CloudPhone Blog

Do you find yourself in a perpetual state of packing and unpacking? Is your personal theme song the Allman Brothers’ classic road anthem “Ramblin' Man?” Do you think of your bedroom at home as more of a pit stop than a destination? If you answered “Yes” to more than one of these questions, congratulations, you are living the life of a traveling salesman.

As the proud owner of a small company, business takes you to places far and wide as you pitch your product and network with contacts. This month it’s meetings in Chicago and Philadelphia, next month trade shows in Las Vegas and New York; the bottom line is you’re always on the go. But as you hop around, you may find yourself worrying about missing important emails or calls from potential clients or partners. Well fortunately, a cloud phone system designed specifically for small businesses can alleviate your worries and get you on the road to a thriving business.

In 60 seconds or less you can set up a virtual, cloud-based phone system that turns your cell phone into an enterprise-level solution. You don’t need to be a tech whiz to use call conferencing or voicemail to email to set up extensions for other employees; all you need is a mobile phone number. You also get your own company-specific number, meaning you no longer have to give out your personal contact information to every potential contact you meet.

So if your natural habitat is a hotel room and you’re looking for growth that moves at your pace, consider adopting technology that gives you the power of an enterprise phone system without the major hassle and expense.

It’s no coincidence that all phone commercials stress their competitive pricing, but only cloud-based phone services really provide just that.

Phone systems are an expense many businesses consider a foregone conclusion and a sunk cost. Additionally, downtime, hidden fees, and lackluster support are considered norms. But traditional providers sticking to that old-fashioned model are in for a rude awakening, because there’s a new sheriff in town—small business virtual phones.

By offering service maintained by a host over the Internet, a small business virtual phone lets businesses slash hardware installation and maintenance expenses. Cloud technology also makes the service more reliable and less vulnerable to disasters. Better yet, the monthly fee associated with the service is peanuts!  

Small business phone service also take all the business features of a legacy enterprise system and make them accessible from the one thing professionals almost always have in front of them: their smartphones. Those features include:

• A digital text box for customized greetings that can be adjusted quickly on the fly
• Voicemail transcription that lets you read messages when listening isn’t an option
• Reach Me Anywhere call forwarding that ensures you are reachable anywhere
• Instant conference calling that facilitates better collaboration
• A business-specific number that you can start giving to clients right away

To review, small business virtual phone systems are less expensive than legacy service, and they are feature-rich. They are easier and faster to install and more convenient to use and maintain.

Remind us: why exactly would any business want to stick with a legacy system?

You have a business phone line and with it you probably have a voicemail box -- but are you using it to its full potential? While a voicemail box seems pretty straightforward, there are a few steps you can take to make it a valuable marketing and customer service tool.

Let's take your own experience into consideration here. When you reach a business voicemail, you expect to hear the basics: who you're calling and a prompt to leave some sort of information. But what if you were also told what information you could leave to expedite your request, or better yet, if the voicemail greeting contained all the information you were calling about and your problem is solved -- you would be a happy customer, right? Right.

Now it's your turn. Here are a few easy tips to get your business voicemail up to speed.

1.     Identify your business 

Have you ever called a business and been unsure if you dialed the right number – even after you reached a person or a voicemail message? You probably felt confused and frustrated. Clearly stating who you are (when applicable) and your company name will reassure callers they’ve reached the right number – while also reducing the number of hang-ups, redials and irrelevant messages from accidental callers. This is also a great opportunity to insert your marketing message/tagline. Take full advantage of voicemail as a customer touchpoint - why not? 

1.     Be personable

Your business voicemail must be professional, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Incorporating your brand's voice and tone will reinforce your brand image through the voice channel and is a great way to impress and engage your callers.

1.     Provide useful information

Sharing important information on your business voicemail greeting – like business hours, when you expect to respond, and where callers can find information to frequently asked questions – saves you time listening and answering to unnecessary messages, while also providing instant support.

1.     Ask for information

Asking for a caller to leave a name and number is standard in voicemail greetings. While this may suffice for some, other businesses require information like order numbers, best call back times or company names to effectively help a caller. Asking for this information up front saves you time, reduces the risk of phone tag (a very hazardous disease that plagues many small business owners) and helps you provide a prompt response.

1.     Remember: practice makes perfect

You’re not going to nail the perfect voicemail greeting on the first try, but that’s okay! Writing out your voice message and practicing your greeting will allow you to hear where there may be confusion – plus, the more you practice the wording the more natural and professional it will sound. Don’t forget to limit background noise, stay upbeat and on message!

