Does your business rely on a physical landline for part of your daily operations? Did you know your customers can continue to contact your current landline phone number, while you and your team respond from a fully remote system? The transition doesn’t have to be daunting either.

It’s time to untether. Unleash more freedom and flexibility for you and your team to work in away that works for you. A fully remote virtual business phone system could introduce your company to more efficient, streamlined and cost-effective communications.

With distributed teams and the upsurge of remote work in recent years, it’s essential to adapt your company’s infrastructure to support seamless and versatile communications from anywhere, even while on the go.

Here’s how you can ditch that clunky landline reception phone and pesky monthly landline service bill, and you don’t have to acquire any new devices. 

What’s a Virtual Business Phone System? 

So what exactly is a “fully remote virtual reception system, or virtual business phone system?”

While virtual business phone systems come in all shapes and sizes with a plethora of features, at their core, they offer companies the tools to interact with their clients, customers and staff 100 percent remotely. 

Though platforms like Zoom offer virtual communications options like video conferencing, etc. many companies find themselves utilizing these tools as a supplement to their existing, long-term landline system, rather than as a full replacement. 

This is particularly common for brick-and-mortar businesses like retail, warehouses, contractors, etc. that have utilized the same landline number for all their advertising and contacts for years or even decades. 

A virtual business phone system, ideally, should enable these companies to stay accessible to their stakeholders and staff members at any time, from anywhere. In the very least, it should enable after-hours scheduling for call routing to voicemail or the specific phone numbers you’ve assigned it to send calls to.

Keep the Landline Number, Ditch the Landline Service

As we mentioned, virtual business phone systems come in a variety of packages. But the opportunity to keep your original landline number while making it fully functional remotely for multiple users makes NumberGarage’s system particularly advantageous for small or growing businesses. 

NumberGarage offers porting, which enables your company to keep your landline number and essentially transfer it to NumberGarage’s software platform. You can access your settings, features, call logs, texts, voicemails and more from a desktop browser or on your cell phone with the mobile app.

What many people and businesses might not understand, is that according to the FCC, you more or less own your phone number.

Most of the time, you can port your number to whatever mobile carrier or landline provider you prefer. While switching directly to a mobile carrier like AT&T has advantages, it also can provide limited business phone features and functionality with higher prices than virtual business phone systems like NumberGarage.

Advanced Features, Simple to Use

So what features does a virtual business phone system need?

First and foremost, it should probably include call forwarding and auto-attendant menus. As you explore the best platforms for your business’s needs, keep an eye out for plans that offer bloated features that you might not need but could pay higher prices for. NumberGarage offers straightforward features like:  

• Advanced Auto Attendant Menus
• Call Forwarding (with options to route to user groups, after-hours messaging and more)
• Voice
• Text
• Multiple Users
• Simultaneous Rings
• Schedules
• Voicemail Transcription
• Voicemail and Text to Email
• No Contracts or Commitments

Scalable and Flexible for Growing Businesses

Some phone number management platforms like our sister company, NumberBarn, offer both call forwarding and auto-attendant menus, which could be a great option for new businesses without multiple users. 

As your team expands, multiple-user access helps enable flexibility and scalability for your staff to manage calls from customers and facilitate communications between staff. With team members working from home, at various work sites, or while traveling, a viable remote business phone system should also have the capacity to easily add (or remove) additional team member phone numbers from within the phone system’s account. 

When we think of “scalability” we often think of growth. But the principle behind the concept of scalability is to create a business model that accommodates the ebbs and flows of your business needs. 

Building a scalable infrastructure also involves making decisions that can suit the various seasons of your business.

Is it time to cut back spending in some areas? Consider no-contract plans so that you’re not locked into something that may no longer serve your infrastructure or budget.

How can you improve your communications workflow for your team? Features like voicemail transcription can become a game changer for quickly scanning content and prioritizing more urgent responses. 

Additional Phone Numbers for Call Forwarding

Consider adding phone numbers for various departments or team members. With multiple-user functionality, your team can adjust settings like auto-attendant menus and after-hours call forwarding for your primary number via various admin and user access settings. Your team members can also manage the settings for their calls within their own account, directly from their mobile device or desktop. 

If you’re ready for a change or want to expand your marketing, we always recommend adding (or switching) to a custom vanity phone number that spells your business name, an industry keyword, or repeating digits.

A custom phone number can help your company stand out and improve your visibility and engagement. With NumberGarage, you can choose from thousands of local, custom and toll-free numbers to help reinforce your marketing, visibility and rapport. 

Cost-Effective and Efficient

Traditional business phone systems often start at hundreds, and even thousands of dollars for the equipment alone. These bulky phones can take up valuable desk space and limit mobility.

With virtual business phone systems like NumberGarage, you don’t have to pay for expensive landline hardware. You can also avoid needing to purchase additional cell phones for your employees. 

A virtual business phone system like NumberGarage enables you and your team to receive business calls from their existing personal device, while still keeping business and personal calls separate. 

NumberGarage is cloud-based and accessible from both mobile devices and a desktop browser, so you and your staff can stay focused and efficiently respond to high-priority calls and messages with fewer interruptions to your work tasks. With features like voicemail transcription, you can quickly respond to a voice message directly from your desktop via text, and avoid a longer voice call perhaps impeding your workflow. 

Tune Up Your Telecom with NumberGarage 

If you’re ready to rev up your business phone system and accelerate your telecommunications, you don’t have to “grease the wheels” for the best deal.

Check out ultra-budget-friendly pricing and plans at NumberGarage.

Gear-up your business phone numbers with power-packed features and super savings to turbocharge your team’s communications and client interactions.