What’s the Best VoIP Phone System for Small Businesses?

Are you hoping to improve communication with key clients? Do you want greater flexibility when reaching customers?

Making the switch from traditional landline phones to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) systems allows businesses to achieve both of these goals, as well as minimising costs, offering advanced call features, and helping growing companies reach their scalability goals.

Not only do these cloud-based systems facilitate flexible, high-quality voice calling, but thanks to the advancement of modern technology, they can also support everything from video conferencing to enhanced usability through integrated mobile apps.

However, with so many companies claiming to offer the perfect solution, choosing the right VoIP service certainly isn’t easy. Keep reading our comprehensive guide to find out which options are available on the market and what you should consider before investing in a VoIP system for your small business.

What Small Office Phone Systems Are Available?

Today, most small office phone systems use VoIP technology to make calls over the internet. Rather than using a traditional phone line, these systems offer an efficient solution for small businesses wanting to improve communication, streamline operations, and make significant cost savings.

The two main types of VoIP phone systems include:

Hosted PBX Systems

As a cloud-based communications solution, hosted PBX (private branch exchange) systems use an internet connection to help small businesses manage their incoming and outgoing phone calls.

What’s great about hosted PBX is that, unlike traditional PBX systems, small businesses won’t need to fork out for expensive installation costs. This is because it doesn’t require any new physical hardware; instead, the cloud-based software can be integrated easily into your existing phone systems.

Another huge benefit offered by hosted private branch exchange is that it doesn’t require in-house management expertise, as the phone system can be run and maintained off-site by a remote service provider like CloudLine.

Some of the key features of good hosted PBX systems include:

1.  Call Recording: Download all necessary business communications and keep them off-system to meet data retention requirements

2.  Ring Groups and Queues: Ensure flexible management of your inbound calls with advanced routing and forwarding so that your staff never miss a customer call.

3.  Voicemail to Email: Voice messages will be sent in an audio file to your email account to be listened to on any mobile device or computer

4.  Web Portal and Desktop App: Manage the system entirely from your web browser or desktop application, meaning there’s no need to invest in expensive hardware.

SIP Trunks

SIP trunking (session initiation protocol) uses a small business’s IP network to connect to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). It does this via the internet using your existing phone systems, allowing you to easily integrate phone lines and VoIP internet communications.

SIP trunks are therefore often the best choice for small businesses who already have some form of physical PBX system installed; otherwise, you may have to pay for new hardware, which could be out of your budget.

Along with being an effective way to convert your business’s communication methods to VoIP, SIP trunks can facilitate everything from instant messaging to video conferencing and screen sharing.

They also allow you to monitor key metrics that may help in streamlining key business operations, such as call volumes at certain times throughout the day or the average length of a phone call.

How Do I Choose the Best VoIP Phone System?

Ultimately, as we’ve explained in the previous section, the best VoIP phone system will depend on your business’s existing communications infrastructure – do you already have a physical PBX system installed for SIP trunking or do you need some cloud-based software installed?

Either way, once you’ve decided on the right type of system for your business, here are some other key factors to consider while choosing your VoIP provider:

1.  Call Quality

One of the key indications of a quality VoIP phone system is if they are labelled as Tier 1.

Tier 2 and 3 providers may offer cheaper phone solutions, but those in Tier 1 meet the highest Quality of Service (QoS) standards in the industry. These standards ensure reliable call quality even during periods of high traffic, as well as comprehensive, all-around great customer service.

2.  Advanced Features

Many Tier 2 and 3 providers offer basic functionality with their VoIP systems, such as call recording, unlimited domestic calls, and toll-free numbers. What makes Tier 1 providers stand out from the crowd, however, are the advanced features that allow you to improve business communications, both internally and externally.

For example, integrated VoIP mobile apps allow employees to make calls from wherever they are. This is great for facilitating flexible working, which has a wide variety of long-term benefits for organisations, including improved morale, lower absenteeism, and increased productivity.

Some providers even offer custom messages, where companies can upload personalised or professional recordings to be used as custom greetings.

With CloudLine’s VoIP services, telephones can also be linked to CRM (customer relationship management) systems, video conferencing, email accounts, social media, and more.

3.  Cost

A key benefit of VoIP phone systems is that they can reduce the costs of calling customers based in different countries, as you’ll no longer be paying high prices for long-distance calls.

You can also employ the best talent no matter where they’re located, therefore reducing the costs of running a physical workspace. Plus, setting up a cloud-based phone system requires minimal investment in expensive hardware, depending on your existing infrastructure.

To make the most of these cost-saving benefits, the VoIP system that you choose should offer a good feature-to-price ratio.

You can find the exact pricing of all affordable CloudLine plans on our home page, with details of the key high-quality features that each plan includes. Our SIP Trunk service comes priced at an affordable flat rate, with packages starting from as little as $20 per month, for instance.

4.  Scalability

As well as looking for good value, the VoIP phone package that you choose should be transparent. Some VoIP providers may charge hidden fees for adding more phone lines, which can make it difficult if you’re thinking of scaling up the size of your small business in the future.

High-quality Tier 1 providers should offer systems that allow staff and customers to communicate easily across multiple platforms, while managing calls all in one easily accessible web-based control panel.

From this panel, you should also be able to easily add new users or lines in just a few clicks, therefore offering plenty of room for your business’s operations to grow later down the line.

CloudLine: Top-Quality VoIP Phone System Provider

As Tier 1 voice carriers, here at CloudLine, we have over 15 years of experience in connecting small businesses, managed service providers, and IT companies with scalable VoIP technology.

Our dynamic team of IT technicians are on hand to facilitate the quick and seamless integration of our cloud-based services with your existing phone systems. We also provide multiple flexible hosting plans with no hidden fees, featuring everything from HD voice and video calls to customisable services that support your business’s growth.

Enjoy round-the-clock integration support from CloudLine’s dedicated call centre for fast response to all of your technical enquiries, helping to minimise downtime and allowing you to continue providing seamless communication for your customers.

Let us help you find the ideal VoIP phone system for your business today – simply call the CloudLine team at 1800 256 830 or contact us online.