Business communication that is consistent and easy to understand is key to running a contact centre of any size or type.
Today’s business world is very competitive, which shows how important it is to serve customers around the clock. As a call centre, you can only do this with phone systems for small business that is ready for the future and has a lot of advanced features.
In this huge guide, we’ll talk about the things you should think about when picking the best business phone system. We’ll also name some of the most famous players. Let’s start.
6 factors to consider when choosing Phone systems for small business
Not all cloud-based phone systems for small business providers have the same features, perks, or pricing structures. Consider the following things when shopping for the best business phone system:
Core Features Needed
Start by looking closely at how your contact centre works, both from the agents’ and customers’ points of view. For example, the number of calls, the number of phone lines you’ll need, and the number of people you expect to work there. So, make a list of the features your contact centre must have and the ones that would be nice to have.
Overall Expenses
After determining out what your contact centre needs are, look for a phone systems for small business package that has a good mix of features and is priced right.
Remember that the price on the sticker or in the ad is not the final price. So, check to see if there are any maintenance fees or other hidden costs.
If you want your business to grow, you should think about how it can grow. Think about how much it will cost to upgrade your p000000000 phone systems for small business package to match the size of your staff and resources as time goes on.
Third-party Integrations
The best phone systems for small business also works out of the box with your standard workflow and productivity tools. Make sure that the product is easy to integrate with popular CRM platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce.
At-scale Security
If you want all of the communication in your contact centre to take place in the cloud, ask the vendor about data encryption while it’s being sent and the physical security of the data centres. Better work with the one whose redundancy architecture, end-to-end encryption, and authentication have been tried and tested.
Remote Work Friendly
Every business needs to be mobile now that people can work from home. So, make sure your phone systems for small business works with all kinds of mobile devices, like tablets, laptops, and smartphones. Choose a plan with desktop and mobile apps so that your contact centre team can connect with customers and with each other at any time, from anywhere.
After-sales Support
Lastly, make sure that the company’s support staff is available day and night to answer your questions or deal with your problems.
Check its customer service hours and ways to get in touch with it to see how well it works when things go wrong. Not only that, but you can also ask real customers or read online reviews to find out how the company has done in the past.
11 Best Phone Systems For Small Business in 2022
JustCall
JustCall is a one-stop shop for all of the communication needs of a call centre. The business phone service comes with enterprise-level features for organisations of all sizes, like call monitoring and call barging, as well as local and toll-free phone numbers in more than 70 countries.
JustCall’s strength is its industry-leading reliability, with 99.999 percent uptime and carrier-grade infrastructure that works 24/7 to support your contact centre in different time zones. More than 6,000 businesses use JustCall to do business inside and outside of the office because it has a good name in the business communication world.
JustCall is easy to use. It takes less than three minutes to learn how to use the software. The plans can be changed and expanded, which makes the low-cost phone systems for small business a quick replacement for a physical contact centre.
One of the best things about JustCall is that it has tools that use AI to improve internal training and calling experience.
Live agent assist makes it easier for your sales and customer service reps to answer customer questions by giving them instant access to important information. Sentiment analysis finds out what kind of feeling (positive or negative) is behind every word or phrase said on a call with a customer.
What to Read Next:
- With AI Agent Assist, you can get prompts based on the situation to speed up sales and support readiness.
- Sentiment Analysis: Look at how customers feel right now
Also, JustCall puts a lot of emphasis on customer relationship management (CRM) and works well with platforms like Zapier, Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho. It can also be used with more than 100 business tools you use every day.
All of its plans come with advanced features like ring groups, click-to-dial, call and SMS analytics, dedicated support, and a lot more.
Sign up for JustCall today to get local phone numbers in more than 70 countries. Or, you can set up a free demo call with a JustCall expert to find out how the service can help your business.
Find out more about how JustCall works here. Find out how much it costs here.
8X8
8X8 is a cloud-based phone systems for small business that works hard to make sure voice communication is of the highest quality. All of 88’s plans are compatible with a wide range of integrations, such as Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and 1CRM.
Because it has a truly “unified” interface, the people working in your call centre can answer questions, take calls, or join a video conference all from a single panel.
Intelligent call routing, auto-attendant, team messaging, and business hours handling are all built into the basic 8X8 Express plan. These features are also included in the X2 plan, which lets you make unlimited voice calls to 14 countries, has enterprise-level security, and gives you access to supervisor analytics.
Find out more about how 8X8 works here. Find out how much it costs here.
RingCentral
The phone systems for small business from RingCentral makes it easier to talk to leads, customers, and coworkers while saving time, money, space, and effort. The all-in-one suite has automatic call recording, an IVR with more than one level, and hot desking.
