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Elevate Your Communications: VoIP for Small Businesses
Updated: March 12th, 2024.
Since its inception, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has revolutionized communication in small businesses. As such, many businesses are straying away from traditional communication systems like landlines to immerse themselves in the pool of benefits. Small businesses, besides being quality-oriented, need to watch their communication expenditures lest other activities become crippled.
With VoIP systems, small businesses can set a small budget for a solid communication infrastructure. Unlike landlines and other traditional communication infrastructure, VoIP’s infrastructure is virtual. This means that it adopts a cloud server that facilitates virtual communication. This is a timely invention because the world is going more online, with 2023 registering a whopping 5.3 billion online users.
Besides, this invention is high-speed, just as every business needs. Hence, it optimizes communication and, consequently, productivity. The system enables online voice calls, eliminating disruptive downtimes, especially when a business expands its base.
In this article, we will explore the different ways VoIP helps facilitate small business operations, including facilitating different call volumes, third-party integration, and high uptime support.
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Understanding Small Business VoIP Needs
Small businesses don’t have to take forever to grow. If there are ways they can scale up, then they don’t have to take the conventional growth route. One of the major determinants of business growth is communication. Colleagues must communicate constantly to get through projects, and if they experience challenges in the process, simple tasks will take unnecessarily longer than they should. Also, clients need a straightforward way of reaching a business whenever needed.
Hence, there is a need for a strong communication infrastructure. Unlike in the past, this can be achieved without digging deep into the pocket. VoIP is one sure-fire investment to scale your business. Talk of a service that perfectly aligns with your business trends. This means VoIP can serve you perfectly, even when things go down.
Regarding your marketing strategy, your small business needs a solid online presence, too. A world where more than two-thirds of its population is online needs more online companies, or, rather, you need a tool that registers your online presence.
That way, your business can grow like crazy by just adding a phone number for your target audience to your online ads. If clients can reach you without hurdles like call fallouts and breakouts, that will build a positive impression, convincing them that your services are top-notch.
Needless to say, small businesses need to go small on expenditures for other operations to remain afloat. Hence, there is a dire need for a price-friendly communication infrastructure that will need affordable upgrades and function perfectly even when your business scales down.
Upgrading to virtual communication comes with flexibility and remote operations. Your small business is not restricted to your country but can be expanded to different countries or states. A strong communication service and a diverse workforce make it possible for you to run your business around the clock. Also, your employees will have no spatial restrictions, as they can work from the comfort of their homes or wherever, as long as they can access a stable internet connection.
With a good VoIP service provider, your business has the chance to grow to unassailable heights. Talk of a feature-rich communication system that enables voice and video calls. Also, businesses can take advantage of this top-flight texting service and integrate a limitless number of third-party tools.
Good service providers will also align this tool with your requirements. You can determine your business needs and get a subscription plan that includes all that. Your provider should also give you different price options to align with your budget.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a VoIP System for Small Businesses
Without serving its main purposes, everything about VoIP falls flat. That’s why you want to consider a system with high integration capabilities, supports essential features, and facilitates scalability. To steer your business growth, all these services must come at a price-friendly rate, because only then can you afford to hire them regularly.
1. Affordability and cost-effectiveness
A service needs to be affordable for small businesses before looking into other aspects. This is a major improvement from traditional communication systems that depended on electric copper wires and physical equipment. Such an infrastructure came with its downsides, such as expensive purchases and maintenance costs.
Besides, it brought along other expenses, such as office rent, while limiting business communication on the premises. This is different from VoIP, which uses internet communication. That means you’re free from rent and physical equipment expenses.
2. Scalability for business growth
Regardless of your niche, exponential growth is never a guarantee. As such, you need a communication system that can adjust to your needs during fluctuations, no matter how often or how rare they come. With VoIP, you can add more features and call lines when your business scales up and remove them when things go down. Your provider should make this easy without charging much.
3. User-friendly interface and ease of implementation
You want to employ a user-friendly interface to eliminate the need to train your employees. In fact, a service should make all the important features accessible without complicated navigation. Such features include call recording, email messaging, virtual faxing, and audio or video conferencing. Your provider may integrate advanced features like power dialers, click-to-call or click-to-text tools, IVR, and more.
Likewise, the implementation of VoIP in your business should be straightforward without requiring much downtime. This means that a provider should help you assess your existing communication infrastructure and determine which upgrades you need to make to quicken the process. Afterward, they should help you determine which service best aligns with your needs before migration.
4. Integration with business tools
VoIP facilitates the functionality of tools like customer relationship management systems, project management tools, instant messaging platforms, etc. Integration with many platforms serves your team's convenience in communication by operating all those services within a single platform.
5. Customer service and service level agreements (SlAs)
No one likes it when a service keeps going down and disrupting business operations. Hence, it’s best to get a VoIP provider whose customer service can be accessed whenever needed. In like manner, you need a service that guarantees high issue resolution to minimize downtime. Transparency about the service's terms and conditions will prepare you for future costs. Also, understanding the SLAs of your contract will oblige the provider whenever you need quick help.
Top VoIP Systems for Small Businesses
1. Ooma
Ooma’s standard plan packs 50 features with great pricing. With just $19.95 monthly, you can make unlimited calls throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Their high-tech app can route calls from any VoIP-enabled device.
While Ooma’s standard plan lacks video conferencing tools, you have a wide variety of popular integrations, a virtual receptionist, and the ability to ring multiple extensions. Their additional features include email audio attachments and a toll-free number.
2. Nextiva
Nextiva is a popular choice among small businesses for its ease of use. The company features a wide range of services, like unlimited internet fax, integration of Google contacts and screen sharing, toll-free numbers, and unlimited calls for the US and Canada. Besides, it has an easy-to-use interface. You also have a navigable control panel to manage your account and contact lists easily.
With a little over $23 per month, you can enjoy 99.999% uptime, accessing the service using your mobile devices and computer desktop. Each subscription plan comes with unlimited video and voice calls. You also have voicemail-to-email notifications and great collaborative features, especially when working with a high budget.
3. Dialpad
If you’re looking for a feature-rich system, then Dialpad is it. The company offers unlimited calling, custom voice mail greetings, top-tier voice mail transcriptions, and call forwarding features. Additionally, you can enjoy high-end integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft Office to streamline employee collaboration.
More on collaboration, you can integrate with third-party applications and software like Zapier, Zendesk, and Slack. At its best, Dialpad offers voice intelligence, unlimited calling, and high-grade integration with third-party apps.
4. RingCentral
RingCentral offers the best of both worlds: high-end features and affordable pricing. Their main features include team messaging, document sharing, unlimited calling in the US and Canada, voice mail to text, and call log reporting tools. Higher plans come with advanced features like toll-free numbers and international calling.
A few add-ons, such as high-volume SMS and additional vanity numbers, come at an additional fee. Their user-friendly interface enables usage across multiple devices and all levels of familiarity.
Conclusion
While the above list features the highest-ranked VoIP systems, the final choice lies with you. So, take time to explore your business communication needs and determine what matters most. As the above-mentioned companies give you a headstart, they come with price-friendly plans that you can hire without crippling other operations.
Besides price, your business needs great customer service and prompt issue resolution to avoid downtime as much. Companies like Ooma and RingCentral are the best-reviewed for high-quality customer service. Dialpad, Nextiva, and RingCentral are beloved for their easy-to-use interfaces.
Check out our reviews of the best providers and compare each one to find the best system for your business. Furthermore, you can take a look at our blog page for more information on the industry.