RingCentral: A Must Have Small Business Tool
RingCentral is a tool that I highly recommend for any small business. It is a great
communications tool, especially since that is the most important way to get and retain clients.
What customers care most about is being able to reach the company, whether it is during or
after company business hours.
But, what is RingCentral? At its simplest, it's your company's own switchboard. You give out one
number to your customers. That number can be either an 800 number or a local number of
both. And, it includes a fax number, as well. In my company I have all three. Many clients like to
think that they are dealing with a national
company, so having an 800 number gives your
company that illusion. Others like a local feel.
In that way, RingCentral is ideal because they
give you the option of both.
RingCentral is like one big switchboard. A
customer calls your phone number and,
through the configuration setup, you have the
ability to pick up your calls from your cell
phone, regular phone or even on your
computer. At the same time, you can also have
the calls go directly to voicemail.
The switchboard concept is so easy to use. For example, what if you want to have multiple
"departments?" You may be a one person operation, but you can appear to have several
different departments through the use of extensions. For example, you can assign extension
101 for sales, 102 for support and 103 for shipping. You can even set up each extension to have
a different greeting. An example of that would be the sales greeting is a female voice, the
support greeting a male voice, and so on. No one from the "outside" would have any inkling
that they are calling a one person operation.
Let’s take this this concept one step further. With RingCentral you can "outsource" each
department. Let's say your friend is going to help manage support for your clients. Your friend
does not have to physically be at your office. She or he can be working out of their home, she or
he can be in another state, or even more interesting, can also be in another country.
How is it possible that you can have support in another country without incurring outrageous
international calling costs? Because you’re leveraging a technology called Voice over IP (VOIP)
RingCentral does not route its calls over regular telephone lines, but over the Internet. As long
as your "department employee" answers the call through RingCentral, the calls is free, nada,
nothing. My company uses this feature extensively as we have several of our employees who
live overseas.
RingCentral is a must have small business tool. It is easy to set up and manage. Installing
physical PBXs is over. Download the RingCentral Call controller to your computer, change
whatever settings you want online and you're live in an instant. In fact, RingCentral's technical
support is 24x7. They do a great job at helping users navigate some of the more advanced
features.