There is a reason why RingCentral is considered the industry leader in cloud communications. More than just a VoIP phone system, RingCentral Office is a complete unified communications solution that solves most, if not all, business communication needs. Aside from leveraging VoIP and cloud PBX for telephony and call management, RingCentral also offers communication and collaboration tools like online meetings with screen sharing and team messaging with task management, all under one platform.

Yes. The main reason why businesses opt to go for VoIP instead of traditional telecoms is that it generates more savings.

First, businesses save on long-distance calls because these are treated similarly to local calls. Second, providers like RingCentral also provide big savings on international calls by offering lower international rates compared to traditional telecoms.

"In addition, RingCentral plans are inclusive of the basic telephony features like call forwarding, call screening, caller ID, and even cloud PBX for call management without having to pay additional premium.

Yes. RingCentral allows number porting or the process of transferring your business phone number from a previous provider to your RingCentral account. This allows for a seamless shift from your previous provider to RingCentral without affecting your operations.

The best business phone system is the one that solves most, if not all, your business communication needs. RingCentral strives to be that solution. Not only do RingCentral aim to meet all business communication requirements, it wants to deliver it in a way that increases productivity and efficiency. That is why RingCentral Office is no longer considered just a simple cloud phone system, but a unified communications solution that brings all the communication and collaboration tools you need in one platform.

Instead of having multiple single-line phones, it is more efficient to have a single phone system that automatically answers all calls and routes it to the right extension. This is how modern business phone systems work. In the past, these phone systems are only available to big corporations because it required a huge investment due to the expensive hardware and infrastructure it needs.

That has changed with the arrival of cloud-based phone systems, which provides enterprise-level features with the mobility of web-based tools. Instead of selling the system to businesses, providers like RingCentral host the service themselves in their data centers and offer it to businesses on a subscription basis. This removes the need for huge capital investments and makes it more accessible to smaller businesses.

In the past, PBX systems needed huge expensive servers to be installed within business premises. This made it out of reach for small businesses. However, the development of cloud PBX, which is a PBX system delivered via the Internet, made it possible for small to medium-sized businesses to have an enterprise-level call routing and management system of their own without having to shell out huge capital investment.

The traditional multi-line phones are telephones that can hold multiple phone numbers in one unit. This is usually what small businesses use as an alternative to PBX systems since on-premise phone systems are too expensive.

The arrival of cloud phone systems, however, changed the game. Instead of settling for multi-line phones, smaller businesses are able to get a cloud-based PBX system that can handle multiple phone numbers with an auto-attendant that automatically answers and routes all calls. The best part is that small businesses can get this modern multi-line phone systems at a lower cost compared to on-premise systems.

IP phone systems is another term used for virtual or cloud phone systems. It is referred to as an IP phone system because the service is delivered via the Internet through IP transmissions, which makes it more flexible and mobile. This allows businesses and their users the ability to connect and use the phone system even if they are away from the office.

Virtual PBX system, also called cloud PBX, refers to the call routing technology used by modern cloud communications providers like RingCentral. Unlike on-premise PBX that only routes incoming calls within the premises covered by the system, virtual PBX can route calls to users anywhere they are as long as they are connected to the internet.

In the past, businesses had to host the PBX system within the premises of their office. It required the business to buy and install expensive hardware and infrastructure. This made the system only accessible to big businesses.

The development of the cloud, however, gave birth to what is now referred to as hosted PBX system. Providers like RingCentral host the PBX system in their own cloud data centers and deliver it to businesses via the internet. As a result, businesses no longer have to purchase and host the PBX system themselves. They just need to sign up and subscribe to the service to use it. With no expensive hardware and infrastructure involved, hosted PBX is much more accessible to smaller businesses.

A lot of people use the terms interchangeably but VoIP and cloud PBX are actually different virtual communication components of modern cloud communications solutions. VoIP refers to the telephony function of the system that allows users to make and receive calls over the Internet. The cloud PBX part of the system, on the other hand, is the component that routes all incoming calls coming into your business phone number to the right department or individuals. While they are different from each other, each component is working with each other to provide your business with a reliable cloud-based phone system.

IP PBX or what is referred to as virtual or cloud PBX refers to the call routing and management component of cloud-based phone systems. When a call comes into your business phone number the auto-attendant automatically answers the call and based on the options chosen by the caller, the IP PBX part of the system will route it to the right virtual extension, which could represent a specific user or a whole department.

Video conferencing simply refers to the technology that is used to have face-to-face interactions from two or more people even if they are not in the same locations. RingCentral offers unlimited video conferencing with screen sharing on desktop and mobile as part of the RingCentral Office plans.

There are many video conferencing providers out there but the difference is that RingCentral offers online meetings solution as part of an industry-leading unified communications solution. Aside from getting unlimited audio and video conferencing with screen sharing, you can also use it in tandem with team messaging and collaboration features of RingCentral Office including unlimited file sharing. The best part is that all these tools-online meetings, team messaging and collaboration, and phone system-are all accessible in the RingCentral App. No need for separate apps for each one.

RingCentral provides users with different options on how they can join an online meeting:

Video conferencing provides your business with several benefits including:

Team messaging or team chat apps provide your business with a messaging platform that allows users to send messages to individuals or a group in real time. But more than just a team messaging app, the RingCentral app is actually equipping your business with a central communications hub. Aside from real-time messaging, users are also able to create and manage tasks, share resources like files and links, and even start a video meeting.

The RingCentral App also lets you share files in real time for faster collaboration. Simply attach the file from your own device or from cloud storage apps and send I to the conversation thread involved. This way, you are able to share files without leaving the app and disrupting the conversation. This saves your team time, helps your team stay organized, and keeps the conversating flowing.