Run Your Business In The Cloud: Communication

If you’ve read our previous posts, you’ve seen how you can share files and hold meetings online with web conferencing utilizing the cloud. It’s great to be able to do all of that with just a laptop and a connection to the internet, but what about communication?

The first step in using the cloud to communicate with your customer over the phone is to find a service to use. Did you know Google has a phone service too? And, it’s FREE! It’s called Google Voice. What is Google Voice? Well, this video does a great job of describing just what it is.

You can get a Google Voice number in a matter of minutes and have it forwarded to all of your phones for a sort of “Find Me Follow Me” type of feature with extensions.

For slightly more advanced features and the ability to call from any internet connected device, Skype might be a better option. For just under $30/year, you can have your own local phone number with Skype which will ring your computer, or your mobile internet connected device such as an iPad. Combining these two services with your mobile phones and devices, you can have a business-like network of phones for less than $3.00 a month. Set your Google Voice number to ring your Skype number and your mobile phone number for a multi-extension set up.

Taking it a step forward there are more advanced services for a true multi-extension auto answer service such as Ring Central. Ring Central is a cloud-based phone system that gives you the appearance of a large corporation with features such as real extensions, dial by extension, auto-answer/virtual operator (you know, the automated answering bot), dial by department, internet fax, toll-free number, transfer to another phone or extension, music on hold, and more for just under $30/month. It even comes with mobile apps allowing you to call from ANY phone, but display your 1-800 number instead of your phone number. Ring Central has all the power of an Enterprise PBX phone system but with no hardware and nothing to maintain. Thank goodness for the cloud! Now, on the downside, it can be a little bit of a daunting task in the initial set up of your account if you need multiple extensions, certain hours of availability, specific call routing rules, etc., but it sure beats hiring an IT staff, purchasing hardware, purchasing software, cooling, and more!

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