Migrating your company‘s legacy office telephone system to flexible, cloud-based VoIP is all the rage – and for good reason. As of 2022, an estimated 60% of SMBs rely on cloud PBX solutions for enhanced mobility, reduced hardware costs, and access to advanced communications capabilities.
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But with providers like RingCentral, Nextiva, Ooma Office, and others all vying for your business across the airwaves, selecting the ideal cloud phone partner to meet your needs poses a challenge.
In this extensively researched guide tailored to IT decision makers, we cut through the noise to closely compare prime contenders on must-have integration capabilities, hidden fees, and scalability options to uncover the best service for your technical requirements and budget.
Why Cloud PBX Solutions Are Taking Over
First, what exactly is a “cloud phone service” and why has it emerged as the de facto standard to power modern enterprise communications?
Cloud PBX refers to a business phone system that is hosted in remote data centers rather than on costly on-premise hardware that you would purchase and maintain yourself. This internet-powered model brings major advantages:
Lower Total Costs – No expensive maintenance, hardware failures, forced upgrades or need to overprovision capacity for future growth. Subscription fees translate hardware investments into predictable operating expenses.
Increased Agility – Easy to configure call routing flows, auto attendants, analytics and more without needing your own telephony administrators. Add new phone lines immediately through self-service tools.
Enhanced Mobility – Native desktop and smartphone clients allow employees flexibility in how they access and manage business calls from wherever they happen to be – at home, traveling abroad, or remote offices.
Powerful Integrations – Embedded directly within essential platforms like your CRM, Marketing Automation, Help Desk and other line-of-business applications rather than existing in silos.
Simply put, cloud systems provide better communications capabilities without the headaches of managing telephony infrastructure yourself. And competition between providers translates innovation into affordable packages tailored to companies of all sizes and needs.
Let’s explore 9 of the industry‘s highest rated options that represent the future of intelligent business communications and customer experience.
Critical Capabilities to Evaluate
As you compare providers, these core technical specifications make the biggest impact on long term user satisfaction according to thousands of customer reviews:
Reliability – Carrier-grade network architecture with maximum guaranteed uptime, resilient call routing designs and redundancy to deliver uninterrupted quality whether during high traffic periods or widespread outages.
Call Quality – HD audio fidelity even over wireless connections using specialized VoIP optimization technology. Consistent sound quality rated higher than traditional landlines.
Scalability – Dynamic options to add users, phone numbers and advanced features instantly as your operational needs evolve rather than waiting on hardware.
Mobility – Native apps for iOS and Android devices that fully replicate business phone capabilities for employees on-the-go.
Implementation – Resources like designated project managers, multi-phase deployment plans, end user training and adoption best practices.
Integrations – Library of native connectors and pre-built data sharing with essential productivity platforms like Office 365, Salesforce, HubSpot and 100s more.
Global Coverage – For international organizations, ability to assign local telephone numbers from 50+ countries and connectivity across Europe, Asia, Americas.
Now, equipped with the right evaluation criteria that translate into hard-won business outcomes spanning customer experience, continuity and agility, let’s examine leading solutions that dominate needs across fundamental vectors like affordability, platform support, and worldwide deployments.
Ooma Office – Most Affordable Cloud PBX
While basic voice over IP plans start around $25 per month from top-tier solutions, penny-pinching organizations can trim operating costs in half without compromising core PBX capabilities through Ooma Office. Their innovative pricing model offers unmatched value.
For only $19.95 monthly, you escape the overhead of on-premise hardware while gaining business-class call switching capacities and build vs. buy economics. What’s included to support your team?
VoIP Phones – Ooma sells popular Polycom IP phone models which you simply plug into your internet router and customize via their web portal. Devices auto-provision and handsets cost about $75 each.
Mobile Apps – iOS and Android apps act like mobile softphones so employees can place and receive calls remotely as if sitting in the office.
Online Faxing – Send and retrieve business faxes conveniently via email instead of physical machines.
Auto Attendants – Configure automated greetings with menu options for callers to route themselves to the right department or person without human interaction.
Ring Groups – Designate which users or backup contacts should ring when incoming calls hit specified teams or functions. Route based on availability.
Conferencing – Host multiparty voice meetings using virtual conference rooms with caller ID controls and management privileges.
Reporting – Admin visibility into call logs/recordings, voicemail transcripts, number usage metrics and phone system diagnostics.
Ooma built their reputation as a leading home VoIP provider in big box retail chains like BestBuy which explains their prowess in maximizing value. Over 1.5 million global customers validating their engineering might across residential installations proved the ideal R&D springboard to disrupt SMB cloud phone services priced 70% lower than popular competitors.
And small businesses responded enthusiastically catapulting Ooma Office as the price-performance champion. Their 4+ star ratings stem from delivering premium VoIP fundamentals like intelligent call routing, interactive voice menus, video conferences, all tightly integrated into customer flows rather than as disjointed afterthoughts.
While they may not match industry giants in breadth of enterprise support services, global network scale or pace of bleeding-edge feature upgrades, Ooma furnishes all baseline capabilities at fraction of the cost.
