The Benefits of Hosted VoIP for Startups

Startups need phone systems of one type or another. Many such emerging businesses do not need anything fancy, so owners and operators will use their smartphones to handle their needs. Some may even use "call center" apps to help streamline their contacts. Eventually, though, this can become taxing on users’ phone bills and their sanity because, as their companies grow, their number of contacts begins to exceed the capacity of a handful of basic phones.

The owners and operators may then consider a VoIP-based calling system, but as a recent article at Voxilla points out, on-premises systems can be expensive and a hassle to set up. For the stressed, there is a solution: cloud or virtual PBX-based VoIP calling. A hosted, virtual PBX phone system has a number of benefits that make it perfect for small businesses and startups that are growing beyond their handful of handsets. Voxilla goes into depth about a number of these benefits.

First, it says that hosted VoIP systems are cheap. For startups, that can be great because in the early days of a company there often is no cash to spare. Even small savings can go a long way, and for calling plans that begin at only $10 a month, there are a lot of savings to realize. Of course, if businesses' needs grow beyond the capabilities of $10 plans, they can always easily expand by upgrading plans with their hosts.

This is the second benefit and perhaps the most important for companies that are growing quickly. Hosted voice products are scalable – some almost infinitely. Businesses can make changes to their accounts as they see fit; some setups may even allow them to pay only for the features they use in a given month and will let the service automatically scale with their demand.

Those features tend to be the same as they would receive with on-site products. They can include voicemail, call forwarding, greetings, presence, syncing options with desk and mobile phones, voicemail to email transfer, and even text alerts. It is through these features that businesses will begin to look professional and like their phone systems have kept pace with their growing size and their ambitions. High-profile clients, for instance, do not want to receive a personal voicemail; they want to hear a professional greeting, and they can receive such greetings when startups begin to separate their personal lives from their working lives.

A big part of that separation includes the adoption of advanced business calling systems such as hosted VoIP. In addition, the professionalism will come with the ability to stay connected, and the features of VoIP systems will make it easier than ever for startup officials to make sure they never miss a connection with important clients and can have access to their business information no matter where they are located.

Edited by Alisen Downey