Setting itself up as a high-tech business phone, the sound and video quality are always crystal clear during conferencing and screen sharing.
Popular apps like Slack, Salesforce, and Zendesk work well with RingCentral. So, you can easily move customer information from one platform to another. Also, this information is more useful when it comes in the form of actionable reports and analytics that happen in real time.
Also, the price of RingCentral’s packages depends on how many accounts you have, and each account gives you many ways to customise it.
Here, you can find out more about how RingCentral works. Find out how much it costs here.
GoTo Connect
GoTo Connect wants all call centres, no matter how big or small, to be able to use enterprise-level communication. When it comes to features, the service provider gets high marks. There are many tools for collaboration, calling, and mobile use.
All subscriptions to GoTo Connect come with unlimited extensions, smart call routing, dial plans that can be changed, and call forwarding.
On the higher-end versions, you get unlimited call queues and ring groups, international calls to more than 50 countries, real-time analytics, and 1,000–5,000 toll-free minutes.
GoTo Connect has a lot of features and comes with easy-to-use apps that bring together call histories for each contact and give you one-click access to any communication method that works.
Find out more about the features of GoTo here. Find out how much it costs here.
Dialpad
GoTo Connect wants all call centres, no matter how big or small, to be able to use enterprise-level communication. When it comes to features, the service provider gets high marks. There are many tools for collaboration, calling, and mobile use.
All subscriptions to GoTo Connect come with unlimited extensions, smart call routing, dial plans that can be changed, and call forwarding.
On the higher-end versions, you get unlimited call queues and ring groups, international calls to more than 50 countries, real-time analytics, and 1,000–5,000 toll-free minutes.
GoTo Connect has a lot of features and comes with easy-to-use apps that bring together call histories for each contact and give you one-click access to any communication method that works.
Find out more about the features of GoTo here. Find out how much it costs here.
Ooma
GoTo Connect wants all call centres, no matter how big or small, to be able to use enterprise-level communication. When it comes to features, the service provider gets high marks. There are many tools for collaboration, calling, and mobile use.
All subscriptions to GoTo Connect come with unlimited extensions, smart call routing, dial plans that can be changed, and call forwarding.
On the higher-end versions, you get unlimited call queues and ring groups, international calls to more than 50 countries, real-time analytics, and 1,000–5,000 toll-free minutes.
GoTo Connect has a lot of features and comes with easy-to-use apps that bring together call histories for each contact and give you one-click access to any communication method that works.
Find out more about the features of GoTo here. Find out how much it costs here.
Nextiva
Nextiva lets you use video, voice, chat, and text to build a top-notch call centre. Tools like a multi-level auto-attendant, voicemail transcription, and screen sharing that are already built can help you build better relationships with your customers and make the user experience better.
With real-time analytics, your bosses can see numbers like the total number of calls and the total amount of time spent talking. The interface is easy to use and gives you detailed information about how your call centre agents are doing so far.
Every phone systems for small business plan from Nextiva comes with voicemail, unlimited voice and video calls, and integrations with Google Contacts and Outlook. All of the plans’ prices depend on how big your call centre is. You will also get professional help with installation and customer service around the clock.
Find out more about what Nextiva has to offer here. Find out how much it costs here.
Vonage
Vonage is a good fit for call centres that want an easy-to-use cloud-based business phone system. All of its plans come with the usual set of features, like unlimited calls and SMS, voicemail-to-email, and team messaging.
If all of your business employees work from home, the Mobile plan will work. The higher-tier plans, on the other hand, have more advanced features, such as Sugar CRM, JobDiva, and Zoho CRM integrations, visual voicemail, and the ability to record up to 15 hours of calls whenever you want.
If you add more people to your Vonage account, you can get better deals. For example, its most popular Premium package starts at $29.99 per line per month for up to four users. After that, the price goes down to $27.99 per line per month for 5 to 19 users and $24.99 per line per month for 20 to 99 users.
Find out more about how Vonage works here. Find out how much it costs here.
Grasshopper
Grasshopper has a simple virtual phone setup that is geared toward small businesses and contact centres just getting started.
This phone systems for small business service makes it easy to find toll-free numbers, local phone numbers, and/or move existing phone numbers to a new phone.
Grasshopper’s prices depend on how many phone lines and extensions your call centre needs. For example, the Partner package gives you three business lines and six extensions for $49 a month, or $44 if you pay for it all at once.
No matter what plan you choose, all Grasshopper plans come with a lot of call centre features, like business texting, handling multiple calls at once, and call forwarding. Even if your army is just one person, these skills are useful.