Picture a busy workday: a customer waits on hold, calls bounce between extensions, and a missed call turns into a lost sale. What if your business moved to the best cloud telephony service, a cloud phone system and VoIP solution that handles call routing, IVR, call recording, and call analytics so teams never miss a customer. This article will show how to choose a hosted PBX or virtual phone system that provides complete visibility into conversations, routes customers instantly, scales with growth, and avoids the cost and complexity of traditional phones.
To achieve that outcome, Bland AI's conversational AI layers include intelligent routing and automatic call distribution, a 24/7 virtual receptionist, omnichannel support, telephony API integration, and real-time call analytics, ensuring calls flow smoothly and managers stay in control.
Summary
- Legacy PBX systems obscure real operating costs; 60% of businesses still use outdated PBX systems, and teams often spend hours per week on manual rerouting and context switching.
- Switching to cloud telephony shifts maintenance costs to predictable service fees, and companies can save up to 50% on communication costs by adopting cloud telephony systems.
- Cloud telephony improves customer outcomes: 80% of businesses report higher customer satisfaction after switching, driven by fewer misroutes and faster resolution.
- Targeted routing and overflow strategies materially reduce friction, evidenced by a GOV.UK found a 30% reduction in call wait times and pilots where admin configuration cycles fell from days to hours for a 35-person services team.
- Prioritize vendor reliability, integrations, real-time analytics, and security during selection, because over 70% of businesses are expected to adopt cloud telephony by 2025, and the global VoIP market is projected to reach $145 billion by 2025.
- Reduce migration risk with short, metric-driven pilots that capture hourly call volume, peak concurrency, and transfer paths, a practice aligned with GOV.UK data show that 75% of businesses reported improved call-handling efficiency after switching.
This is where Bland AI fits in. Conversational AI addresses routing and context gaps by providing 24/7 virtual reception, deterministic routing, CRM integrations, and real-time call analytics so callers reach the right person with full context.
Why Traditional Phone Systems Are Costing You More Than Money

