Small businesses or sole traders just starting out will often search for low cost or free options for call management but they do not necessarily want to use Google Voice. As a tool which is growing in popularity, even more so than Google Voice, WhatsApp can be used with any Smartphone making it a great solution for mobile businesses.

Once installed on your phone, the app allows you to create messages, send files such as video and documents and make an audio call to another user of the app all for free.

For businesses looking for a more advanced solution than WhatsApp, Phonebooth offers its customers an all round VoIP solution. One of the great things about Phonebooth is that you are not tied to long term contracts like some of the other providers. For a small monthly fee, you can access unlimited local and long distance calls which is ideal for businesses who have international reach.

Easily route calls to a landline telephone or mobile selecting a number of your choice. What’s more, Phonebooth users will also receive a free local telephone number they can use to make calls which is great for a business user. Any call that is made to your Phonebooth number is automatically redirected to your chosen telephone number.

A leading provider in communications, Ring Central helps businesses reach their full potential. The company states that they support in excess of 350,000 businesses with their telephone and communication requirements. Based on cloud technology, Ring Central offers a greater choice of services than a regular VoIP or virtual PBX system. The business currently offers five different solutions for business customers:

Ring Central Office  – Businesses can optimise their communications using expert call handling, BYOD features and integration with CRM systems, file sharing websites such as Dropbox, collaboration with Microsoft and Google and much more. For a low monthly price, business users can take advantage of unique numbers, business text messaging, team collaboration tools, high quality phone services, integrations, voicemail, audio conferencing facilities and the capacity to seamlessly hold online meetings.

Ring Central Contact Center – Contact centers are at the forefront of a large organisation and businesses need a solution that they can count on. The Ring Central Contract Center product makes use of cloud technology powered by InContact. More suited to larger businesses with a dedicated contact center operation, Ring Central allows agents to access rich data to provide an effective and professional standard of service. Customers can reach agents in multiple ways including email, voice, web chat, fax, social media or text message. As a scalable solution, Ring Central operates on an open platform allowing businesses greater flexibility to scale up or scale down their contact center services.

Ring Central Glip – As more and more businesses are becoming increasingly web based, collaboration is more important than ever. With the Ring Central Glip solution, businesses have access to a centralised workspace for the team which facilitates communications and improves collaboration. Featuring real time messaging, shared calendars and task management tools, colleagues from multiple departments can share documents, collaborate and communicate seamlessly which increases productivity and enhances service delivery.

Ring Central Professional – Ideal for remote businesses, this solution is designed for businesses who are constantly on the move. With Ring Central Professional, businesses can redirect calls to any employee anywhere. Rules can be established to route calls and faxes and if you travel a lot your calls will follow.

Ring Central Fax – With this solution, businesses no longer need to rely on the traditional fax machine. Keep your existing fax number and you can send or receive faxes anywhere in the world provided that you have a good internet connection.

Another VoIP service, Phone.com claims to offer some of the best prices when it comes to providing a business phone service. Featuring over 40 PBX functions and first class support, this company is a preferred choice for many small businesses.

Specialists in business phone systems, they help small firms develop and launch their own phone systems. Integrate the system with CRM software and use all of the standard call based features such as forwarding, recording and conferencing as well as text messaging, all of which are hosted on the cloud.

Many of the phone systems that are alternatives to Google Voice are managed on the cloud and Telzio is no different. An extremely affordable solution but one that is packed with features, this is certainly a rival for Google Voice. From just one dollar a month you can take up a new US phone number with unlimited calls, unlimited extensions and a range of features.

Although this plan is pay as you go the costs are really low, starting from $0.119 per minute for incoming calls and $0.168 a minute for outbound calls. This is not ideal for everyone so if you don’t like pay as you go then this is not the company for you. As a hosted PBX businesses won’t need hardware as everything operates over the internet.

One of the older apps, Skype still offers a reliable call management solution. Skype charges per user per month and has a range of features which can be used on mobile devices and desktops. Suitable for business, Skype can coordinate online meetings, calls, video and messaging, supporting up to 250 people at one time.

Integrate with Outlook and schedule meetings and keep your communications secure with enterprise grade security and management of accounts.

Line2 provides business numbers which can be integrated with mobile devices. Operating through VoIP technology, Line2 can be up and running in a matter of seconds. Their simple three step process can have you up and running in no time. Choose your number, configure your account and connect with customers. It’s that easy. With the business plan, Line2 offers a comprehensive phone solution which offers unlimited texts and unlimited calling in the US and Canada all in a monthly price.

For larger businesses, seamlessly set up group conferencing and add 20 colleagues from a phone, tablet or computer. Also include an automated message to direct customers to the right team. Press 1 for sales or 2 for support etc. All of these features can be easily integrated into the system. Toll free numbers can also be used and you can add multiple lines as your business grows.

Grasshoppers systems offer a range of features that improve communications and increase productivity. Define automated instructions so you can transfer customers to the right people first time. Create and customise extensions to redirect to a home office, remote employee or cell phone anywhere in the world. If you want your business to have a local presence you can use toll free or local numbers for your business. From here you can assign extensions to your employees. One great feature of the Grasshopper phone system is their Grasshopper Caller ID.

This can convey professionalism when calling clients. Instead of your mobile number displaying to the recipient, your Grasshopper ID will be displayed so customers won’t know that you are calling from your mobile. As Grasshopper uses digital technology for calls and they work with your existing home or office phones, you don’t have to invest in new equipment or devices to make it work. Business owners also know who is calling before they accept a call with three options available. Select option 1 to accept the call, option 2 to divert to voicemail or 3 to hear the caller’s number. Voicemails and faxes can also be sent to your email and there’s also a handy voicemail transcription feature too. Using the business SMS feature any company can sent a professional text message to partners, customers and colleagues.

When starting a business, many of us end up running all of our business calls through our personal phones. That can mean extra stress, potentially embarrassing mix-ups, and tricky organisation of your voicemail and contacts. OpenPhone is a brand seeking to change all that.

The OpenPhone app makes it easy for professionals and businesses to run a business phone number on their existing cell phones. There’s no need for a second sim card or extra data plan with your network provider. With OpenPhone, you can be up and running with your business phone number in 30 seconds.

OpenPhone offers local US, Canadian and toll-free numbers and comes with unlimited talk and text. It offers professional features like business hours, voicemail transcription and more to give you full control over your business phone, from your personal phone.

Another cloud based phone system, business owners can use a local phone number to create a customised call center. Managers can run their business from any location using just a Smartphone. No complex hardware and the solution is easy to use. As with many of the other options for this type of phone system, users can take advantage of unlimited extensions for each member of staff. Send text messages as part of a marketing campaign, communicate with staff or send customer updates.

A specialist developer API will allow the system to easily and quickly integrate with existing systems such as a CRM or you can add it to your own in-house applications. If you receive lots of unwanted calls which businesses often do, you can blacklist numbers so when they call they will receive a ‘no longer in service’ message which is a great little feature.