Every business starts with an idea. You see a need, build a product, and put your passion to the ultimate test—and with a lot of hard work, sweat, and dedication, it pays off. Your company takes shape. At every step along the way, you’re making critical decisions about your business, from location, to permits, accounting systems, building teams, and more.
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. According to the Small Business Administration, there are over 28 million small businesses in the United States, representing almost the total of all U.S. businesses.
Depending on the type of company, one of the most important decisions any owner can make is their choice of communications system. Companies live or die by how well they communicate.
An ill-suited system may not provide all the necessary functionality or flexibility, cause greater expenditures, and even decrease productivity by creating endless obstacles or workarounds. The problem is that there are so many options currently in the marketplace that it can be difficult to choose which is the best for specific needs. Even researching the different types of solutions can be confusing. PBX, IP-PBX, VoIP, SIP, PRI, GUI, clouds, PSTN, and DID! Between the multiple acronyms, mountains of abbreviations, and odd terminology—all of which it’s assumed you’re already familiar with—just reading about this can be headache-inducing.
Not to worry—that’s what we’re here for.
At ConsumersAdvocate.org, we do the research, so that you don’t have to. Each one of our recommendations is based on 200+ hours of in-depth investigative work identifying the best companies, determining what’s crucial and non-negotiable—and where consumers can afford to be more flexible. We spend this time because we believe that consumers sometimes need a helping hand, especially when the subject is out of their wheelhouse. Also, VoIP telephony is an outstanding example of an area where most people might need that extra bit of guidance.
The essential thing is to first figure out whether your business model is best suited to traditional landline telephone systems (good for small companies whose static staff doesn’t have access to a reliable internet connection or make many calls) or would benefit from Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony, usually with a cloud-based system. Both systems have their pros and cons, but small- to medium-sized businesses with their sights set on growth and excellent internet connections will benefit the most from the flexibility and scalability of Internet-based telephony.
Based on our comprehensive research, at ConsumersAdvocate.org we’ve determined that the overall best VoIP system on the market is RingCentral. Not only does it provide an all-in-one solution for telephony, team messaging, and video conferencing, but it was also designed with companies in mind. It’s a tool for more efficient communication and collaboration, with built-in options for both small and large businesses.
Business communications solutions are leaving the traditional way of being on-premise to moving into the cloud" -Vlad Shmunis, RingCentral founder and CEO
The company’s cloud-based platform reflects this goal, offering unparalleled flexibility, reliability, and value for the investment. That’s why it’s trusted by over 350,000 customers around the world, including such household names as Guess, Twitter, and BMW.
When we began our search for a VoIP system, there were a few considerations at the top of our list. Aside from such basics as budget and compatibility, we looked at the tools included in the different systems. An ideal system would allow the following:
- Use of one single mailbox – control all your messages (voice, fax, text, and even email) from a single place
- Mobility – cloud-based systems allow users to access their software both in and out of the office
- Ability to teleconference – it’s important to be able to organize meetings at any time, especially with the hectic schedules of many executives
- Quick call forwarding and routing – a common problem of many automated phone systems that cycle consumers through multiple canned messages is that people hang up in frustration. It’s essential that your phone system can connect a consumer with the relevant extension as quickly and painlessly as possible
- An administrator portal – this feature is essential for monitoring purposes, and the best systems will include analytics tools, real-time reporting, and some other operational aspects
No Hardware and an Easy Setup
RingCentral checked all the boxes. Its flexible, cloud-based private branch exchange (PBX) system is a central hub which includes all the features of PBX hardware but allows businesses to customize them according to their needs. Without having to acquire extra software, RingCentral allows clients to use auto-receptionist tools, role-based access control, call monitoring, and multi-level interactive voice response (IVR).
Many Locations: One System
Since RingCentral is cloud-based and mobile-ready, employees can manage their work from virtually anywhere, provided there’s a good internet connection. This means that even when they’re traveling, caught at home due to a snow day, or based in different continents; system users can still be connected to their co-workers.
"The current reality is that organizations are distributed, most businesses are running from many locations, come internationally, people are mobile or work from home. For that you need a cloud-based, multi-tenant, single architecture global platform."
The company also offers solid ways in which users can collaborate. Since business operations depend on good, efficient communication, RingCentral’s platform includes conferencing choices, file sharing options, and multiple project management tools. This not only makes life easier for users, but it also increases productivity by helping colleagues to communicate directly. When added to the company’s many integrations (Google, Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, Dropbox, Evernote, and more), it’s clear that interconnectivity is a priority for the company.
When it comes to cost, the company’s offerings are priced competitively. RingCentral Office (for Business) starts at just $19.99 per month, per user, for its Essentials plan. This plan is best suited for small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), and despite having a slightly higher price point than some of its competitors, the added features more than compensate for the difference. Additionally, the company’s excellent service level agreements ensure phone reliability, making sure that the outstanding issue for most VoIP providers isn’t an issue with RingCentral. Still, in case of any problems, the company offers live, 24/7 phone support for 2+ user plans, and the ability to submit support cases online 24/7 as well.
Lastly, but of considerable importance, is RingCentral’s commitment to privacy. The platform uses multiple security layers to protect data, secure communications, guard against fraud, and make sure the service is not being abused. Security measures are implemented at every level of the system’s architecture, from physical hardware, infrastructure, hosting, data, business processes, and at the organizational level. End-to-end encryption comes standard between all endpoints, network and applications are protected by firewalls and session border controllers, administrative functions feature multiple authentication levels, and there are also intrusion-detection systems set in place. With RingCentral, you can rest assured that your (and your customer’s) information is in good hands, safe from prying eyes and fingers.
All things considered, we firmly believe that RingCentral is the best business phone system currently on the market. It offers unlimited calls, faxes, SMS, and conferencing; has no setup or activation fees; is easy to set up, and even has a 30-day, risk-free money back guarantee. For all these reasons and more, RingCentral is a staple product in the VoIP industry. In its constant striving to offer a better product, in October 2018 the company acquired customer engagement platform Dimelo, to improve customer interactions even more. To us, this signals that the company will keep growing and improving, making it an even better choice for businesses everywhere.