Missed calls become lost revenue long before they show up on a monthly bill. When a sales lead rings and hits the wrong queue, or customer service waits five minutes for a transfer:
- You lose deals
- Frustrate returning customers
- Force staff to spend hours chasing context that should have been captured at first contact.
To stop this leak, many forward-thinking firms now integrate Bland AI to handle high-volume interactions via conversational AI, ensuring no lead is ever left waiting. The false belief is simple and common: traditional phone systems are “good enough” because they still connect calls and feel familiar. Reliability alone no longer equals effectiveness.
A dial tone does not prevent:
- Lost leads
- Slow resolution times
- The operational drag of manual transfers and siloed data
Culture over Configuration: Why Mid-Market Teams Resist
Why does that belief stick? Because the costs are invisible in day-to-day accounting. Legacy PBX hardware hides inefficiency as fragmented workflows, missed callbacks, and frustrated agents, not as a neat line item. This is why Bland AI uses advanced conversational AI to automate repetitive workflows and capture data that legacy systems ignore. This pattern appears consistently across mid-market contact centres and professional services, where managers trade tangible upgrades for the comfort of “it works” while opportunity costs quietly compound.
How Do These Hidden Costs Play Out In Operations?
- How much time does your team waste re-routing calls and hunting for context? In centres with variable call volumes, the answer is hours per week, not minutes. That time is disguised as staff costs, delayed service, and poor NPS.
- What revenue never materialises because the caller abandoned the queue or hung up after a wrong transfer? These are lost leads, not line items on a telecom invoice.
- Where is your visibility into peak demand, transfer hotspots, or repeat misroutes? Without centralized analytics, you cannot fix what you cannot measure.
Why Are Organisations Still On Old Systems?
The familiar approach is to keep the PBX because it minimizes immediate disruption, and onboarding new telephony tools looks expensive on paper. Despite the benefits of modern options, 60% of businesses still use outdated PBX systems. The Daisy Group's 2024 findings show how many organisations default to familiarity, even though that choice exposes them to mounting operational risk. Rather than sticking with the status quo, you can leverage Bland AI to deploy hyper-realistic conversational AI that scales with your business without the overhead of a traditional call center.
What Operational Gains Does Cloud Telephony Actually Deliver?
Cloud platforms remove:
- Manual handoffs with deterministic routing rules and context-aware queues
- They capture calls for quality and coaching
- They make queue behaviour visible in real time
Managers stop firefighting and start fixing the process. They also support remote agents with the same routing logic and reporting as on-prem sites, keeping service consistent as teams distribute.
From Ticket Executors to Experience Orchestrators
Most teams handle telephony the old way because it is familiar and seems reliable. That works at a small scale, but as call volume and complexity grow:
- Transfers multiply
- Analytics vanish
- Customer experience degrades
Solutions such as enterprise voice AI platforms offer:
- Managed cloud telephony
- Automated routing
- CRM integrations
- Call analytics
It delivers production-grade automation and measurable outcomes rather than piecemeal fixes. By choosing Bland AI, you can implement conversational AI that interacts with your customers naturally and resolves issues in seconds rather than minutes.
What About Cost? The Math Matters
Modern VoIP and cloud telephony remove maintenance-heavy hardware and shift spend to predictable, service-based pricing. Businesses can save up to 40% on communication costs by switching to VoIP. The Daisy Group assessment highlights the tangible savings organisations can achieve by moving from paying for aging infrastructure to paying for outcomes.
The Psychological Cost of “Communication Friction”
It’s exhausting when your phone system feels like the only thing standing between a caller and the right person, creating daily friction for agents and customers alike.
We see the same emotional pattern:
- Frustration with misroutes
- Eagerness to simplify
- Urgency to preserve continuity without adding IT overhead
According to recent research on legacy IT failure modes, clinging to outdated systems not only escalates costs but actively jeopardizes an organization’s strategic position in a data-centric world.
Turning “Dead Air” into Operational Intelligence
Think of a legacy PBX as a locked filing cabinet in a world that now searches. It keeps things, but it slows every interaction. Cloud telephony, paired with enterprise voice AI, turns that cabinet into a searchable, permissioned database that routes, records, and learns from every call, so you stop losing business to process failures. That simple shift from “it works” to “it works and proves it” is the difference between accepting avoidable losses and fixing them. The next question is more challenging than picking features. That decision is more complicated than it looks, and what you choose next will reveal how much you really value every call.
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- What Is Call Center Automation
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- NPS Survey Best Practices
- Advanced Call Routing
- SaaS Customer Support Best Practices
- Contact Center Automation Use Cases
- Intelligent Routing Call Center
- AI Powered IVR
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- Call Center Automation Trends
- Customer Sentiment Analysis AI
What Makes the Best Cloud Telephony Service for Your Business?

