business’s customer service. While it may seem like there are too many phone system choices for small companies, let us help you narrow down the best features of some of the best phone system vendors on the market.
What Is a Phone System?
Phone systems became an essential aspect of a business's customer service initiative after the ability to handle multiple calls from a single phone line became possible. Small businesses of the past relied on PBX phone systems to make and receive calls while keeping costs low. Now, phone systems have evolved and gone to the cloud to streamline communication from any device connected to the internet.
Tell us what you're looking for and we'll offer you personalized software recommendations.
What Are the Two Different Phone Systems?
Small businesses may deploy two different types of phone systems: traditional phone systems and cloud-based phone systems.
Traditional Phone Systems
Businesses relied on the services of multi-line phone systems coming off a single line to maintain internal and external communication. After the advent of PBX phone systems technology, businesses saw the benefits of using phone systems for communication, and they seemed to satisfy their communication needs for the time being. However, these traditional phone systems were expensive to maintain and limited businesses’ ability to scale up their communication systems alongside business growth. This is where their successor, VoIP phone systems, comes into play.
Cloud-Based Phone Systems
VoIP phone systems is an acronym for Voice over Internet Protocol, a method of making calls via Internet Protocol (IP) networks. VoIP phone systems are also Internet telephony, IP telephony, or broadband telephony systems. VoIP phone systems use an internet connection to make and receive calls and can be done via any IoT device in the office. This eliminates the need to maintain separate phone hardware when the softphone feature of VoIP phone systems can be used to make calls.
More businesses are moving towards cloud-based phone systems based on the convenience of deployment, use, and maintenance compared to traditional phone systems that require frequent hardware upgrades and frequent maintenance. VoIP phone systems can be integrated with existing business tools, such as CRM or ERP tools, to streamline the way business is done and elevate your business’s customer service approach.
What Are the Benefits of VoIP Phone Systems?
Lower Costs
Since VoIP telephony relies on the internet to make and receive calls instead of a traditional phone connection, you can reduce your communication expenses by more than half when switching to VoIP phone systems. You can also lower overhead costs for your call centers by resorting to a remote workforce by allowing employees to access the phone systems wherever they may be and reducing office expenses. In the modern hybrid workplace model that has emerged post-pandemic, many businesses maintain international call centers for a fraction of the cost by moving to VoIP phone systems.
Accessibility
Cloud-based VoIP systems can be accessed from anywhere, ensuring that employees can be reached easily. Anywhere with a decent internet connection can be a home office with cloud-based technology, and innovations in 5G going mainstream has made this move more manageable.
Scalability
Since any device with an internet connection can be VoIP compatible, there are no expensive equipment upgrades when scaling up with VoIP phone systems. Auto attendant features of VoIP phone systems can help route calls efficiently within your new larger enterprise.
Clarity
With adequate bandwidth connections, VoIP phone systems can transmit calls as clearly as analog calling without the need for telephone infrastructure. Gone are the days of echoes and delays in VoIP calls with the newest improvements in advanced audio compression.
Multitasking
VoIP phone systems go beyond being a simple telecommunications system by giving organizations the to send images and documents, chat, video conference, and voicemail features to enable multitasking; cloud-based VoIP phone systems allow users to access these features from wherever.
Better Security
Encryption and identity management improvements have made VoIP phone systems as secure as possible. Cloud-based phone systems providers provide automatic updates to ensure that your communication complies with the latest regulations. Consistent call history reports can help detect any irregular activity within your organization’s communication to provide better data safety.
What Is the Best Phone System for Small Businesses?
Intermedia AnyMeeting
Intermedia AnyMeeting is a popular phone systems software that provides what its customers want. Feedback drives innovation for this free-to-use phone systems software has provided small businesses with the necessary IP communications tools. This phone systems software can be integrated with other business solutions, social media, and your website to help streamline communication. Video conferencing makes Intermedia AnyMeeting a complete contact center solution for businesses on a budget.
Nextiva
Nextiva phone systems offer affordable PBX/SIP trunking services with modern VoIP capabilities on a per-user basis for startups to get their company communications systems started. With the flexibility of cloud-based technology, Nextiva phone systems enable businesses to conduct their day-to-day requirements from anywhere their staff is.
Dialpad
Dialpad Business Phone Systems provides small businesses with advanced cloud-based mobile communications options at affordable rates. Ai voice intelligence, integrations with other apps and software, and the ability to create efficient workflows make Dialpad a preferred phone systems provider on the market.
8x8
8X8 phone systems provide a complete unified communications suite for small businesses. With all the standard phone system features and more, 8x8 phone systems have easily helped businesses migrate from on-premises phone systems to cloud-based solutions. With customized plans for every company, 8x8 has become a popular phone system solution.
RingCentral
RingCentral has evolved from a popular cloud-based PBX provider to a complete unified communications platform that has helped countless businesses streamline their communication. With comprehensive reports and analytics, RingCentral allows your business to take a data-driven approach to success.
If all this information may seem overwhelming, it may help to compare the best phone systems vendors via our comparison guide. This will allow you to decide on the best phone systems provider for your business by considering your business's unique needs.
Learn more about the best phone systems vendors and read about the evolution of phone systems from traditional systems to modern cloud-based solutions.