Ideal for startups or lean teams up to 20 employees running light on budgets but heavy on roadmap ambitions needing foundational call connectivity.
Ooma Office At-a-Glance
Pricing – $19.95/month per user
Best For – Cost-conscious teams that want full PBX features without overpaying
Limitations – Max 20 employees, slower enhancements pace
GRADE: A
RingCentral Office – Unified Communications & Deep Integrations
Industry pioneer RingCentral dominates the enterprise communications race with over 400,000 customers trusting their reliable service backed by $1 billion in funding. They modernize voice, video, messaging and contact center functionalities into intuitive cloud software.
The game changer? Company leaders have full visibility into the platform adoption dashboard highlighting usage trends. Gain insight into which capabilities employees actively leverage vs. dusty shelfware where more training or support might encourage utilization.
Focused on ease of use with click to dial directly within your CRM to accelerate productivity. Native integrations eliminate constant context switching without the fragility of custom coding scripts prone to breaking across updates.
Over 6,000 out-of-the-box app integrations plus webhook access for developers stacks the deck for process continuity. Reduce duplication by syncing RingCentral directly with the business platforms relied on daily.
Flexible global deployment options fit international footprints. Competitive rates for inbound toll-free numbers in over 100 countries and outbound calling bundles to stay coordinated with regional offices or remote workers abroad.
Tell your existing carrier and equipment “it’s not me, it’s you” to escape contracts through free migration guidance. RingCentral furnishes new VoIP gear with unlimited scalability to add functions like auto-attendants, ring groups and call reporting retroactively as operational needs dictate.
While some contenders undercut monthly fees by a few dollars, penny wise and pound foolish rings true when evaluating total cost of ownership. The expense of manually wiring together disjointed apps, gaps appearing between updates, and frustration from employees contending with needless hurdles piles unnecessary costs on organizations. RingCentral harmonizes platforms.
Organizations heavily invested in CRM and help desk ecosystems like Salesforce, HubSpot and Zendesk gravitate toward RingCentral for the turnkey productivity. Power through call volumes confidently backed by award-winning 24/7 customer support and 99.999% financially-backed uptime SLA exceeding carriers.
RingCentral Office At-a-Glance
Pricing – $29.99/month per user
Best For – SMBs desiring ecosystem continuity, mobility & reliability
Limitations – Requires long term service commitments
GRADE: A+
Nextiva – Best Cloud PBX for Enterprise Scale
Dominant platform Nextiva furnishes leading call center capabilities Starts with Connect tying together voice, video, messaging, and contact center functionalities under one resilient global network handling up to tens of millions of interactions monthly.
Engineered for large enterprises demands out of the gates instead of reactively bolting on infrastructure to handle spikes. Five redundant data centers across United States plus cloud point of presences internationally guarantee 100% uptime and prevent even a millisecond of perceived lag or choppiness for dispersed teams.
Sophisticated call routing flows, advanced analytics and wallboard displays keep managers dialed into real-time performance. Screen pop integrations prime complete customer records from CRM platforms soon as calls hit authorized representatives.
AI-powered speech analytics detect keywords on live calls, analyze sentiment and suggestive optimal responses to improve repetitive support conversations or sales pitches. Architectural advantage over competitors scrambling to retrofit limited bolt-on functionalities into initially consumer-first designs unable to cope with commercial workloads from the ground up.
Clean sheet platform top down built specifically for the needs of mid-size and enterprises not mere retrofit repackaging of residential infrastructure. Nextiva blueprint engineered on communication and collaboration DNA standing the test of Fortune 500 scrutiny out the gates.
Leading industry recognitions validate Nextiva expertise. TMC Awards named them 2022 Cloud Communications Solution Provider of the Year. Customer World Awards bestowed Company of the Year plus People’s Choice prizes.
Analysts at Gartner, IDC, Frost & Sullivan plus VoIP reviewers unanimously rank Nextiva the hands down enterprise recommendation based on technical competencies, long term vision and proven ability to flawlessly lead complex global deployments.
Nextiva At-a-Glance
Pricing – Custom Quotes
Best For – Large enterprises needing unlimited scalability
Limitations – Overkill for smaller businesses
GRADE: A+
Choosing the Right Solution
While the solutions profiled in this guide top their classes across key selection criteria, ultimately your business remains unique with personal needs. Revisit the core capabilities like reliability, mobility and ecosystem integration confidence to determine alignments with long term requirements.
Fortunately, most providers offer free trials or demo consultations allowing you to validate quality and culture fit before fully migrating. Take advantage of temporary promotional offers too incentivizing your evaluation.
At the end of day, transitioning outdated manual communications into automated and integrated cloud platforms powers levels of efficiency, visibility and continuity unfeasible otherwise. And competition breeds further innovation so delaying migrations cedes advantage to proactive peers who leap ahead competitively by capitalizing on modern tools.
The communications future remains undoubtedly cloud-first. Which solution looks like the right catalyst to amplify your vision? Now armed with insider guidance on matching high value capabilities with budgets, hopefully options fitting needs become clearer. Let me know any other questions as they arise when plotting your personalized path forward.