Not every cloud telephony vendor fixes the problems you already have; some simply repackage them in a new interface. Use a tight decision framework that prioritizes operational outcomes, not feature checklists, so you can tell which providers will reduce:
- Missed calls
- Speed response
- Stop manual work from creeping back in
For many enterprises, the first step in modernization is to integrate Bland AI to manage inbound inquiries via conversational AI, ensuring high call volumes do not degrade the customer experience.
What Should I Evaluate First?
Reliability And Uptime
If calls drop or routing fails, each minute lost is missed revenue and angry customers.
Demand:
- Clear service-level agreements
- Multi-region failover
- Independent uptime reports
Outages do not become hidden operating costs.
How Good Is The Call Quality Under Load?
Call quality matters because poor audio creates:
- Repeat calls
- Longer handle times
- Extra follow-up work
Confirm support for:
- Adaptive codec
- Jitter buffering
- Real-world load testing rather than marketing claims
This is especially true when using automated systems; ensure you leverage Bland AI for low-latency, hyper-realistic conversational AI that maintains crystal-clear audio quality even during massive traffic spikes.
Will This Scale Without Costly Rework?
Scalability is where choices pay off or punish you: adding users or new workloads should not require forklift hardware changes or weeks of provisioning that delay launches and cost opportunities.
Can It Integrate With Our Existing Tools?
Integrations with CRM, helpdesk, and workforce systems eliminate manual context transfers and reduce chase time for agents; insist on native connectors or robust APIs that exchange call metadata in real time. Rather than simple “click-to-dial” features, Bland AI integrates conversational AI directly with your CRM, automatically updating lead records and triggering follow-up workflows based on real-time call outcomes.
What Visibility And Analytics Will We Actually Get?
Actionable analytics prevent firefighting by showing where calls queue, who drops, and which campaigns drive volume. Evaluate sample dashboards and raw exports to ensure you can turn data into staffing and routing changes quickly.
How Easy Is Administration And Change Management?
Ease of management matters because complex consoles and brittle scripts push work onto admins and lengthen change cycles, creating delays that show up as slower response times and more missed calls.
How Strong Is The Security And Compliance Posture?
Security lapses expose you to:
- Breaches
- Fines
- Loss of trust
They:
- Require audit logs
- Encryption in transit and at rest
- Compliance attestations
Security becomes a control, not an afterthought that leads to costly remediation.
Why These Criteria, Not A Long Feature List?
When selection becomes a shopping list of features, teams accumulate complexity that reproduces the same failure modes as legacy systems, such as fragmented context and manual handoffs. Choose the few levers that directly reduce operating costs and time-to-resolution. By using Bland AI to deploy production-grade conversational AI, you move from fragmented feature sets to a unified, automated operating model that handles everything from basic routing to complex lead qualification.
What Operational Checks Should We Run Before Making A Purchase?
Ask for a multi-week pilot that mimics peak traffic, a sample integration to your CRM, exportable reports, and documented escalation paths; require a demo that exercises your real call flows so you can validate behavior under real constraints rather than hypotheticals. According to FreJun, “80% of businesses report improved customer satisfaction after switching to cloud telephony.” Consider total cost implications, as the same article states that “Companies save up to 50% on communication costs by adopting cloud telephony systems.”
The “Admin Burden” Audit: Quantifying Invisible Friction
This is a practical checklist, not theory. Use it to score providers on factors that change day-to-day operations:
- How often do calls fail
- How quickly agents get context
- How long does it take to add locations or integrations
- Hw much time do your admins spend fixing issues
When Do Familiar Habits Break Down And Require A Different Approach?
This pattern appears repeatedly in enterprise rollouts: teams initially store routing logic in spreadsheets because it is simple, but as growth fragments ownership, the spreadsheet becomes the bottleneck, increasing manual transfers and repeat work.
Platforms like Bland AI provide:
- Programmatic routing
- Runtime voice automation
- Prebuilt CRM integrations
It gives teams a production-ready bridge that moves decisions out of spreadsheets and into reproducible, auditable automation while preserving existing telephony investments.
The Stress-Test Demo: Moving from Slides to Scenarios
Bring a live scenario you handle weekly, have the vendor run it during the demo, and measure the time required to achieve full context on the receiving agent, the number of handoffs, and whether you can export the same audit trail on demand. The answers tell you more than any checklist. Picking a provider is choosing an operating model, not just software; treat demos as experiments and require reproducible proof before you commit. That choice feels decisive now, and the next step will reveal which vendors actually survive this scrutiny.
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- IVR Best Practices
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- Customer Request Triage
- How to Improve Customer Service
- Brand Building Strategies
- How to Improve NPS Score
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- How to Develop a Brand Strategy
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20 Best Cloud Telephony Service Providers

