CloudPhone Blog

With over 627,000 businesses opening in the United States each year, entrepreneurs and self-starters are faced with the pressure to stand out to potential customers. It’s crucial to the survival of young startups to take advantage of any tools or services that could give them the leg up over their competitors. A virtual phone system like Cloud Phone can streamline communications and improve efficiency, all while saving time, space, and money.

Business impression plays a fundamental role when running a startup, and a missed call could exhibit unprofessionalism and send a message of unreliability to potential customers. With a virtual phone system, you can avoid unnecessary downtime and be up and running in a flash. There’s no complicated set-up that requires a technician and no need to purchase and maintain any hardware. You could focus your attention growing your business and driving revenue, without having to worry about calls not being forwarded or answered.

Another hurdle several startup businesses face is working with costly and limited office space. Having a workforce large enough to serve your customer base has traditionally meant renting or buying an office that can accommodate your employees and office equipment. With the cost of renting out a workplace location and paying for traditional phone services, a small business budget could take a substantial blow. However, with a virtual phone system, you don’t need to worry about office space or being locked onto a desk phone. You could run your business from anywhere and communicate with your team and customers while out on the field. By taking advantage of the growing telecommuting trend and eliminating the need to be tied down to a desk, your startup stays connected, sounds professional, and saves money.

Contact us to learn more about our small business virtual phone system and discover how to get the most out of your communication. Leave a comment below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+.

In case you thought we were overstating the benefits of VoIP communications and the rate at which it’s being adopted by businesses, we’d like to point you to a new report from Infonetics. Among the many impressive statistics in the report is the revelation that the VoIP and UC services market is still growing rapidly and will expand to $88 billion by 2018, a marked increase over $68 billion last year.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr User Jim Larrison

“Hosted unified communications are seeing strong interest up market as mid-market and larger enterprises evaluate and move more applications to the cloud, and this is positively impacting the market,” said Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS at Infonetics in a press release.  

A major reason VoIP phone service adoption is still growing is the increasing emphasis businesses are putting on mobile working. According to a recent report from Forrester, 29 percent of the global workforce are now “anytime, anywhere information workers.”     

Today, cloud-based VoIP phone service offers businesses major cost savings. Cloud Phone does just this and the best part is that Voxox manages the system, the burdens of installation and maintenance expenses are removed. Cloud Phone is especially beneficial for SMBs because it's designed specifically for smaller companies. Cloud Phone has a small monthly fee rather than tacking on a bunch of extra fees and hidden costs. Cloud Phone provides small businesses with important features like:

• An auto attendant that greets callers professionally
• Easy-to-configure extensions for all employees
• Voicemail messages sent directly to email for review

So what’s the bottom line? Businesses of all sizes across various verticals are adopting VoIP—the Infonetics research clearly proves what we’ve been saying all along.

Not that we think you didn’t trust us.

Between warm weather, baseball games and the-late setting sun, summer is a season for fun. But during the work week, sitting at your desk day after day looking at the beautiful weather outside can seem like torture.

You’ve thought about breaking up your work routine to make this summer more exciting but you don’t know how your small business would run without you in the office. And that is why you need a small business phone system.

 A cloud-based phone service designed for small businesses lets you effortlessly manage all your communications entirely from your mobile phone, making it easier, less costly, and more efficient to do to business on-the-go. This kind of phone system allows you a little flexibility to your summerby letting you meet with clients out of the office, attend a trade show or anything else that piques your interest. 

A small business phone system also offers the features and functionality of an enterprise service, such as:

• An auto attendant that greets callers professionally and presents them with menu options
• Reach Me Anywhere technology that connects incoming business calls to any location you choose, on any device
• Voicemail transcription that turns voice messages into text that can be read when listening is not an option
• Instant conference calling, so even when you’re out of the office, it will be like you never left
• A business-specific number that you can give to clients and customers instead of your personal number

So consider deploying a small business phone service and introduce a little variety to your summer—nobody wants to be stuck in the dog days for months on end. 

There are several reasons why small business owners want call screening - especially around the holidays. Your business is booming with holiday orders and you can only make time for the most important callers. Another reason may be that a caller (think client or business partner) may need to be dealt with in a specific manner due to added holiday stress or deadlines, and you need to mentally prepare for that person. And it also might be that you want quality time with your family and just don't want to take business calls unless it's an emergency situation.

Regardless of your reasoning, call screening can provide a barrier between you and your callers - making your holidays more enjoyable and giving you some much needed work life balance. Plus, it's just one of the many free services that come with Voxox Cloud Phone. So, why not gift yourself call screening this holiday season?

