Small Medium Business Phone System FAQs

Q: What kinds of businesses benefit most from a good phone system?

A: All businesses can benefit from a good phone system. That doesn’t mean that all businesses benefit from the same type of system, however. Communicating with your customers and clients in a professional manner is critical for businesses today. That’s why relying strictly on mobile devices can cause problems for businesses. You want to give your customers a great impression of your business. A greeting from an automated attendant is a great first step; it shows that your business is a legitimate operation.

That’s why businesses that don’t need a traditional office phone system should consider investing in a virtual phone system. These systems allow businesses to present that professional image while still relying on their mobile devices as their main communication tools. Virtual systems include automated attendants and a host of other valuable features. In addition, when you make outbound calls, your business number, not your mobile number, is displayed to the person you are calling.

For larger businesses, business phone systems not only allow you to present a professional image to your customers, but also give your employees all of the communication tools they need to do their jobs. Access to mobile apps, which allow them to take their business lines with them wherever they go, and video conferencing services ensure your staff can connect with anyone, regardless of where they are and how they want to communicate.

Q: What is unified communications?

A: Unified communications is the ability to access all of your communication tools from one platform. Many of today’s business phone systems are unified communications systems. While these systems still offer traditional phone service, they also include other communication tools that professionals now rely on.

The additional features in unified communications services include audio conferencing, video and web conferencing, instant messaging, and text messaging. Previously, in order to have all of these communication tools, organizations had to use a different service provider for each. Unified communications streamlines the process by allowing you to access all of these tools from the same provider. This not only boosts production among employees, but can also be a significant cost-saver for businesses.

Q: What is the best business phone system?

A: Since every business is different, it is hard to say that one business phone system can fill everyone’s needs. That’s why our recommendations for the best business phone systems are based on different use cases, like best for small businesses, best for remote employees and best for call centers.

For each use case, we looked at the functions and tools that type of business would need from a phone system. We then compared and contrasted the various phone system providers based on those criteria.

After our research, we recommend the best business phone system for your businesses.

Q: What is the difference between a business phone service and a business phone system?

A: There aren’t many differences between a business phone service and a business phone system. Both provide you with all the tools you need to effectively communicate with those inside and outside of your office.

To judge business phone service, you look at how well the system runs. Is the phone service reliable? This is especially important for cloud-hosted PBX systems. Traditionally, business phone services were all based on landlines. Reliability was rock-solid because everything was hardwired, and you weren’t dealing with the internet. Today, as cloud-hosted PBX business phone systems become increasingly popular, finding a business phone service that offers the same reliability as a landline system has become crucial.

One of the key factors to determine reliability is uptime statistics. Uptime is how often a cloud-based phone system is up and running. One of the most important elements of a business phone system is that you can pick up the phone and make a call whenever you need to and that whenever someone is calling you, they can get through. The best business phones services and systems have uptimes of 99.999%. This means that service is down for just a handful of minutes each year. Some business phone service providers go as far as to guarantee their uptime – if it ever falls below a certain threshold, they will reimburse you.

Q: What are the main differences between phone systems for small businesses and phone systems for large businesses?

A: What makes today’s cloud-hosted unified communication systems so appealing to small businesses is that they provide the same functionality as systems that large businesses use.

Before the advent of VoIP and cloud-hosted solutions, large businesses were typically the only ones that could afford the expensive onsite equipment for a robust phone system with a wide selection of features, like automated attendants, extension dialing and call queues.

VoIP, specifically cloud-hosted VoIP phone systems, have leveled the playing field. There is no longer an expensive point of entry required, so small businesses can easily implement these systems in the same way large businesses can.

One difference might be the service tiers small and large businesses choose. While small businesses might choose a lower-tiered plan that doesn’t offer every feature under the sun, larger businesses may be able to afford the more expensive plans that give them access to everything the phone system provider offers.

Q: How much does a phone system cost for small businesses?

A: The cost and the pricing structure of a small business phone system depends on where the system will be hosted.

Q: How do you set up a small business phone system?

A: A huge benefit of today’s business phone systems is how easy they are to set up. VoIP systems are completely managed from an online portal. Administrators can log in to the portal to assign phone numbers and extensions, add new users, delete users, and turn features on or off for individual users. You can access this portal from anywhere with an internet connection.