Bland AI is best suited for large enterprises and multi‑site contact centers that need:
- Production-grade voice AI
- Programmable routing
- Strict data control
What Does The Platform Include?
Bland AI offers a cloud telephony foundation built around:
- Real‑time AI voice agents
- SIP trunking
- Programmable IVR
- Enterprise APIs
It is accessible via:
- Web consoles
- Mobile apps
- SIP handsets
It supports high concurrent call volumes and multi‑tenant deployments, with carrier-grade termination and audit logging that matter for regulated teams.
The Transition from CapEx to OpEx: Why PBX is a “Sunk Cost” Trap
To bridge the gap between traditional PBX and modern automation, many firms now integrate Bland AI to manage complex support flows via conversational AI, ensuring no customer is left on hold. Industry momentum is clear: Over 70% of businesses are expected to adopt cloud telephony solutions by 2025. That 2025 projection from FreJun explains why enterprises are prioritizing platforms that integrate natively with CRM, workforce systems, and existing PSTN providers. Also, the global VoIP market size is projected to reach $145 billion by 2025. Taken together, those signals show this is now an operational decision, not an experiment.
How Are Calls Routed, And How Does Collaboration Actually Work?
Calls enter Bland AI through programmable entry points, then run through deterministic routing logic that can be combined with:
- Skill
- Priority
- CRM context rules
The caller is routed to the right human or AI agent on the first pass. Voicemail, recordings, and automated transcripts feed the same record that agents see in their desktop or mobile UI, while AI summaries and call highlights appear as brief notes in the ticket or CRM card.
Closing the “Coaching Loop” with Real-Time Context
That design means agents spend less time asking for context and more time resolving issues; supervisors use the same recordings and analytics to coach behavior without stitching together multiple tools. You can further optimize your routing by using Bland AI to deploy hyper-realistic conversational AI that qualifies leads before they ever reach your human team.
Centralized Orchestration vs. Tool Sprawl
When we moved a 35-person services team to a Bland AI pilot over three weeks, a few operational truths surfaced: the team wanted a professional virtual attendant that reliably forwarded to mobiles, and admins needed a single dashboard for quick IVR edits. After configuration, their average time to full context on transfers fell materially, and admins cut typical configuration cycles from days to hours, not by accident but because routing and presence were centralized and auditable.
What Works Well In Bland’s Daily Operations?
- The programmable routing and AI handoffs reduce wasted transfers and accelerate first-contact resolution, enabling teams to answer complex queries faster without adding headcount.
- Enterprise deployment options and detailed audit logs give compliance teams confidence, which shortens procurement cycles and reduces operational risk when you must meet regulatory controls.
- Bland AI uses advanced conversational AI to automate repetitive workflows, allowing senior agents to focus on high‑value exceptions, thereby improving throughput during peak periods.
Where The Platform Falls Short
Bland AI’s depth creates overhead. Implementations require telephony engineering and governance, so smaller teams without dedicated SRE or telecom resources will find onboarding slower and initially more expensive than consumer cloud phones. The platform emphasizes voice automation over rich native video collaboration, so organizations that treat video as the center of their workflow may need an additional tool. Extensive customization can create operational complexity if change controls are weak, so teams must invest in governance or risk configuration drift.
Who Should Use Bland?
Choose Bland AI when you are an enterprise or large contact center that needs production‑grade voice AI, strict auditability, and seamless integration with CRM and PSTN carriers, and you have the engineering resources to manage a robust rollout. If you are a mid‑sized team that needs fast setup with minimal telecom overhead, consider lighter-weight cloud telephony options. If you need enterprise-grade voice automation and strict compliance, Bland’s strengths outweigh its implementation cost.
The Hidden Vulnerabilities of “Manual Routing Debt”
Most teams handle routing with spreadsheets and ad hoc rules because it is familiar and seems low-risk; that works until scale, compliance demands, or peak traffic expose gaps. As change requests pile up and ownership fragments, manual routing becomes a bottleneck and errors multiply.
Platforms like Bland AI:
- centralize routing
- Provide programmatic IVR
- Automate routine calls
It compresses change cycles from days to hours while preserving audit trails and control.
1. Bland AI: Tired Of Missed Leads, Call Center Operations, And Inconsistent Customer Experiences?

