Being a small business owner can sometimes feel overwhelming. You don’t have a large team to handle multiple projects and you often need to wear several hats: project manager, receptionist, accountant, and even IT.
Despite being smaller, you still want your business to look as professional as larger businesses. This can help you build your company’s reputation and open doors to bigger opportunities.
But how do you do it? There’s one technology, in particular, that might just have the greatest ability to help: your phone.
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Your phone system can be the difference
The latest cloud-based phone solutions can give your small business all the same features bigger businesses have, at an affordable cost. A cloud-based communications solution manages all the technology for you. You just tap into all the great features via the Internet using your phone, tablet, or computer. It’s really that simple.
With cloud communications, you pay by the user. That means a small business with only a handful of employees pays a fraction of what a company with hundreds of employees pays for the same top-notch features.
Some of the features of cloud communications technology include:
- Integrated phone, video meetings, and messaging in one system
- Fax capabilities
- Call recording
- Real-time analytics
- Simple setup in minutes
- Low cost
- The ability to easily connect your communications with other software your business may use (e.g., Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace)
These systems also make it easy to increase or decrease phone lines and features as your company evolves.
Let’s take a closer look at how cloud communications technology can give your company an advantage:
1. Mobility means fewer missed calls
Cloud phone technology makes it possible to be available wherever you are. When you get an important phone call, it not only rings at your business location, but also on your mobile phone, and even your computer through an app. No more missed calls or messages.
2. Internal call-routing makes one person look like five
Cloud phone systems can automatically route calls to different departments. So even if all those departments are just you, your company still appears much larger.
3. Advanced SMS features help everyone stay up to date
You love text messaging on your smartphone. Now you can have that and more on your business phone, too. The best cloud phone technology also has advanced group texting features, bookmarks, the ability to @mention someone, and favorites that are easily searchable. You can also share big files that may not make it through a smartphone.
4. Easily switch between phone and video meetings
Today’s more advanced software combines your phone technology with video meetings (which are so important for remote work). They also give you the ability to start a call on your phone and instantly switch to a video meeting and vice-versa.
These all-in-one systems, which also can include advanced team messaging, also save you money compared to buying separate products for phone, video, and messaging.
5. Localized numbers help you get a local flavor
If you do business in several states, cloud phone technology lets you set up local numbers in each state, so your customers feel like they’re calling a local business.
6. Better collaboration to get more done
Strong teams work smarter than their slower competition. Cloud phone systems make it simpler to do that, even when everyone is in remote locations.
And combining phone with video meetings and messaging makes it even easier. Team messaging, for example, lets you organize texts by teams or topics, and makes it a snap to search them for just what you need. And some video meeting products also record your meetings and even provide automatic transcriptions.
7. Keep your business and personal calls separate
When you receive business and personal communication on the same phone, your personal privacy can be invaded by difficult customers. Cloud phone technology lets you use your personal phone for your business line, but still keep separate numbers so you know which is which.
How to choose a cloud phone system
Not every cloud phone system offers all these features. So how do you pick the right one for you? RingCentral is the #1 provider of phone systems, according to PC Magazine and Synergy Research Group. Trust Radius also gives RingCentral its top rating because it has more features for less money, and the best 24/7 customer support among phone system providers.
Let us help you choose the right solutions for your business so you can project your most professional image to employees and clients alike. Learn how RingCentral phone can help your business.
Originally published May 13, 2022, updated Dec 30, 2022