Could Your Business Benefit From a Phone System Mobile App?

What are the benefits of business phone system mobile apps? 

Small businesses often have bring-your-own-device policies that let employees use personal devices for company work. However, conducting company business on a personal device isn’t always ideal. Phone system apps offer a solution, turning employees’ smartphones into powerful mobile business communication tools. Some benefits include the following:

• Phone system mobile apps improve communication: Business phone system mobile apps facilitate communication at every stage of the sales funnel. “High-performing phone system mobile apps improve the touchpoints between businesses, customers, prospects and leads,” explained Patrice Burnside, marketing and content consultant at Activate Words. “Great apps in this category enable flexibility, ease of communication and beautifully organized information, particularly as it relates to customer opportunities.” 
• Phone system mobile apps enable on-the-go work: Everyone at a business must be able to work on the go without being tethered to a desktop PC, and phone system mobile apps allow this to happen. For example, suppose you have no plans to rent expensive office space for your team, so everyone is remote. Who’s to say your employees can’t work from their parents’ homes while on a family trip? Phone system mobile apps enable this on-the-go work, keeping your team connected from anywhere.
• Phone system mobile apps allow service flexibility: Additionally, a phone system mobile app gives you the flexibility to provide excellent customer service and support wherever your team happens to be. “Flexibility is often overlooked in terms of customer service software; thus, such solutions can be a dealbreaker when making a choice,” said Jakub Kliszczak, former marketing specialist at Channels. “All in all, the phone system should be utilized by every business that is serious about its customers.” 
• Phone system mobile apps provide a unified business identity: Small businesses benefit from having a single application that provides a unified business identity with the capability to call, text, video conference and fax. 
• You only need one device with phone system mobile apps: One of the main benefits of business phone system apps for business owners and employees is users’ ability to purchase and use a single device for business and personal communications. With mobile devices often costing over $1,000 and phone service plans adding monthly charges, business phone system apps are the more efficient choice. That’s especially true given the extra services, such as SMS and fax, that these apps offer.
• Phone system mobile apps let you compartmentalize communication: Business phone system apps allow users to keep business and personal communications separate. For instance, when an employee uses a personal device to call a customer, that customer’s caller ID can display your company’s phone number, allowing your small business to maintain a consistent image.

What are the top features of business phone system mobile apps?

Here are some of the most valuable and effective business phone system mobile app features. Consider that your business may be small or new enough to only require some of these features. Look for pricing packages that give you only the services you need, or if that’s not possible, choose the plan with the fewest unnecessary add-ons.

1. Call routing

Most business phone systems with apps provide call routing. This valuable feature forwards calls to one or several numbers when a caller dials one specific number, such as your business’s main phone number. For example, an employee working from home can answer a call to your business’s published phone number on their personal phone. From the caller’s perspective, it will be as though they’re talking to someone on the business’s premises.

2. Auto-attendant

Many business phone system mobile apps provide an auto-attendant, eliminating the need for a receptionist and ensuring calls are handled properly. Chances are that it’s not quite in your budget to bring someone on just to answer and route calls, so this feature is especially helpful for small businesses.

“You can set up an auto-attendant for your business phone number,” explained Jeremy Boudinet, senior director of growth at Ubiquitous. “You can create a main attendant for different departments. Therefore, the user can press a number and go to a certain department. This eliminates the need for a phone receptionist and stops robocalling from happening since they make it past the main auto-attendant. There’s no need for a human switchboard.”

3. Virtual phone number

A virtual phone number lets you direct business calls to your devices without divulging your personal number. You can choose to take the call on your desk phone, laptop, voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone or mobile device. You’re not limited to one device, so the caller has no idea you’re not speaking to them from a business phone.

“Instead of having a landline in your office, you can have a phone [number] that works on any device or any network,” said Doug Brackbill, CEO at DLB Mobile. “The idea is that the phone number is no longer attached to a specific device.”

4. Virtual receptionist

A virtual receptionist could be an automated menu of options or a live human being who answers the phone on behalf of your business. A virtual receptionist saves you money compared to hiring an in-house receptionist. The virtual receptionist can direct callers to the correct department quickly and boost customer satisfaction by streamlining the customer experience.

5. Desktop app

A phone system desktop app works like a mobile app and, in many cases, you get both. “One of the great features of the desktop app is called ‘call pop,'” explained Boudinet. “You can see the profile of the customer calling. Therefore, you can see their segment score and understand how they’re feeling before answering the call. Once picked up, you can see their profile and look at previous interactions with the customer.” This feature might be overkill for your small business, but if it comes with your pricing package, there’s no reason to avoid using it.

