If your business is growing, you need a phone system that is able to grow together with you. Attributes like flexibility and scalability are very important, as switching to another phone system can be quite inconvenient and you don't want to have to change to another provider every time your needs outgrow what your current service can provide.
For many businesses, a cloud-hosted VoIP phone system is the best choice. As cloud-based systems run on remote servers, you don't need to acquire additional hardware if you want to upgrade your service. Cloud-hosted systems are typically managed from an online portal, which makes it easy to expand your phone system's capabilities. For example, you can add additional extensions in just a few seconds.
Another advantage of using cloud-hosted systems is that they offer a flexible pricing structure. Providers give you a choice of different plans whose prices vary depending on the features included. This can save you money, as you're less likely to be paying for functionality that your organization doesn't need. However, as all of the plans include advanced calling features, you'll have the tools needed to grow your business. Examples include auto attendants, voicemail-to-email and conference calling functionality.
Vonage is seen by many as an excellent business VoIP provider for growing businesses, as the provider now offers cloud-based VoIP services that can meet the needs of organizations of all sizes. Their phone service can work for you whether you require two or over a thousand extensions. An online portal is provided to control your service, which you can access from anywhere.
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Vonage offers two different business phone services: Vonage Business Cloud for small businesses and Vonage Enterprise for medium and large businesses. Both come with a rich set of communications features, as well as excellent service reliability and customer support.
Vonage Business Cloud and Vonage Enterprise offer various service plans that come with different sets of features. The monthly cost for each is determined by how many users you have. The per-user fee drops as you add more user.
Most smaller to medium-sized businesses will be happy with what the Vonage Business Cloud service has to offer. All of their plans come with more than 40 standard calling features, as well as unlimited calling and text messaging. The service is divided into three plans. Here is an overview of them:
This plan is perfect for businesses that just need basic calling and messaging functionality. The monthly service fee is $19.99 per user for one to four users, $17.99 per user for those with 5 to 19 users and $14.99 per user for organizations with 20 to 99 users.
With this plan, you get everything included in the Mobile plan, plus some more advanced communications features, like video conferencing, online file sharing and CRM integration. The price is $29.99 per user for one to four users, $27.99 for businesses with 5 to 19 users and $24.99 per user for those with 20 to 99 users.
The Advanced plan gives you everything included in the previous plans, as well as some more advanced features like call recording, visual voicemail and call groups. You also receive dedicated onboarding assistance to help you set up your phone system the first time you use it. The cost of this plan is $39.99 per user for one to four users, $37.99 per user for 5 to 19 users and $34.99 per user if you have 20 to 99 users.
If you need a phone system that supports more than 100 users, you can contact Vonage to obtain a custom quote. The same goes for organizations interested in the Vonage Enterprise service, as its per-user prices are customized for each business.
The Vonage Business Cloud service is offered on a monthly basis with no long-term contracts. This means that you can cancel your service at any time without any penalties. On the other hand, Vonage Enterprise users will need to take a contact of at least one year.
The Vonage Business Cloud service comes with more than 40 standard features, so no matter what your calling needs are or what industry your business operates in, you're very likely to be happy with what it has to offer. The standard features include:
Vonage Business Cloud comes with an innovative function called Work From Anywhere. It allows a user to take their desk phone to another location and simply plug it into a high-speed Internet connection to enjoy the same benefits of their regular business phone line.
There are also some optional features that you can add to your service for an additional cost. A few examples of those include call recording, call queuing, paperless fax and visual voicemail.
When you subscribe to the Vonage Business Cloud service, you'll also get access to Amazon Chime. It's a high-quality conferencing solution that allows you to have phone conferences with up to 100 participants.
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The Vonage Enterprise service comes with a more advanced set of features that will be appreciated by medium to larger sized businesses. The standard service features include:
Just like with the Vonage Business Cloud service, there are some optional features you can add for an additional monthly cost. These include auto attendant, contact center services, faxing, IM and presence indicators and video conferencing.