Here are a few ways to put call screening, combined with other professional phone features, to work for you over the holidays (and everyday!):

1. Ho! Ho! Who?

You've probably called a number that asks you to state your name before connecting. With a professional calling service like Voxox Cloud Phone, you can require each caller to state their name and then choose to pick up or send to voicemail. The real gift here is that the caller will never be the wiser no matter which option you choose and it's a simple way to provide professional service to all inbound callers.

2. Christmas "Eaves"drop

Say you've decided to send a caller to voicemail because you didn't have time to talk, didn't recognize the name or maybe weren't sure if you can easily provide assistance at the moment. With Voxox Cloud Phone you can listen in on the voicemail message being left in real-time and pick up mid-message if something important catches your ear. This unique feature is called Eavesdrop and brings us back fond memories of Christmas mornings long ago screening answering machine messages from distant aunts and uncles - who then mention gifts!
3. An SMS Wonderland

The cookies are burning, your cat is climbing the tree and your grandma is requesting another hot toddy. This is when SMS comes in handy. You've screened the call and you want to answer, but just can't talk (read background noise), so you opt for business SMS instead. Voxox Cloud Phone lets you text contacts from your virtual business phone number so the conversation stays professional, you can get your work done and tend to your holiday guests all at the same time.

4. A Call to Remember

Holidays are busy and often require traveling or hosting. If an important call comes in that you can't miss, but also need to take detailed notes on, hit the call record button. This lets you listen in on the call at a more convenient time so you can recall all the details you might have forgotten - a present for your future self!

If call screening sounds like something you could use, tis' the season to sign up for a free virtual phone number and start saving yourself time and unnecessary holiday stress -- it will be the best gift you receive all year!

Last week the Voxox team was in Miami for the ITEXPO. The business technology show hosted thousands of attendees and hundreds of exhibitors in all areas of the IP communications industry. It was a huge event with our CMO, Tristan Barnum, participating in a panel discussion on BYOA in the mobile workplace, and the introduction of our latest product, Cloud Phone Pro. The announcement of our new business VoIP solution gained all kinds of news coverage from TMCnet, TruTower, Talkin' Cloud, and SMB Nation. To top it all off, Cloud Phone Pro went on to win Best On-site Product Launch!

The award win demonstrates Voxox's commitment to innovation and providing effective solutions for business communication. Cloud Phone Pro is an extension of our business VoIP solution suite designed to help small businesses and organizations improve their communications with a fully hosted solution. Cloud Phone Pro includes worldwide DID, call recording, call queuing, and more handy features. 

See the official press release below announcing our big win!

Cloud Phone Pro Named Best of Show Winner at ITEXPO Miami 2015 for Best Product Launch

Voxox’s Cloud Phone Pro takes home one of top honors at premier industry event

SAN DIEGO – February 4, 2015 – Voxox®, the most comprehensive cloud-based rich communication service for consumers and businesses, today announced that the company’s newly released hosted VoIP service, Cloud Phone Pro, has won a Best of Show award at ITEXPO Miami for Best Product Launch. TMCnet editors recognized top products and solutions for their innovation and creativity in categories ranging from service provider and cloud solutions to enterprise and open source platforms.

“The win is a testament to Voxox’s commitment to continually expanding our business offerings with new products and services that hit the ground running,” said Bryan Hertz, CEO of Voxox. “ITEXPO has an excellent reputation with the business community so the positive response we received is even more meaningful. We’re truly honored to have Cloud Phone Pro’s first recognition come from the ITEXPO team.”

Cloud Phone Pro is ideal for small, medium and large businesses seeking to shed the cost and limitations of on-premise telephony services and take advantage of hosted features, such as worldwide DIDs, call recording, call queuing, conference bridges and more. Building on the success of Cloud Phone, Voxox’s award-winning virtual PBX service that small businesses can use to complement their current phone service and equipment, Cloud Phone Pro is designed for organizations that want a fully hosted solution that can replace their existing phone service but allow them to continue to use phones they have purchased from vendors.

“The products and solutions nominated for the ITEXPO Best in Show Awards continue to be cutting-edge, and it’s truly exciting to see what new technological developments our exhibitors have for us each year,” said Rich Tehrani, TMC CEO and conference chairman. “We are pleased to honor Voxox for their efforts and creativity in developing advanced, powerful solutions for the business technology marketplace.”

The complete list of 2015 ITEXPO Miami Best of Show Award winners can be found here.

For more information on Cloud Phone Pro, please visit www.cloudphone.com.

About Voxox

Voxox is an innovator in unified cloud communication solutions for consumers and businesses. For consumers and its operator partners, Voxox delivers cutting-edge mobile and desktop applications that integrate voice, video, messaging, fax, media sharing and more. For businesses, Voxox provides an extensive suite of carrier-grade business phone solutions, including hosted IP-PBX, SIP Trunking, a wide array of wholesale services, such as high volume SMS, and the company's new virtual PBX service, Cloud Phone. The foundation of the company's offerings is its award-winning unified communications platform in the cloud, which enables the company and its customers to build powerful, scalable applications and services. Founded in 2006, Voxox is headquartered in San Diego. For more information, please visit http://www.voxox.com.