1.     Make sure you have voicemail transcription

Setting up voicemail transcription is a breeze – and you’ll be glad you did. Just make sure that the business phone service you are using offers a voicemail transcription service that transcribes all voice messages into text, allowing you to read the message just like an email. Not only is this a time saver, but it’s also very convenient. Saving, reviewing, forwarding and deleting voicemail is easy, and best of all you won’t need to listen to long winded voicemails to get the details!

1.     Consider department-specific voicemail

If you run a business with multiple phone numbers or department ­­extensions (even if the department is one person), creating department specific voicemails that ask for and provide useful information will allow your team to act faster than if all messages are stored in a central voicemail box. Callers will also feel confident in reaching the specific person or department they intended.

1.     Keep it fresh 

When things change that impact your customers, like holiday hours, a new deal or a change of address, don't forget to update your voicemail. Noting if you’re out of the office and who to contact in the meantime is also useful. Keeping your customers in the know, especially when it comes to time sensitive information, is something they will appreciate.

From clearly stating information, to matching your voicemail message to your brand and of course, practicing before you hit save, applying these tips will help you create an effective voicemail message, like one you would want to receive. Now go ahead and get started! If you need some more pointers, connect with us by commenting here or on our social channels -- we're happy to help!

On this blog we’ve written a lot about the tools you need to launch a new business or grow an existing one. Some professionals, however, may have created a great new product or have a marketable skill they would like to monetize but they don’t want to give up the security of their current full-time job.

Image Courtesy of Flickr User Jeremy Levine

An “in-between” option for these workers is to start a side business, something that can be done during off hours or weekends. In fact, the New York Times recently published a piece by a finance reporter who maintained financial security during the recession by creating “money planners” and selling them, eventually growing revenue to about $5,000 per year.   

One of the challenges the author encountered when she began the new venture was finding time to juggle a family, a full-time job and a side business. Perhaps if Cloud Phone had been around at the time she launched her business she could have cleared those hurdles with less stress.

What Cloud Phone does, essentially, is help you turn your mobile number into an enterprise phone system. When you sign up—which takes less than a minute—you get a business-specific number that you can give to potential clients instead of your personal number. The system also makes it easy to set up auto attendants to greet callers, phone extensions if you work with more than one person, and even voicemail to email capability, just to name a few of the key features. The entire small business phone system is maintained by Voxox in the cloud, meaning you don’t have to worry about maintenance, repair or installation costs.

When you sign up for Cloud Phone—which starts as low as $14.95 per month—you make it possible to be more productive during your off hours, whether it’s on the train home from work or at your child’s soccer game. With almost no hassle, you have everything you need to start a successful side business. So what are you waiting for?

We like the sound of that! We have our customer, Enevor, to thank for the 2014 Golden Bridge Awards where we took home Silver Winner for the Best Deployments and Case Studies and Solutions for USA. The coveted annual Golden Bridge Awards program recognizes and honors the world's best in organizational performance, products and services, innovations, executives and management teams, case studies and successful deployments, and more – from every major industry in the world.

Cloud Phone was also named as a finalist for the 2014 BIG Awards for Business, organized by the Business Intelligence Group. As the premier annual awards program honoring organizations, products and executives from companies worldwide leading their industry, the BIG Awards for Business are judged by recognizable leaders within industries. We’re honored to have been acknowledged here!

As you may know, Cloud Phone provides a dedicated business telephone number (toll free or local line) that can be routed to any existing mobile or landline phone.  The caller is greeted professionally with an auto-attendant that presents various options, including the ability to reach other employees and departments via a simple extension (regardless of where the employee is located worldwide).

Other advanced business features include sophisticated call routing, voicemail transcription, web callback, and more, all within a sleek, simple design. A 100% Web-based service, Cloud Phone can be leveraged by just one user as easily as it can scale into an advanced VoIP system that supports hundreds of phones and multiple office locations. 

Check out what Cloud Phone has to offer by starting your free trial here:http://www.cloudphone.com/

If preparing and delivering delicious food is how you make your living, you probably don’t spend a lot of time just sitting around during the day. Either you are in your kitchen, on the road making a delivery or setting up, and managing food servers at an event.

