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In your search for a business phone system, you’ve probably come across Ringcentral. This comes as no surprise, though.
In the 3rd quarter of 2020, Synergy Research Group reported that Ringcentral was the number one market share leader in revenue worldwide. After all, it has been in the market for over two decades.
That said, there are other Ringcentral alternatives in the market that work better for different businesses. So, what are your options?
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What makes Ringcentral great
Team messaging
Ringcentral Video is an instant messaging platform that uses modern messaging to facilitate team communications and collaboration. Users can message, video chat, share files, collaborate, and edit their documents on the same dashboard.
You can also set up message alerts and ensure that your team gets instant notifications when important messages come through on the system.
Task management
Ringcentral’s task management tool allows you to keep track of work that has been assigned individually or delegated to others.
It has video calling, cloud-based phone calling, and team messaging built right into the tool so that you can easily communicate and update your team. You can also integrate with other cloud software for task and project management, such as Trello and Jira.
Security
Data security is a must-have for all businesses today. Fortunately, Ringcentral ensures its users that their voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service is safe and secure. Its single sign-on functionality helps with password recovery and you can also set roles and permissions to control who can access what.
This ensures that only certain users can access your files, reducing the risk of common data breaches and mistakes.
Downsides of using Ringcentral
Poor customer support
Unfortunately, users have expressed their unhappiness with Ringcentral’s customer support. Apparently, some users have been charged with hidden fees when seeking assistance and support tickets were resolved without even solving the problem.
Users have also stated that Ringcentral’s customer support team seemed inauthentic as they read off a script or simply directed you to a FAQ bank during a call.
Poor call quality
Poor call quality can negatively affect a business’ sales calls because you’re unable to hear your customers properly and vice versa. Despite being named as the best VoIP solution in 2021 by Techradar, users have stated that their call quality is below average.
Users have mentioned that there have been voice lags and delays in the calls.
Several programming errors
Due to Ringcentral’s plethora of comprehensive features and tools to support businesses, this could have led to several programming errors in the software.
Several users have come out and said that the software is “buggy” and there are frequent outages, which hinders their ability to properly conduct business processes.
10 best Ringcentral alternatives
8x8
Alongside Ringcentral, 8×8 is one of the major players in the market.
Also known as a Unified Communications as a Software (UCaaS), 8×8 integrates multiple communication methods such as mobile support, video conferencing, session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking and internet fax.
8×8 also integrates with several other systems including Outlook, Salesforce, Sugar CRM, and Zendesk.
💡 Best known for: Omnichannel routing feature
💡 Standout feature: 8×8’s speech analytics feature analyzes your calls to spot important keywords and topics that come up frequently.
💡 Pricing: Contact center (Voice) – $87/user/month, Contact center (omnichannel) – $107/user/month, Contact center (advanced) – $146/user/month
GoToConnect
Previously known as Jive, GoToConnect is a cloud-based UCaaS for businesses of all sizes. GoToConnect provides business VoIP, video conferencing, and contact center capabilities.
Some features include call routing, automatic call distribution, conference calling, and internet fax.
It’s support center provides advanced reporting and analytics that helps to track agents productivity, generate real-time business reports, and track call summary. This helps to increase agent efficiency and provide better customer experiences.
💡 Best known for: International calling capabilities
💡 Standout feature: Provides a variety of calling, collaboration, mobile features and tools to facilitate business processes. It also integrates with many third-party software such as Salesforce, Chrome, Slack and Outlook.
💡 Pricing: GoToConnect – From $24/user/month, GoToMeeting – From $12/user/month, GoToWebinar – From $89/organizer/month, GoToTraining – From $109/organizer/month
Grasshopper
Grasshopper is another highly popular Ringcentral alternative. It is a virtual phone system designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Unlike Ringcentral and 8×8, Grasshopper is not a UCaaS that combines phone services with video conferencing or collaboration tools.
Grasshopper works just like a traditional phone system, except that it doesn’t require any hardware. You can simply communicate with your customers through Grasshopper’s mobile and desktop app from anywhere.
💡 Best known for: Unlimited texts, domestic calls and voicemails
💡 Standout feature: Grasshopper’s automated attendant allows you to provide 24/7 service to customers. It functions like an answering machine that interacts with your callers when you’re unavailable.
💡 Pricing: Solo – $26/account/month, Partner – $44/account/month, Small Business – $80/account/month
Novocall
Novocall is a business phone system that comes with features like an outbound dialer, click-to-call software, and call tracking to support both inbound and outbound call-driven lead generation efforts.
Its click-to-call widget can be embedded onto your website and collects contact details when inbound leads use it to schedule calls with you.
Novocall integrates with popular CRMs such as Hubspot and Salesforce so that your data is automatically recorded in the system.
The software’s autodialer allows you to create cold call campaigns. You can upload long lists of contacts into the software and it will automatically dial all the numbers on the list. This helps you save time that otherwise would have been spent on manually dialing the numbers.
Its call tracking tool helps you to track all your calls and attribute them back to each marketing source. This gives you a more holistic view of the campaigns that drive calls to your business.