Bland AI's conversational AI replaces outdated call centers and IVR trees with:
- Self-hosted
- Real-time AI voice agents that sound human
- Respond instantly
- Scale easily
For large businesses, Bland AI helps your team deliver faster and more reliable customer conversations without sacrificing data control or compliance. Experience the future of voice automation today, book a demo, and see how Bland would handle your calls!
2. CloudTalk: Best Cloud Telephony Solution

CloudTalk kicked off 2025, earning 127 badges from G2, the world’s leading software review platform. Based on feedback from more than 1,400 users, these awards highlight CloudTalk’s commitment to:
- Quality
- Innovation
- Customer success
With its powerful analytics, seamless CRM integrations, and global coverage, CloudTalk has become the best cloud telephony solution for growing sales and customer service teams aiming to scale efficiently. You can even pair Cloudtalk with Bland AI to enhance your outbound strategy using conversational AI.
Key Features
- International Numbers: Acquire international numbers (with geographic or non-geographic codes) from more than 160 countries. Local phone numbers allow customers from abroad to call you at standard local rates or free of charge.
- Call Flow Designer: Customizing your call flow allows you to create a system that perfectly fits your needs. With over 20 routing options, you can design a tailored inbound calling process for your business.
- Smart Dialer: It lets you scan websites, CRMs, and Help Desks for phone numbers and add them to your queue with a single click.
- Number porting: Keep your existing numbers and preserve your identity by porting numbers from 50 countries, including local, national, mobile, and toll-free options.
Pros
- Ease of setup and use.
- 24/7 customer support.
- Great call quality.
- Integration with popular CRMs such as:
- Pipedrive
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
Cons
- Inability to resize the window during a call.
- Limited video features; primarily focuses on voice calling.
Best For
Mid-sized companies looking to grow.
3. RingCentral: Best for Enterprise-Level Communication

When you think about VoIP telephony solutions, RingCentral is among the first ones that come to mind. It’s no wonder the company has been on the market for over 20 years and has built quite a reputation. RingCentral stands out as a VoIP provider due to its:
- Cost-effectiveness
- Ease of setup
- Robust feature set
Key Features
- Advanced Analytics and Reporting
- Mobile app
- Call Recording
- Call Routing
Pros
- Easy to set up and use
- Support for mobile and remote workforce
- HD-quality voice and video
- Numerous integrations available
Cons
- Strict contract policies
- Lack of customization for conference call greeting messages
- Limited customer support
- The system’s flexibility and extensive features can lead to user errors
Best For
Businesses of all sizes.
4. Vonage: Best for Established SMEs

Vonage is one of the best-known cloud-based telephony providers worldwide. It has been in the business for over twenty years and has established an enviable reputation as a market leader.
Key Features
- Voicemail to email
- Auto-attendant
- Desktop App
- Voice and video conferencing
Pros
- Virtual receptionist feature: Automatically forwards calls to the appropriate department
- High-quality call features
- Call routing options: For example, callers can dial using their name or an extension.
- Integration with third-party apps
Cons
- It charges significantly more than similar virtual phone software providers.
- Limited support.
- It may not offer the necessary scalability or flexibility.
- Some features, such as call queuing and on-demand call recording, incur additional fees, which can increase the overall cost of the service.
Best For
Small to medium-sized businesses. It is particularly effective for companies with at least 20 users.
5. Zoom Phone: Best Video and Collaboration for Small Teams

Zoom Phone is a cloud-based business phone system offered by Zoom Video Communications that allows users to manage calls on various devices, including:
- Desk phones
- Computers
- Mobile phones
It is a native Zoom product that integrates with other Zoom tools, such as Meetings, Chat, and video conferencing, to provide a unified communications solution.
Key Features
- Zoom Mobile and Desktop App
- Call recording and transcription
- Call transfer
- Call forwarding
Pros
- It is one of the cheapest VoIP services
- A solid set of features for inbound and outbound calls
- HD call quality
- User-friendly interface and ease of use
Cons
- Live support access is reserved for the most premium licenses.
- Limited integration capabilities.
- While it’s budget-friendly, certain additional features are expensive (e.g., fax).
- Features are more limited than those in Zoom meetings.
Best For
Small businesses and those with limited budgets.
6. Dialpad: Best for AI-Powered Communication