Phone system desktop apps also include familiar functions like voicemail, auto-attendants, employee name directories, call recording, messaging, faxing and call and video conferencing. 

6. Additional phone system app features

Smartphone business phone apps also offer features that most wired desk phones don’t. For instance, some can transcribe voicemails and deliver them to an email address. These apps also may facilitate reporting, letting you track, analyze and manage your employees’ communication activities. Reviewing analytics might not be the best use of your time as a small business — trusting and not micromanaging employees is better — but if already included with your plan, go ahead and give your analytics a look.

How do phone system mobile apps work?

Business phone system apps typically use VoIP technology to carry calls over cellular networks and Wi-Fi connections to the internet. Other businesses use the older public switched telephone network for its reliability and call quality. The apps operate as extensions of cloud-hosted private branch exchange (PBX) systems to enable the features traditionally provided by the hardwired PBX business phone systems of the past. 

Business phone system apps have similar features to a traditional PBX system. For example, callers to a business’ main line may get a recording directing them to press 1 for sales, 2 for accounting or 3 for shipping. But instead of being directed to a wired desk phone on the premises, the caller will be connected to an employee’s smartphone ― wherever the employee happens to be. 

How do you implement a phone system mobile app? 

Some smartphone apps only require you to download and install the app on your phone. Others are part of more complex, cloud-based business phone systems that can include wired internet protocol desk phones. While well suited to small businesses and solopreneurs, the apps are scalable and can also be used by businesses with hundreds of lines. If you’re starting small but have ambitions to grow into a huge operation, these apps are perfect for you.

App-based telephony is readily affordable. For example, providers like RingEX and Digium include mobile apps without additional charges to customers of their cloud business communication solutions. 

For apps at the low end of monthly subscription fee plans, providers may also impose per-minute fees or setup fees. These fees can put these apps out of reach for small businesses on tight budgets. Features and support levels also vary by plan, so it pays to compare offerings in detail before deciding.

What are the best business phone systems with mobile apps?

Many of the best business phone systems offer mobile apps in addition to browser or desktop apps. Here are a few to consider:

• Nextiva: This business phone system, which offers a mobile app, is our top pick for healthcare and retail. Its 24/7 customer service gives small businesses in any sector the support they need when introducing business phone systems. Read our Nextiva review to learn more.
• RingEX: Our top business phone system for collaboration, RingCentral includes unique mobile app employee engagement features. RingCentral also includes team chat and messaging tools alongside traditional business phone system features. Learn more via our RingEX review.
• Ooma: This vendor, our top business phone system for small businesses, offers a mobile app that largely resembles its desktop version. This substantially lowers the learning curve for new mobile app users. Read our Ooma review to learn more.
• Dialpad: If you need both a mobile app and voice intelligence for your business phone system, we recommend Dialpad. The brand’s voice assistant takes notes for you during calls, and all your usual data and communication tools are fully available via the mobile app. Learn more by reading our Dialpad review.
• 8×8: For basic services, 8×8 is your best bet among business phone systems. Its mobile app is straightforward, and a minimal learning curve is important for getting your operations off the ground sooner than later. Read our 8×8 review to learn more.

What is the future of phone system apps?

Vincent Paquet, chief product officer at Dialpad, said phone system apps are just the beginning of a dramatic sea change in how business communications are handled. The trends point to an increasing shift toward more technological automation as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform business. 

“It’s the same as the future of phone systems in general. AI, which we called VI [virtual intelligence] at Dialpad,” Paquet explained. “If you think about voice communications, compared to other means of communications, it’s fast ― try typing as fast as you speak ― [and] it’s rich in emotions and nuances, but it’s ephemeral. As a result, it’s unreliable; two people will recall a conversation differently and inefficiently.” 

Paquet says the future of mobile phone apps lies in AI’s ability to fix problematic issues. For example, with AI, all your conversations would be transcribed in real time, allowing you to search and extract essential action items, significant moments and more from those calls. 

“AI as part of our phone systems is not perfect yet,” Paquet noted. “This is an ongoing improvement that will get better over time with more and more data. I can’t wait for the time when everything I need from a phone conversation is readily available for me without any input on my end. I could be walking, driving or flying while on a business call, and I’ll remain productive and connected no matter where I am. The biggest adjustment will be what to do with all that extra free time.” 

Max Freedman and Jennifer Post contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.