Above all else—including even financial resources—small business owners are short on time.  After all, when you are in charge of customer service, billing, sales, product development and everything else under the sun, the 24 hours in a day don’t seem like enough. 

A small business phone system can help you reclaim some of that precious time. Here’s how: 

1. If you’re concerned that you might miss a critical call if you step out of the office for a client meeting, cloud communications helps alleviate that fear. The technology lets you forward calls to any of your devices, meaning you’ll never miss anything important. In other words, you can do business without being chained to a desk all day with a simple small businss virtual phone number.
2. Instant conference calling allows you to set up meetings on the spot and collaborate with colleagues seamlessly.  This allows you to have meetings without being in the same room and increases your ability to multi-task.
3. Whenever the word “installation” is mentioned people tend to think of technicians spending hours in the office.  But with a cloud communications application, all you need is a mobile phone number to get up-and-running in just one minute.

Getting some time back in the day will take some pressure off and perhaps even give you a chance to eat your lunch sitting down every once in awhile. The popular saying holds that “time is money,” but for small business owners, a little extra time may also mean sanity.   

Regardless of your age, you most likely grew up with the idea of office buildings as business hubs. But while physical office space certainly remains a part of how many companies operate, it’s not right for all organizations. Renting space in a building is expensive and for small or mobile-heavy companies spending a sizeable chunk of a tight budget simply doesn’t make sense.

In an effort to cut unnecessary expenses and boost mobile productivity, business owners are increasingly turning to virtual offices. A recent study by online market research firm uSamp revealed that 62 percent of small businesses allow employees to work remotely. Separate research conducted by the office research firm Instant shows that the global flexible workplace market increased by 9.1 percent from July 2012 to July 2013.

One of the most important cogs in any virtual office is a phone system that provides the features of a legacy enterprise system. Completely web-based and maintained in the cloud, a small business virtual phone is designed for mobile and at-home workers. Using an existing mobile number, business managers can obtain a separate, business-specific number, professional greetings, extensions for individual employees and more. System settings are accessible from smartphones, laptops and tablets and because the vendor is responsible for the service installation and upgrade costs are non-existent. 

In business, one-size-fits-all is rarely a sound strategy because companies of varying size, budget constraints and goals have varying needs. In time, small or new businesses may find they need office space, but if it’s not a necessity today, spending money on rent and hardware only makes turning a profit more difficult—and no business, small or large, wants that.    

Virtual numbers have some powerful features that can help you convey a professional image and drum up business. From giving the impression you’re a local business in more than one region, to creating the perception of a larger corporation overall, to keeping your personal and work lines separate, virtual numbers allow you to create the type of "phone presence" that your business needs to succeed—without breaking the bank.

If you’re not savvy to all the ways virtual numbers can improve your business communications, or even what a virtual number is, read on for answers to all your burning questions…

1. What is a virtual number?

A virtual number is a telephone number (or "DID") that is not directly associated with a calling device or telephone line. Typically, virtual numbers forward incoming calls to pre-set mobile, landline or VoIP phone numbers that are associated with specific calling devices. Business professionals can opt to have one or many virtual numbers route to a single phone or multiple phones, based on their business needs.

2. How does a virtual number work?

Once you choose your virtual numbers, you must set them to route to phone numbers that are directly linked to a calling device, such as your cell phone. The virtual number provider typically has a portal for the set-up process. With Cloud Phone, for example, this takes less than a couple of minutes to set up.

Once the virtual number is set to forward to your calling device of choice, callers will be able to reach you through that number at that device. If you don't pick up the call, they typically will be routed to a separate voicemail that you can set up with the appropriate message, based on the goals of your virtual number strategy.  Some services, like Cloud Phone, also offer voicemail transcription for virtual numbers to make retrieving voicemails as easy as possible.

3. How do I make calls from my virtual number?

It's also possible to make a call from a virtual number. Some services will allow you to dial the virtual number and then, when prompted, dial the number of the person you’d like to call. Another option that may be offered through your virtual number provider is "web call back" where you enter both numbers into a web form and the two calls are bridged together instantly to create an outgoing phone call. The recipient will see your virtual number on their caller ID – just like any other call.