💡 Best known for: A business phone system for inbound and outbound calls
💡 Standout feature: Suite of call management features that support call-driven lead generation
💡 Pricing: Starter plan – $19/user/month, Pro plan – $39/user/month, Custom plan – Request for a quote
Fuze
Fuze is a cloud communications and collaboration software that works across a range of devices such as smartphones, desktops, and laptops. The software allows users to easily transition between calling, video conferencing, chatting, and content sharing.
Fuze also offers features such as collaborative annotation of content, special modes for video or call conferencing while driving, and integration with file hosting services such as Dropbox.
💡 Best known for: Ability to use across multiple devices
💡 Standout feature: Fuze integrates with Google and Microsoft calendars so that you can schedule, host, and join private, hostless, and high-capacity meetings directly from your calendar.
💡 Pricing: Fuze Meetings – $10/user/month, Fuze Calling – $20/user/month, Fuze Pro – $28/user/month, Fuze International – $31/user/month, Fuze Unlimited Global – $50/user/month
Nextiva
Nextiva is a VoIP phone service offering cloud-based and on-premise implementations. It is known for its SIP trunking service and contact center solution.
The platform brings all communication channels such as voice, video, collaboration, SMS, chat, and surveys, together in one place. Nextiva also has CRM capabilities that allow businesses to view all customer data on a single dashboard.
💡 Best known for: SIP trunking services
💡 Standout feature: It’s smart automation feature automatically sends welcome emails, detects subjects related to a conversation, and follow-up and check-in on your customers.
💡 Pricing: Contact center (Voice) – $87/user/month, Contact center (omnichannel) – $107/user/month, Contact center (advanced) – $146/user/month
Ooma
Ooma is one of the bigger players in the industry. It’s a VoIP telephone service provider that targets both businesses and residential homes at an affordable price.
Ooma provides advanced features such as team messaging, video conferencing, and integrations with Salesforce, G Suite, and Zendesk. Other features include caller identification, call holds, and number blocking.
The software is also compatible with mobile phones so you can take calls on the go. Calls can be transferred easily between devices like your laptops, smartphones, or tablets.
💡 Best known for: Value
💡 Standout feature: Ooma’s ‘ring groups’ feature allows you to ring multiple agents simultaneously to make sure that calls are answered in a timely manner and your customers don’t have to wait on hold for too long.
💡 Pricing: Ooma Office – $19.95/user/month, Ooma Office Pro – $24.95/user/month
Ringblaze
Ringblaze is a cloud-based virtual phone system that allows you to manage call activities, add notes, and assign calls to the right team. This helps you to streamline communication with customers.
You can easily create local, toll-free, and vanity phone numbers to make your business look more professional. Some of its features include call assignment, a website widget, and call forwarding.
💡 Best known for: Easy creation of phone numbers
💡 Standout feature: Ringblaze’s call collaboration tool offers immediate insight into team productivity by displaying resolved and unresolved call issues from a single dashboard.
💡 Pricing: $15/user/month
Telzio
This Ringcentral alternative is a cloud-based phone system provider designed for small businesses and enterprises.
Telzio’s main features include call management, texting, VoIP support, and call conferencing. The software has a visual flow chart feature that allows managers to track the routing process to ensure that workflows are organized.
Users can also select numbers from up to 75 different countries.
💡 Best known for: Wide variety of international numbers
💡 Standout feature: Telzio allows users to add an unlimited number of users. This allows you to easily scale your business.
💡 Pricing: From $50/month
Vonage
Vonage is well known in the VoIP industry. It is an all-in-one UCaaS that provides voice, text messaging, video conferencing, team collaboration tools, and more.
It has a desktop and mobile app that allows you to access all your business activities in one place. Vonage’s prices are on a pay-as-you-go model, rather than by user, with no monthly or annual subscriptions. The pricing will be more cost-efficient for small businesses and startups as compared to Ringcentral.
💡 Best known for: VoIP solution
💡 Standout feature: Vonage provides 24/7 service and tech support, which is rare to find in many software companies.
💡 Pricing: Voice API – From $0.015/minute, Verify API – From $0.06/minute, Video API – From $0.005/minute, In-App Voice – From $0.005/minute, SIP Trunking – From $0.005/minute, Enterprise service plans – $1,500/month
Should you still stick to Ringcentral?
And there you have it!
So out of these 10 Ringcentral alternatives, which software should you choose? Or should you still stick to Ringcentral? 🤔
Well, if you’re a big company that’s looking for a comprehensive unified communications tool, Ringcentral is the one for you.
However, if you’re a small to medium sized business that’s simply interested in call-driven lead generation, you can dig deeper into what Novocall has to offer.
If you still can’t make up your mind, just remember that there’s no perfect solution. Take advantage of free trials and try out these software for yourself! In fact, Novocall has a 14-day free trial, so try out our software today! 💃🕺
Faye
Faye is a digital marketing executive at Novocall. When she’s not busy writing articles for Novocall’s blog, she spends her time baking and playing with her dogs.
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