The office telephone system no longer functions as a tool for making and receiving calls. With today’s unified communication systems, employees can communicate via telephone, video, and text to flexibly connect companies with customers and customers in any way. To support the search process, we surveyed and analyzed more than 75 providers. Below are our best photos, plus a comprehensive list of telephone systems and integrated communications vendors if our selection doesn’t suit your needs. For more information, see our Business Telephone System Selection Guide.
There are so many types of business telephone systems and solutions on the market today.
Table of Contents
What is a Business Phone system?
A business phone system refers to a multi-line telephone system that is commonly used in a business environment. It has several practical features such as call forwarding, conference calls, call measurement, and reporting, private and shared voice mailboxes, and many more to enhance business communications and improve your overall performance.
A business phone system can also refer to the network of some of the standard telephones commonly used in small business offices and the complete and sophisticated Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems widely used by large companies.
Importance of a Business Phone System
Today’s business telephone systems are more than just tools for making and receiving telephone calls. Many of these modern solutions are known as “Integrated Communication Systems.”
The integrated communication system integrates various types of business communication. They go beyond traditional telephone calls and offer multiple functions such as audio conferencing, video conferencing, instant messaging, online fax, and text messaging to optimize and automate all business communication processes.
In this technologically advanced work environment, the business phone system is gradually becoming an indispensable tool for accelerating business growth, especially for small businesses.
Some of the factors for using the business phone systems are as follows-
- Cost-Effective
- Service Mobility
- Scalability
- Low Maintenace cost
- Great Customer Service
- Great Features
- Reliable
Types of Business Phone Systems
Small business owners and employees often hold multiple roles, including corporate technology management. Since there is no IT department to research, purchase, and install a business telephone system, it is imperative to work with a business phone service that is easy and straightforward for everyone to set up and maintain.
The phone service providers help the business and are always ready to assist them in any problem. Here is a small guide covering various small phone systems-
- Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers are the ideal solution for companies that need a system that can present a professional image at any time, no matter where their employees work. Grasshoppers make this possible by connecting business phone lines to remote workers on their cell phones and landlines. The system provides your company with its telephone number and an extension of each employee. When a customer or customer calls a key business area, they are greeted by an auto agent who connects the caller with the agent they wish to contact. Instead of linking the call to a work phone, the system sends the caller to whichever phone the agent chooses. It can be a smartphone system, or a landline, or some other number. Employees have complete control over where callers are directed. You select numbers to divert calls to and the order in which the numbers ring.
- OOMA
Ooma Office is specially designed for tiny businesses. One of the reasons it’s such an excellent choice for microbusinesses is how the system works. In addition to the traditional cloud-hosted system that works with IP phones, Ooma Office offers a version that combines local hardware with services hosted in the cloud.
Various factors make this phone system a very excellent phone system for small business. First, someone with no technical experience can set up the system in just a few minutes.
Ooma Office has excellent customer service, and their website has valuable resources that businesses can use to solve problems. With this support and help, maintaining and operating this business phone system is not a problem without a permanent IT team.
- Nextiva
It offers various reliable features such as advanced IVR, call forwarding, mobile VoIP applications for iOS and Android, desktop applications for macOS and Windows, call recording, voicemail to text, virtual fax, transaction tracking, ticket management and sentiment analysis, analysis, scoreboard, etc. Besides, Nextiva offers various collaboration tools, including video conferencing, screen sharing, and team chat. This system is very reliable and safe. Nextiva has not experienced any service interruptions since 2017. The Nextiva platform also offers an integrated CRM solution that virtually knows and manages your customers.
- Jive
Jive is an affordable VoIP phone service with perhaps the most comprehensive list of features on the market today. It’s hard to find Jive’s offer at a better price elsewhere.
The platform offers solutions for small businesses, marketers, and midsize enterprises and products for voice, video, contact centers, and more.
- Ring Central
This phone system is a powerful and easy-to-use phone system for running small and larger businesses. Get the advantage of reliable, secure, and seamless internet telephone service.
They can easily set up and activate their service within minutes. And you can always reach out to the support team as they provide quality customer service.
RingCentral offers useful features such as call tracking, call forwarding, call forwarding, automatic call recording, video conferencing, and screen sharing.
- 8×8
8X8 is a phone system that fulfills the needs of every business, whether small or big.
A VoIP unified communications system hosted in the cloud does not require expensive PBX hardware or a professional IT team to set up or maintain. This phone is straightforward to set up and maintain.
Another impressive aspect of the 8×8 is the sheer number of calls, collaborations, and mobile tools. It provides all the features small businesses look for in a unified communications system, including three-way calling, calls forwarding, calls waiting, calls forwarding, online voicemail, auto staff, ring groups, and caller identification.
Employees’ ability to connect to their telephone system from outside the office is essential for small businesses. The 8×8 mobile app guarantees user access to business areas no matter where they are. This application allows you to make and receive calls from your business area, make video calls, record calls, and check your voicemail.
- Call Hippo
Call hippo is another business phone system that virtual phone system. The main features of call hippo are contact management, call retention, call reminders, and many more. This phone system also has an option for a free plan, and however, you can always upgrade to a more significant project to benefit from world-class features.
- Vonage
Vonage is an excellent phone system for a small business that has this plug and play VOIP features. This phone system has unlimited calling features and messaging services, mainly in the USA and Canada.
Another unique attraction of Vonage is that it offers industry-specific solutions and services based on business needs. For example, they have accounting, law firms, health care, retail, real estate, and more.
Companies also have tools such as reducing communication costs, starting a call center, recording employee calls, or connecting virtual teams. Vonage phone system has more than 40 VOIP phone features present in it like do not disturb, caller ID feature, Voice mail feature, call blocking feature, file sharing feature, call screening feature, and many more. They have a perfect call center support system.
- Mitel
Mitel offers a VoIP telephone service that runs on Google Cloud. You know you have the support of an industry leader regarding reliability, scalability, and security. Mitel has a modern interface, which makes it easy to use. You benefit from real-time controls and a seamless experience across all of your devices.
- Phone.com
This phone system provides wit the most affordable VOIP phone services.
They have some of the most affordable VoIP phone packages on the market today.
Cheaper plans are offered elsewhere, but none that I would recommend. Phone.com is what I wanted to point out if your budget is tight, but you still wish for excellent service.
Even though packages are available, they are limited. If you exceed this monthly limit in a matter of minutes, you can switch to an unlimited plan on Phone.com.
Mitel is a universal solution for communication, collaboration, and contact center services. They are used by well-known names such as Netflix, Smile Doctors, and Rewards Network.
Conclusion
All companies can benefit from a sound telephone system. However, this does not mean that all companies benefit from the same type of system. Professional communication with your clients and customers is essential for today’s business. Because of this, heavy reliance on mobile devices can create business problems. The autoresponder greeting is an excellent first step. It shows that your business is a legitimate operation.
For this reason, our recommendations for the best business phone system are based on different uses, such as B. best for small businesses, best for long-distance workers, and best for call centers.
We looked at the functions and tools a company would need for a telephone system for each use case. We then compare and compare various telephone system providers based on these criteria.
Amy is a zealous writer at Ideacom- Business phone system for Small business service provider and with her passion to read and write about Technology and telecom and its implementation in our modern world. Her inquisitiveness towards learning about how technology has evolved and changed its perception in the society is commendable. With such curiosity embedded in herself, she researches extensively before writing a blog to deliver a credible and detailed content piece.