Since its inception in 2011, Dialpad has served tens of thousands of business teams. It’s a reliable, unified cloud-based calling solution with simple built-in AI and advanced analytics. For those needing deeper automation, Bland AI works alongside Dialpad to provide enterprise-level conversational AI that manages entire call flows autonomously.
Key Features
- Call recording
- 24/7 customer support
- Call analysis
- Fully integrated caller ID
Pros
- Ease of use.
- Voice intelligence and uptime between 99% and 100%.
- Modern UI, ample training videos, and a robust mobile app.
- Free calls to the US and Canada from anywhere in the world.
Cons
- You can’t send SMS outside the United States, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
- Limited integration stack.
- While Dialpad does offer a Power dialer, it lacks a Smart dialer.
- It also lacks a visual flow editor for its Call flow designer.
Best For
Larger organizations and those with complex call center operations.
7. 8×8: Best for Omnichannel Communication

8×8 has provided cloud-based business communications and customer experience solutions since 1987.
It offers a unified platform integrating:
- Contact center capabilities
- Voice
- Video
- Chat
- APIs
8×8 is known for high-quality, budget-friendly VoIP services.
Key Features
- AI-powered tools, such as automated call routing and voicemail-to-text transcription
- Video conferencing.
- Omni-channel analytics.
- Workforce engagement management.
Pros
- It offers a range of features.
- Excellent customer service.
- User-friendly.
- High-quality video conferencing capabilities.
Cons
- The Android mobile app has been criticized for its lack of user-friendliness and poor call quality.
- Advanced contact center queue features require advanced licenses.
- Some users have struggled to set up extensions and navigate the system.
Best For
Businesses of all sizes
8. Aircall: Best for Sales-Driven Teams

Aircall is an advanced calling solution used by 17,000+ clients.
It’s designed to:
- Accelerate sales processes
- Improve communication with prospects
- Close more deals
You can automatically dial multiple prospects in a back-to-back queue and surface crucial contact information directly within the phone interface.
Key Features
- Automatic Call Distribution
- Call transfer
- Call recording
- Call monitoring
Pros
- Easy VoIP setup for small businesses.
- Integration with other tools.
- A high level of customization is available, including setting ringtones and audio playback.
- Users have reported positive experiences with Aircall’s customer support.
Cons
- Lacks some essential video calling features.
- Webinar hosting and screen-sharing capabilities are limited.
- Some users have noted that the mobile app does not include all the features available in the desktop version.
Best For
Small to medium-sized businesses
9. Nextiva: Best for Healthcare and Professional Services

Nextiva is a major player in the VoIP market, serving more than 100,000 customers. It is widely regarded as user-friendly; users can start calling within minutes thanks to a simple and intuitive setup process. The system is hosted by Nextiva, which makes maintenance of the software Nextiva’s responsibility.
Key Features
- Mobile & Desktop Apps
- Video Conference Recordings
- Workflow Optimization
- Unlimited Calling
Pros
- 24/7 support
- It offers advanced features, including conference calling, voicemail transcription, and multi-level attendant.
- Virtual faxing: Ideal for healthcare professionals to securely share information.
- The provider also integrates with solutions such as Zendesk, ConnectWise, and Microsoft Teams.
Cons
- Integration limitations
- It lacks specific integrations, such as Slack or Zapier.
- Many consider Nextiva’s prices high, especially for small businesses.
- Some users have reported that the implementation process can be time-consuming.
Best For
Small to medium-sized businesses
10. Grasshopper: Best for Solopreneurs and Small Businesses

Grasshopper is a cloud-based telephony solution designed for small businesses. It allows users to make and receive calls, send and receive texts, and manage voicemail using a desktop or mobile app.
Key Features
- Call forwarding to any device
- Voicemail Transcription
- Custom Greetings
- Simultaneous Call Handling
Pros
- Easy to set up and use.
- There is no need to purchase pricey new equipment.
- Unlimited calling and texting in North America.
Cons
- Lacks core features users may expect, including Call Recording, Power Dialers, and even Click-to-call.
- Limited integration.
Best For
Small businesses and solopreneurs
11. Google Voice

Google Voice is a cloud-based telephony solution from Google Cloud that provides businesses of all sizes with a user-friendly and scalable way to manage phone communications. It offers a range of features and lets users make domestic and international calls, send SMS messages, and manage voicemail via web browsers and mobile devices.
Key Features
- Call forwarding
- Multi-Level auto attendant
- SMS and voicemail management
- Ring groups
Pros
- Integration with Google Workspace.
- Competitive rates for international calls.
- Unlimited calling within the US and Canada.
Cons
- Limited Integration, as it only integrates with other Google apps.
- It is only available in the US and Canada.
- Lack of advanced collaboration features, such as auto-replies and shared access.
Best For
Small and medium-sized businesses.
12. Goto Connect: Best For It And Support Teams With Scalable Needs