With both services, you'll have access to the Vonage mobile and desktop apps. The desktop app is essentially a softphone that lets you make and receive calls through your computer.
The Vonage mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices. It lets you use your business phone service remotely, manage your business contacts, send instant messages to your co-workers and place video calls.
Business users will appreciate the fact that Vonage offers plenty of integrations. Vonage Business Cloud can easily work together with various online services and business applications, including Bullhorn, Cilo, ConnectWise, Desk.com, G Suite, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk and Zoho. The Vonage Enterprise service comes with more customizable integrations, such as click-to-dial functionality for your website, call notes and the Vee chatbot virtual assistant.
A conference calling function is included with all of Vonage's business phone services. The conference bridge feature is available at no extra charge and lets each user start a conference call with up to 30 participants. Vonage also provides operator-assisted conference calling services that support conferences with up to 300 participants.
Vonage Business Cloud is a service made for small businesses. Setting up the system is very simple and can be done in just a few minutes. The whole system works by using your existing broadband Internet connection. You don't have to install any equipment, as everything runs on Vonage's servers. Managing your service is done from Vonage's online management portal. You can use it to configure your service to work just like you want it to. For example, the portal lets you set call forwarding rules, set up voicemail boxes or add new extensions.
Vonage Enterprise is designed for mid-sized and large organizations, as it offers more advanced functionality and a better overall quality of service. Businesses using Vonage Enterprise are connected to a dedicated private network that is monitored around the clock by Vonage's technicians. This makes it less likely that you'll run into issues such as dropped calls or static.
Vonage is proud to offer business phone services that are highly reliable. They have 13 data centers spread out across the nation, which operate redundantly to minimize the chance of a service interruption. This allows them to offer their business subscribers with a 99.999 percent uptime guarantee. Also, should one of your connected devices fail, you can set the service to instantly forward your calls to another number, such as your smartphone.
You can reach Vonage's phone support between 8 AM and midnight EST Monday to Friday and 9 AM to 9 PM EST on weekends. The company also offers support through live chat on their website and by email.
Those who have contacted Vonage to inquire about their service were very satisfied with their experience. The representatives were eager to answer their questions and show them how the different plans worked, what they offered and how they could help their business.
The Vonage website also comes with a variety of self-help resources, such as user guides, videos and tutorials. These can come in very handy if you want to quickly find out how to set up your phone system or get a better understanding of how all of the different service features work.
All of this means that if ever you have a question about their service or need help using it, Vonage's customer support will be there to provide the assistance that you need.
Although Vonage is an excellent business phone service overall, it isn't perfect. There are a few downsides to using Vonage for your business calling needs. One of them is that the company tends to charge extra for certain features that other providers include as part of their plans. For example, there's an additional monthly fee to get a local main business number and for integration with the popular Salesforce platform.
Another possible drawback is that there were over 400 customer complaints filed about Vonage with the Better Business Bureau in the last three years. However, it should be noted that many of these complaints were about Vonage's residential services, as opposed to their business phone systems. As Vonage is a very popular provider that is used by individuals and businesses from all over the nation, it's normal that their services might not completely satisfy each and every user.
Despite the complaints filed, the Better Business Bureau reports that 116 of them were resolved in a way that leaves the complainant fully satisfied. Vonage is an accredited member of the BBB with an A+ rating, which shows that they're committed to providing their customers with high-quality service and make an effort to resolve all complaints that they receive. If you read user reviews about Vonage business phone services online, you'll find that the vast majority of users are fully satisfied with the services offered and would recommend the provider to others.
If you're looking for a high-quality business phone service that is affordable and comes with a rich set of communications features, Vonage is definitely a provider that you should consider using. They offer VoIP platforms that are highly flexible and can grow with your business. No matter the size of your organization, your future plans for expansion or the type of business phone services that you need, Vonage has a service plan that will meet your expectations.