4. Why do I need a virtual number?

Having a separate phone number (or numbers) for your business can be essential to maintaining a professional image, but carrying around two mobile devices or being tied to a desk just isn’t convenient or cost-effective for many types of businesses. A virtual phone number lets you stay connected on business matters, while still keeping your personal communication on the same device. Also, you can gain strategic benefits through virtual numbers. For example, when selecting numbers to represent your business, you can choose phone numbers with area codes you want to do business in to help you build relationships with customers and potential clients in those areas. You can also opt for toll free numbers if there is no regional benefit to you, but you'd like the number to be memorable and professional.

From looking bigger to appearing local, virtual numbers can give you the edge your business needs to grow. Here are some additional resources on the benefits of virtual numbers for business:

Make Your Small Business Look Bigger With Virtual Numbers

4 Reasons You May Want a Virtual Number

Consumers love exclusive experiences, which is why temporary retail and dining establishments are a growing trend across the nation. Known as "pop-up" shops, these temporary stores offer consumers time-restricted access to goods and services, and a slew of benefits to owners and operators such as brand extension and the ability to experiment with new ideas and offerings on a short-term basis.

However, because many pop-ups are the products of entrepreneurs and small business owners, business phone systems often come second to stock and travel expenses. A toll free number is a convenient and inexpensive solution for any business looking to establish a professional phone presence, especially those who are on-the-go and rely heavily on voice communication.

Setting up a toll free number is not only a smart way to give your business a professional edge; it also allows you to keep the same phone number while travelling from city to city to build your venture. Here are 4 ways a toll free number can increase sales…

1. Connect From Anywhere

A toll free number that rings to your cell can be answered from anywhere, which is very economical and convenient for a mobile business. Keeping a steady phone number as you move your pop-up business will keep customers in touch to ask questions and gain knowledge regarding your business venture, such as your dates of your operations in their geographic area.

2. Pre-order and Phone Sales

Halloween costume shops and Christmas shops always pop up around the holiday season and some items, like trendy costumes and gifts, go quicker than others. Keep new customers happy by having their order in stock when you pull into town.

3. No Equipment

Without the hassle of costly equipment and maintenance fees normally associated with business phone systems, you can provide professional voice communications without breaking the bank – and with the right toll free number provider, you’ll not likely to ever need technical assistance because the maintenance is done in the cloud and all calls are sent directly to your cell.

4. Sound Professional

Pop-up shops can seem sketchy but a toll free number makes you sound legit by providing professional features like an auto attendant and call forwarding. Plus, these features will help you manage all of your calls and make sure that your customers never feel like you are out of reach.

There are many financial benefits of pop-up shops, and a toll free number can help you take advantage of all the perks temporary establishments have to offer. Have you started a pop up shop? We want to know your toughest voice communication challenge and how a toll free number could help – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn.

The holiday season is a time to put work aside in favor of fun with friends and family, but sometimes, especially for small business owners, that’s not always possible. Luckily, with Cloud Phone, you can travel for the holidays and do work too!

Since Cloud Phone is a virtual phone system that connects directly to the mobile device you already own, it doesn't matter where you go to celebrate the holidays!  Whether you're on your couch with a warm mug of eggnog or in the Bahamas getting a winter tan, you can stay connected with your team and your clients, if you need to be.

Because Cloud Phone was made for business communications it comes with a ton of professional features that are perfect for travel and most importantly, features that allow you to enjoy your time with your friends and family. Here are our favorite features for getting business done when traveling:

Auto Attendant: The Auto Attendant is the center of automation for your virtual phone system.  With an auto attendant answering your calls, you don’t have to do a thing until you’re ready (quite handy during the holiday season, right?). Callers are welcomed by your company greeting and then presented with menu options in order to reach company extensions that route to other members of your team or forward to other phone numbers where you may be traveling to (even international). This can be particularly useful when you have VIP clients who need help over the holidays and you've promised to be available, or perhaps switching off "on call duty" with a business partner.

Voicemail Transcription: Voicemails are automatically transcribed and sent to your email so you can candidly read the message and decide if it’s urgent enough to pause Elf or to put down the hot toddy.

Call Screening:  Advanced call settings allow you to customize how your inbound calls are handled. You can require callers to speak their name before the system connects them to you. This allows you to discretely screen unwanted callers, particularly if you are only taking select business calls while with family. Alternatively you can set up your system to immediately connect callers to you without screening. In either case, simple controls allow you to accept or reject the call.

Business SMS: Texting is a fast and easy way to communicate, and now with Cloud Phone’s free two-way business texting, you can use it without having to check your business email (and get fully engrossed in work) during the holidays. If an urgent matter arises, try to tackle it via text as not to disrupt your family’s annual gingerbread house building competition.

For a list of all Cloud Phone features, go to the Features page.

Peace of mind is important during the holidays, and small business owners deserve it too!   Comment here to tell us your favorite Cloud Phone features that will help your business run smoothly during the holiday season - we'd love to hear from you!