Easily Call From Anywhere

There are five key types of business phone system:

Traditional Landline Systems: Physical phone lines, provided by a local or regional telephone company, which are used to make and receive business calls. The lines are often reliable, but can be more expensive and less flexible than the more modern alternatives.

PBX (Private Branch Exchange) Systems: Many larger businesses use PBX systems to connect their large numbers of internal lines. These systems still rely on physical, on-premises hardware, but offer features like call transferring, extension dialing, and voicemail.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Systems: VoIP systems use the internet to transmit voice data instead of traditional phone lines. This means these types of wireless phone system for business are typically more cost-effective than traditional alternatives, and give smaller businesses with tighter budgets access to international calling and other features.

Hosted/Cloud-Based Phone Systems: These systems utilize the cloud to offer a large number of features without the need for physical hardware. Service providers host and maintain the infrastructure, giving businesses access to features like call forwarding and auto attendants at low cost.

Unified Communications (UC) Systems: UC systems bring together various different communication tools into a single platform. Voice, video, instant messaging, and conferencing can all be accessed from the same place, streamlining communication and collaboration.

How VoIP works is surprisingly simple. When a call is made using a VoIP phone, your voice is converted from an analog signal into digital data packets, which are then transmitted to the person on the other end of the line via the internet. 

Once these packets arrive, they’re reassembled into a continuous stream of audio data which is played to the other caller. All of this happens virtually instantaneously, so that phone conversations can play out in real-time.

VoIP phone systems typically include other features, such as call forwarding, voicemail, caller ID, and more. These features are all managed by VoIP servers, and are accessed remotely via the internet on VoIP-enabled devices through software.

Is there really that much of a difference between PSTN and VoIP? The answer is a resounding yes. Here are some of the main benefits of wireless business phone systems:

Used on existing hardware: VoIP software can usually be installed on existing devices (such as PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones), meaning there’s no need to buy specialized equipment. This reduces overall costs, and makes it easy for distributed workforces to communicate using their existing tech.

Flexibility and scalability: VoIP systems are highly flexible and incredibly scalable. New users and features can be easily added or removed as necessary, so rapidly expanding teams don’t have to worry about their communications solution keeping pace with their expansion.

Cost-effective: VoIP phone systems typically have lower upfront costs and ongoing expenses than traditional phone systems. There’s little physical hardware to install or maintain, after all. Wireless business phone system pricing also tends to be easier to understand and tiered to suit businesses with differing budgets.

Advanced features: VoIP phone systems give you access to a wide range of advanced features that traditional phone systems simply can’t accommodate. Features such as voicemail transcription, call recording, and integrations with other business apps are all possible at low cost.

So, if the time’s come to make the switch to VoIP, what exactly are the wireless business phone system features you should be looking for?

International numbers: Being able to call different countries with a local number helps expand your reach, giving you a trustworthy reputation in new markets.

IVR (Interactive Voice Response): IVR helps you to route incoming calls to the right department first-time, improving the customer experience and saving your agents valuable time.

Call routing: Automatically routing calls to specific agents based on availability, agent skill, or even CRM information means that calls are answered more quickly, and by the right person for the job.

Call monitoring:  Being able to monitor calls in real-time allows contact center managers to provide valuable feedback to their agents, or even coach them through tricky conversations.

Voicemail: If a customer can leave a message and have their call returned during business hours, they’re less likely to feel like they’ve been abandoned.

There are a wide variety of wireless business phone system pricing plans out there. As with most services, access to more features tends to have a higher cost attached. CloudTalk offers four plans, designed to suit a variety of needs and budgets.

Starter: $25/user/month.
Features include unlimited inbound and intracompany calls, unlimited call queuing, access to international numbers, and access to the CloudTalk mobile app.

Essential: $30/user/month.
Includes all the features of the Starter plan, plus advanced analytics, skill-based routing, SMS messages, and integrations with other systems.

Expert: $50/user/month.
Includes all the features of the Essential plan, plus Power Dialer, Smart Dialer, Call Monitoring, and speech to text.

Custom: Tailor-made offers are available upon request, complete with a custom onboarding experience, enterprise-level security, and custom reporting.