Photo Courtesy of Flikr User Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Even though you love what you do, you may still be trying to solve some problems you seem to encounter frequently while running your business. For instance, you may find you miss phone calls that could potentially lead to jobs because you have your mobile phone number on your website but can’t answer while you are cooking or working at a function. Some of these potential clients may be turned off by getting your personal voicemail when they call, but you don’t have the resources to rent office space and install a traditional phone system. Or perhaps you receive a large volume of calls and messages about scheduling, inquiries that should be directed to your assistant.

If you’ve been looking for a solution to these kinds of problems, your search is over. Cloud Phone is a cloud-based phone service designed for small businesses. Cloud Phone can give you many of the same features you’d get from a traditional enterprise phone system. And the best news? It costs considerably less.

With this kind of service you get a business-specific phone number that greets callers professionally with an automated phone attendant that helps to route your callers. Because the system is Internet-based, you can change your message easily just by accessing your settings in the cloud. A small business phone system also allows you to route callers to other members of your team so calls and messages are directed to the correct employee. 

As busy are you are, you probably don’t have time to spend an entire day installing a new phone solution, which is fortunate, with Cloud Phone you can be up and running in less than a minute.

Are you hungry for a better way to communicate? Well then, let’s eat!

Today we're at ITEXPO in Miami and we've just announced that our Cloud Phone product line is growing with the addition of Cloud Phone Pro. A hosted VoIP solution, Cloud Phone Pro is perfect for SMBs and larger businesses seeking to liberate themselves from the extra costs and limitations of on-premise telephony services. With Cloud Phone Pro, business owners can take advantage of hosted features such as worldwide DIDs, call recording, call queuing and advanced connection rules, conference bridges and much more.

You might ask - what's the difference between Cloud Phone and Cloud Phone Pro?  Cloud Phone is our 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.

Check out our official press release (below) for more details on Cloud Phone Pro. For those of you attending ITExpo in Miami this week, stop by and visit us (Booth #904) to see our Cloud Phone Pro demo. 

Voxox Announces Cloud Phone Pro Hosted VoIP Solution

Customizable PBX service enables any size business to minimize telecom expenses and maximize productivity with worldwide DIDs, business continuity, SIP trunking, voicemail transcription and more

SAN DIEGO & MIAMI – ITEXPO, Booth No. 904 – January 28, 2015– Voxox®, the most comprehensive cloud-based rich communication service for consumers and businesses, today announced that its award-winning Cloud Phone product line will include Cloud Phone Pro, a hosted VoIP solution. 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. Voxox is demonstrating Cloud Phone Pro at ITExpo in Miami, Florida at booth No. 904.

Cloud Phone Pro builds on the success of Cloud Phone, an 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.

Cloud Phone Pro features all of the benefits that hosted telephony services traditionally provide, including lower capital and operational expenses, cost-effective scalability, and access to cutting-edge features that are not immediately available with on-premise solutions. Cloud Phone Pro then goes further to offer businesses industry-exclusive benefits such as:

• An intuitive user interface that enables employees to quickly master all of Cloud Phone Pro’s features. That simplicity maximizes their productivity and responsiveness to colleagues and customers, all of which ensures that businesses get the most out of their Cloud Phone Pro service.
• Savings beyond what other hosted VoIP providers can offer. Voxox’s CLEC operations and innovative service delivery platform enable the company to avoid licensing fees that other providers have to pay – and then pass along the savings to their customers. Voxox also lets businesses pay a nominal fee per extension and then add only as many metered or unlimited channels (lines) as they need. Most other providers require customers to get a line for every extension, which is not cost-effective for businesses that need just a few lines.
• Local support and training. Cloud Phone Pro is backed by Voxox’s nationwide network of partners, which offers customers personalized support and training in addition to the technology and service.

“Cloud Phone Pro is the latest example of Voxox’s commitment to providing communications solutions that give businesses and consumers incredible value and convenient new ways to connect,” said Bryan Hertz, CEO of Voxox. “Cloud Phone Pro is ideal for small offices with just a few employees, large enterprises and every organization in between that wants the ultimate in features, performance and support – and at a fraction of the cost of other hosted services and on-premise solutions.” 

The Cloud Phone product line initially launched in February 2014 with its virtual PBX service and has earned accolades, such as the top slot for GetVoIP’s Top 10 Rising Stars, a TMCnet Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award, a TMCnet IT Labs Innovation Award, and the Stratus Awards by the Business Intelligence Group.

ITExpo attendees can visit Voxox at booth No. 904 to see a demo of Cloud Phone Pro. For more information, 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.

