How Do Cloud-Based Business Phone Systems Compare?

Finding the Right Phone System for Your Company

A cloud-based business phone system is ideal if your business needs robust business phone capabilities and scalability at an affordable price. Cloud communications providers can offer flexibility and valuable features to enhance your calling capabilities and improve the customer experience. A reliable phone system is critical to consumer confidence and can impact your bottom line. A study in Forbes found that over half of customers were likely to choose the fastest-responding company.

Navigating the various business phone system providers can be a challenge. We will explore your options when choosing a cloud-based business phone system to simplify selecting a powerful and affordable solution.

What Can a Cloud-Based Business Phone System Provide a Business?

A cloud-based business phone system offers several advantages over the traditional carrier. Most platforms provide valuable services and features to grow your business and provide a better phone experience for users.

Scalability and Flexibility

Putting your business phone system in the hands of a cloud-based provider gives you near-limitless scalability and elasticity. Your business can instantly increase its calling capacity in response to a campaign or product launch and scale down as needed. Since it will provide users service through the internet, you can take calls from almost anywhere in the world and provide a quality calling experience.

Cost-Efficiency

Traditional carriers use publicly switched telephone networks (PSTN) to serve your business, requiring a dedicated line for every location and costly charges for long-distance and international calls. On the other hand, a cloud-based provider allows you to use your existing internet service provider (ISP) to make calls and is only limited by your bandwidth. Fortunately, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is resource-friendly for modern broadband and fiber Internet services.

Enterprise-Grade Features

Cloud-based business phone providers typically offer a mixture of enterprise-grade features. Some of the features you can expect the average platform to offer are the following:

• Address Book
• Audio Conferencing
• Call Forwarding
• Caller ID
• e911
• Voicemail

Most providers offer the basic features. If you want enhanced features like application integration, dial-by-name, video meetings, and hold music, you can only get them from a premium solution.

What Should You Look for in an Ideal Service Provider?

While most cloud-based business phone system providers share similarities, choosing the right one for your business will deliver the most value. Consider the following when assessing a communications platform.

Pricing Plans and Cost

Cost and pricing options can influence your decision significantly. While some business phone providers offer a flat-rate pricing option, others charge per user. If you need flexibility, per-user plans are ideal. You can scale your business without unexpected costs, as you'll only pay for each user subscribed during the billing period. You can choose between limited pooled or unlimited minutes depending on your calling needs.

API and Software Integration

While pricing is necessary, you can save considerably with a business phone system that easily integrates your phone service into a customer relationship management (CRM) or software solution. The ideal cloud-based phone solution will provide seamless CRM integrations to enhance the customer experience, such as Zoho, Comm100, and Zapier.

If you need a more tailored solution, you or a developer can integrate your communications into an app or CRM with a simple API. An API is a ready-to-use piece of software that can be added to your existing software or system in a few lines of code to provide a seamless communication experience.

Ease-of-Access

When your business phone system is integrated into your software or systems, you need a simple way to manage and adjust your phone numbers, users, and data. A platform that allows you to manage and monitor your account from a simple web portal makes it easy to control your communications from a centralized location.

Business Enhancing Features

While it is essential to have a business phone solution that fits your budget and provides unparalleled simplicity, features can also make or break your experience. The ideal platform will offer valuable features to enhance your business. Consider what your organization needs and what might be necessary for the future. Cloud-based business phone platforms offer features you might expect from a carrier, including number portability, vanity numbers, and international calling. Ensure your partner makes these features easy to use and optimized for your business.

The flexibility of the cloud allows business phone platforms to offer features you may not expect, like video calling, call screening, and click-to-call integrations. The best partners offer business-transforming features like Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant text messaging for healthcare-related companies. Text messaging is typically not a HIPAA-friendly communication method. However, reputable cloud-based platforms can provide automated SMS responses, secure video conferencing, and 24/7 live reception with 100% HIPAA compliance.

While an interactive voice response system (IVR) can be costly to implement with a traditional approach, the best cloud-based communication platforms offer auto-attendant systems on all plans. You can also implement optional voice-to-text transcription and 24/7 live receptionist services to ensure every caller has a personalized and responsive experience contacting your business. According to Inc., 3 out of 4 customers prefer reaching a live representative over the phone to resolve issues quickly. Providing live support when callers expect it is essential to maintaining your reputation.

24/7 Support

While the best cloud-based communications platforms make all these features easy to understand, you may need support to get a particular element to work seamlessly for your business. A business phone provider with 24/7 support can assist you with questions, concerns, and expert guidance when needed. Quality support is vital to your company and is not offered by every platform.

Choose the Right Cloud-Based Business Phone System

When you need a reputable cloud-based business phone solution to quickly obtain a business phone number for any phone or device, Phone.com can provide a scalable cloud communication solution with enhanced features like HIPAA compliance and 24/7 live receptionist service. Sign up to learn how our cloud-based business phone system can help your business.