This year I started service with Ring Central. This has been a major change for the business and major improvement in communication for us.

Previous to this, I was using Google Voice. Google Voice is nice because it gives you free visual voicemail (which Verizon charges like $3 a month for I think. It also transcribes your voicemails into text so you can read them sometimes without even having to listen to them. You are also able to send text messages to cell phones right off your computer, so I almost used it as a cell phone for texting employees.

However, this was cool and handy, but I had additional needs. I noticed that I was telling more customers to call employees for information so I didn’t have to be the middle man in every phone call. I needed everything better connected some how.

I also was tired of getting work phone calls all the time, I wanted more separation with my work and personal life.

The answer was Ring Central. I was able to port my personal cell phone number out from Verizon to Ring Central. I now have complete call control, so I can set up on my account what time business hours are so calls can go directly to my voicemail without ringing after 5pm.

Another benefit of the call system is having extensions. When customers call in, they have the choice of hitting different extension numbers to speak with me or my employees. When I get a call, I can easily forward it to a different extension or call monitor so I can listen to the voicemail as they leave it.

The only thing I miss from Google Voice is the voicemail transcriptions but I think they are planning on implementing that soon.

Ring Central is very affordable at $9.99/month and offers a 30 day free trial so you can cancel it if you don’t like it or don’t have a need for it. I have the Mobile plan which is all I really need at this time. An office plan gives you some physical phone lines but I don’t need that at this stage of the business.