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8x8 is one of the best phone systems you can get for your small business. It offers many basic and advanced features and it’s easily accessible by anyone. Since it’s cloud-based, there’s no need for any additional equipment or installation. The employees can also use all functions from their mobile devices. At a reasonable price and a comprehensive number of features, 8x8 is one of the best phone systems for small businesses.
8x8 Virtual Office is one of the best phone systems for small businesses because it’s very easy to use and is fully cloud-hosted, it has an abundance of valuable features and is reasonably priced. If you get stuck with anything, 8x8 has one of the most helpful customer service representatives we’ve talked to.
A wide array of different features is one of the reasons 8x8 is so highly regarded as a phone system provider for small businesses. You have all the basics – automated attendants, on-hold music, forwarding calls, call waiting, conference calls, voicemail, assistance with the directory and voicemail-to-email option. All these features are very easy to use and are easily accessible by users of any tech proficiency. 8x8 allows your employees to work more closely together since it has features like creating an online meeting, a fully integrated IM system that allows users to constantly be networked as well as a feature that shows the availability of each person you’re trying to reach. The system is also completely integrated into most larger program packages like Salesforce or Outlook so you can make calls without leaving the apps. All these features are aimed at better networking your employees so they work more productively together.
Like other top tier phone systems, 8x8 also has a mobile app that lets your employees stay connected even when they’re not physically in the office. All users that have an iOS or Android device can make calls, use the video-chat feature, check for voicemail or online faxes and more. The app won’t significantly influence your phone balance, since you can make calls over Wi-Fi or 4G.
If you’re looking to set up a call center, 8x8 lets you chose a plan according to your small business’ specific needs. Some of the features available to you in these packages are real-time monitoring, call recording, call routing based on skills and more. The call center supervisors have, of course, a far greater number of tools and features at their disposal. They can join any call, or simply listen in if there is need for such an action. The supervisors can also access the call queue information, they can monitor current activity and store statistical information on their devices.
Features:
When it comes to pricing, 8x8 has one of the best plan offers on the market. The company has two main plans you can choose from depending on the features and price range you are looking for. The Virtual Office plan cost just under $22.00/per month per user for between 5 and 9 users, or $19.99/per month per user for businesses with more than 10 employees. The other, premium, Virtual Office Pro plan costs an extra $5/month per extension for all employees, or $10/month per user if you only want particular employees to use premium functions like call recording, online fax, web conference calls and more. Another possible expense can happen if you require a toll-free number. 8x8 offer two plans depending on the volume you’re expecting. You can get 150 minutes for $4.99, or 20,000 minutes for just under $360. If you want to do all your business with one company, you can buy IP phones from the company directly and choose from a wide selection of products ranging anywhere from $80 to $450 per device.
This phone system provider is fully cloud-based and it can save you a lot of time and effort since it doesn’t require any kind of equipment or maintenance. 8x8 uses a data connection to run its protocols, so in order for it to work uninterrupted, you need to make sure you have the necessary bandwidth size to fully support all the traffic. Your routers will also need to be fully optimized for this particular purpose. After you’ve properly configured your businesses network, all that’s left to do is to connect the phones to an Ethernet port in order to start making calls. If you run into any issues, the company handles everything remotely without the need of having the IT staff looking into it.
Since the system is fully remote, you can control any function from an online portal. Provided you have the appropriate credentials of an Account Manager, you can assign extensions and numbers, set up a virtual attendant or create ring groups. The authorized personnel can also access the portal to use a limited number of features. They can check voicemail, use IM to contact coworkers or view the company directory.
Thanks to its clean and simple design, the interface is very easy to use. You can easily access features like the call log, billing or you can follow the provided link to the company’s FAQ and try and resolve minor issues by yourself. Nevertheless, the company offers one free hour of professional training by its technical experts. Although it’s very easy to use, this hour of guided training can be just what you need to grasp the full capabilities of this phone system.
When you’re deciding on the best phone system for your small business, you want to make sure to choose a company that has a good track record with availability. 8x8 is very popular in its niche since it offers uninterrupted service providing, unlike some other phone systems that are often down for maintenance or some unplanned interruption. The company is down only a few minutes over the course of a year which we found is an incredibly impressive result compared to the other similar phone systems in the same category. One of the reasons for this high result is that the company invest a lot in their nine data centers around the world that automatically switch between themselves in case one becomes indisposed for some reason. This high level of precaution insures that you have an uninterrupted service at all times.
Phone number: 00 1 408-687-4120
Website: www.8x8.com
Support: support.8x8.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/8x8Inc
8x8 has one of the best customer support services we tested during the course of our review. When we test-called the company and posed as a small business owner, the call was addressed instantly and the customer representative was very knowledgeable and polite. Since pricing is not very transparent with most phone system companies, we asked the customer support rep to clarify a few pricing questions we had, which he did fully. He also seemed very familiar and well conversed about any other question we had about the system. Although you can’t reach them outside regular office hours, you can contact a customer representative via phone or email from Monday through Saturday. For emergency calls, the company has a stand-by representative that can help any time of day, or night.
Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.
By: Cristina | Last updated July 10, 2019 