The one constant in a global marketplace is change. But business owners need not be afraid of it. 

Maybe no area is more subject to innovation and fluctuation than the communications space. Exponential improvements in technology and connectivity challenge even the most motivated business owners to keep pace. If you hesitate to adopt new business tools, you start to fall behind.

Say you have successful, long-standing delivery business. You are known around town and have worked hard to establish your reputation. But the advent of the internet and the onset of competition have increased your need for on-the-go capabilities and better tracking mechanisms to keep up with customer demand. Your legacy phone system simply won’t cut it. But with a cloud-based virtual phone service, you can put the answer to your problems in the palm of your hand.

Small business virtual phone technology gives you all the perks of legacy phone systems with none of the hassle. Consider some of the benefits:

• Auto Attendant: Never miss a message and have your calls and messages routed to the appropriate department automatically. This feature offers the highest levels of personalization and cuts out human error.
• Voicemail-to-Email Notification: If you’re on the road or in a meeting, you’ll never miss that important call. Monitor your voicemails anywhere at any time.
• Instant Conference Calling: Lets you connect with multiple colleagues or customers from anywhere at any time.

For all these perks, the best feature of small business virtual phones may be their price. Instead of expensive maintenance or replacement issues associated with legacy phone systems, the service is supported entirely by a third-party host and delivered wirelessly.

So even if changing your communications system seems like a frightening proposition, chances are it won’t be long before you’re smiling ear-to-ear.

In the winter months when roads are bad and the commute to work becomes dangerous, there's risk in requiring employees to show up at the office. High-speed internet access and email have increased opportunities for employees to work from home when driving conditions are dangerous, but what about businesses that rely heavily on phone service for their business communications? Virtual numbers may just be the answers. 

Virtual numbers are phone numbers that are routed to an existing calling device, for example your office phone and/or mobile phone. They can be set up temporarily for the winter season or permanently for your business. Business professionals can opt to have one or many virtual numbers route to a single phone or multiple phones, based on their business needs. For example, if you have a single work line (e.g., your office phone), you can route a virtual number to this phone line, as well as your home phone, mobile phone, and your business partner or manager’s phone. If you're the owner of a seasonal business, you can establish a single virtual number and route it to your employee's respective phones individually via extensions, no matter where they are. 

Once the virtual numbers are set to forward to the phone of choice, callers will be able to reach you and your team through your work numbers at their specified devices. If a call is missed, callers will be forwarded to voicemail, which can be personalized with a professional business greeting.

Virtual numbers not only allow employees to easily work from home when the weather is bad, but they also provide advanced features that will give your company the professional edge it needs. While features vary from virtual numbers provider to provider, here’s an example of what Cloud Phone offers:

• Auto Attendant
• Call Forwarding
• Call Screening
• Extensions / Users
• Fax (Inbound)
• International Call Forwarding
• Local Phone Number
• Management Portal
• Outbound Calling
• Professional Greetings
• Reach Me Anywhere
• Toll Free Numbers
• Voicemail
• Voicemail Transcription

Keeping the team connected (and safe from dangerous winter commutes!) is essential for productivity. Having access to your business phone by way of virtual numbers is convenient and can play a key role in maintaining a professional image – especially if anyone on the team is working from home. 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

Imagine you are a New York-based tax attorney with a sterling reputation in all five boroughs. Recently, some of your longtime clients have retired to Florida and have been referring friends to you. Because of the years of good work you’ve done for your customers you are being presented with a tremendous opportunity to expand your client base. Some of these new prospects, however, may be a little thrown off having to call long distance to reach you. 

Fortunately, with today’s technological solutions you can get a business-specific local phone number from a cloud-based phone service to put new customers at ease. Best-in-class solutions make it easy by requiring just a mobile number and 60 seconds of your time to set up your new number. Now, when your loyal customers from up north recommend you to their new friends in the Sunshine State, the new prospects don’t have to worry about dialing to an unfamiliar area code and you don’t have to worry about losing out to a competitor solely based on geography.

As an added bonus, local small business virtual phone numbers powered by cloud-base phone services offer features that give you big business presence, including:

• Auto attendants that greet callers professionally
• Multiple extensions for different departments, even if each department is really just you
• Business-class voicemail to email to ensure no client messages are ever missed

So don’t lose out on new business over something as small as a few digits in a phone number. After all, you don’t need to be in the same city or state to provide great service to your clients—all you need is the talent and expertise you bring wherever you go.