Best Business Phone Systems 2019

 Choosing a business phone system in 2019 can be tricky. With such a wide selection of options and features to consider, choosing the one that’s the best fit for your business can be a tough undertaking. To help in your search for the right one, we researched and analyzed more than 75 providers. The one’s we think are best are below, as well as a comprehensive list of phone system providers if our choices don’t fit your needs. To learn more about phones systems, check out our guide to choosing a business phone system.

The uses and capabilities of business phone systems will only continue to expand in 2019. One trend sure to continue is the growth of unified communications systems.  

Businesses no longer use their phone systems to simply make and receive phone calls. Instead, these systems are also being used for instant messaging, video calls and faxing. Research shows that being able to access all of their communication tools from one platform is something employees appreciate. The study from RingCentral discovered that 67 percent of workers believe it helps them achieve better workflow, while 65 percent say makes them more productive. 

With that in mind, we would expect an increase in the number of businesses adopting unified communications systems as a way to help increase productivity among their employees and consolidate their communications tools into one platform.  

In addition to more and more businesses adopting unified communications systems in 2019, you can also look for more phone system providers to look for ways to beef up their unified communications offerings. For example, in recent months 8x8 launched a new team messaging tool for enterprise organizations and RingCentral unveiled a new unified-specific mobile app.  

In an effort to keep up with, and jump ahead, of their competitors, it aims to reason that all phone system providers will look for ways to improve their unified communications’ offerings.

To help you find the right Business Phone Systems, we researched and analyzed dozens of options. Here is a roundup of our 2018 best picks for Business Phone Systems and an explanation of how we chose them.

Locating the Best Services

To determine the best business phone systems, we started by listing all of the vendors that have good reputations online (i.e., services that other websites favorably and consistently reviewed). Next, we interviewed small business owners to learn which systems they use and like. If it was a new system not on our list, we then added those companies to our preliminary list.

Choosing the Best Services

We ultimately settled on the following 25 phone systems to consider as best picks: 8x8, AT&T, Avaya, Booth, Cisco, Comcast, Dialpad, Digium, ESI, eVoice, FluentStream, FreedomVoice, Grasshopper, Jive, Mitel, NetFortris, Nextiva, OnSIP, Ooma Office, Phone.com, RingByName, RingCentral, Skype, Toshiba and Vonage. (See our full list of business phone systems and their websites below.)

Researching Each Service

Next, we researched each provider by investigating its services, watching tutorials and how-to videos, and reading user comments. We also contacted each company's customer service department, posing as business owners to gauge the support each provider offers. Finally, we considered the pricing that was viewable on these services' websites or what was quoted to us during customer service calls. Our process involved putting ourselves in the mindset of a small business owner and gathering the data that would be readily available to such an individual. We performed all of our research by visiting company websites, making calls to customer service departments and interviewing real users. We analyzed each system based on the following factors: Deployment options; Level of service; Reliability; Customer service; Calling features; Collaboration tools; Mobility options; Cost; Better Business Bureau accreditation, ratings and complaints

Want to learn more about choosing the best business phone system? Check out our full coverage here:

• Business Phone Systems Buying Guide
• Best Business Phone Service
• Best for Small Offices
• Best Virtual Phone System
• Best for Call Centers