January 13, 2025
Modern business tech can bring a significant competitive advantage. But only 38% of smaller organizations adopted any new tech over the past year, while 89% of larger ones did. 99.9% of businesses in America are small businesses, and they’ve been responsible for 61.1% of overall job growth since 1995.
It’s understandably harder for small businesses to absorb the costs of new tools, but many of these same tools can often save organizations more money over time. Ironically, one area where I see small businesses frequently lagging behind is in the adoption of cloud communication tools — an upgrade that could arguably have the potential to save them the most time and money moving forward, and one that could also make it easier for them to keep up. So in this blog, I’ll demystify cloud voice and explore the many reasons smaller businesses should consider it in 2025.
What Is Cloud Voice?
Cloud voice goes by many names, including hosted voice, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), and more. But in essence, cloud voice allows you to make phone calls over the internet instead of using traditional landlines.
Why so many names? Well, if you want to get technical about it, VoIP refers to the technology itself, and cloud voice and hosted voice refer to how it’s delivered. But don’t get spooked — any of these terms are perfectly fine to use interchangeably.
The Advantages of VoIP Phone Systems for Small Businesses
If your business phone system is over ten years old, it’s time for an upgrade anyway. Fortunately, there are plenty of additional incentives to do so.
1. Increase Flexibility for Remote and Hybrid Work
Cloud voice doesn’t require any physical wiring, so in-person and remote workers can use the same system. Even for offices where the bulk of work is completed in person, a cloud voice system can make it easier to let a parent stay home with a sick child or keep work moving while a key employee is on the go.
2. Retain More Top Talent
31% of workers who were seeking a new role in the second half of 2024 said that the desire for more flexibility was a top motivator. Cloud computing tools — including cloud voice — can help smaller businesses offer that to their workers.
3. Preserve a Professional Client Experience
Even before the pandemic, workers often used their personal mobile phones to call clients or keep things moving when they were on the go.
With cloud communication, workers can access their organization’s phone system from a smart device, maintaining their privacy, preserving their work-life balance, and giving customers a more consistent and professional appearance.
4. Get Immediate Access to Advanced Features
Not only does cloud voice offer more features than traditional office phones, but the instant your provider adds a new capability, you can access it. Not only does that make it easier for smaller organizations to keep pace with larger ones, but it also allows you to experiment with the types of features that will bring you the most ROI.
Choosing the best phone system for your small business will take a little bit of research, but here are just a few features that can be transformative for smaller organizations:
- Integrated video conferencing and collaboration tools
- Voice-to-text transcription and advanced call analytics
- Automatic call routing based on real-time conditions
- Virtual receptionist capabilities with natural language processing
- Features that make it quick and easy to schedule meetings and forward calls to any smart device
5. Reduce Monthly Costs
Companies that switch to VoIP save an average of 30% on their phone bills. But if your company does business overseas, you’ll probably save a lot more. VoIP saves businesses a whopping 90% on international calls.
6. Get Predictable Budgeting
Because you’re not paying a different rate for long-distance and international calls, your monthly bills will be more predictable. It gets better: your staff won’t have to use their mobile phones for work-related calls when they’re out of the office, so they won’t have to submit expense reports for these charges.
7. Access Better Analytics
A cloud-based phone system makes it much easier for your business to comply with call-logging requirements. You’ll also be able to see how your phone system is being used and monitor phone-based productivity from anywhere.
8. Add Scalability
You can easily add lines as needed, so if your business needs to scale its staff up or down quickly, a cloud-based system is a game-changer. You’ll also be able to add or remove features as you need them.
Additional Pro Tips About Phone Systems for Small Businesses
If you’re thinking of switching to cloud voice, you have a number of options to consider, including what you’d like to manage internally and what you’d rather outsource.
Just know that if you’d like more of a DIY solution, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck doing the research on your own. We provide free carrier assessments to help you find the best cloud voice provider in your area.
However, if you’d rather leave the management and maintenance of your phone system to the experts or get a great deal on cloud collaboration tech, you’re also more than welcome to have an in-depth chat with one of our experts. To get a sense of what’s now on the market and how a provider can make your life easier, I’d recommend checking out our comprehensive guide to managed voice services.