GoTo Connect is a cloud-based telephony solution known for its:
- Comprehensive features
- Scalability
- Affordability
It combines voice, video, and messaging into a single platform, offering:
- Customizable call routing
- Integrations with popular business apps
- Advanced video conferencing
Key Features
- Unlimited call routing
- Multi-Level auto attendants
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- SMS functionality
Pros
- Comprehensive set of features and tools.
- 24/7 customer support.
- The admin panel is user-friendly and simplifies back-office processes.
Cons
- Some users have noted inconsistent experiences between the desktop and mobile apps.
- The reporting and analytics features of GoTo Connect have been described as basic.
- A couple of users have mentioned that the onboarding process could be improved.
Best For
Small to midsize businesses
13. Ooma: Best For Small Teams With Basic Needs On A Tight Budget

Ooma Office is an easy-to-use cloud phone solution that includes:
- Voice calling
- SMS
- Video conferencing for up to 100 participants
Each plan supports unlimited calling to:
- The US
- Canada
- Mexico
The platform includes:
- 50 standard features
- Enhanced and custom call blocking for up to 100 numbers
- Integrations with popular third-party apps such as:
- Salesforce
- Microsoft Dynamics
Ideal for small in-house businesses with fewer than 20 team members, Ooma Office also includes:
- Dynamic custom caller ID
- Advanced hardware integrations
- A robust mobile app for:
- Android
- iOS users
Teams can implement Bland AI to add a layer of conversational AI on top of Ooma's reliable hardware foundation.
What We Like About Ooma Office
- Uncomplicated interface: Ooma Office only includes simple features and channels–including basic call controls, SMS, and video meetings. This made it easy for us to learn.
- Queueing and ring groups: With multi-ring technology and ring groups, we massively increased our call answer rate while using Ooma
- Hardware availability: Ooma also makes and sells hardware VoIP phones, making the phone system a good fit for in-person offices
Where Ooma Falls Short
- Lack of features: Ooma’s platform does not include video calling, call recording, or call monitoring, which are essential features
- No team chat: Ooma does not offer any native team chat messaging, requiring a third-party chat app
Who Should Use Ooma Office
- In-person teams: Ooma includes features like hot desking and extension dialing, which make it an excellent tool for in-person offices and call centers
- Teams that prioritize toll-free numbers: Each Ooma account sign-up includes a free toll-free number, plus 500 minutes of inbound calls per month
14. Intermedia: Best For Mid-Size Teams With Basic Needs

Intermedia Unite comes with:
- VoIP
- SMS texting
- Team chat
- Video conferencing for up to 200 participants
The platform is accessible via desktop, mobile, and web app, and it integrates seamlessly with most of today’s VoIP phones. Plans include unlimited calling to 33 countries.
The phone system includes routing tools such as:
- Voicemail and transcription
- Auto-attendants
- Call recording
- Basic call controls
Team chat includes:
- File sharing
- File storage
- An AI assistant
What We Like About Intermedia Unite
- Collaboration tools: Intermedia Unite acts as a team collaboration app, with internal messaging, file sharing, and presence detection features that can replace a tool like Slack
- Video meetings: The platform’s video meetings offer a range of interactive and AI-powered features. Users can share screens, record, and chat. AI provides live transcriptions and meeting insights.
- AI Assistant: We were impressed by Unite’s AI Assistant tool, which enables team collaboration. The tool can summarize messages and voicemails, create chat messages, and even write code.
Where Intermedia Unite Falls Short
- Pricey: The cheapest Intermedia plan costs $27.99, which is decently more expensive than the basic plans offered by many other providers
- Monitoring and queueing: Intermedia UNite does not include call monitoring, ring groups, or call queues, which could be critical for teams providing customer support
Who Should Use Intermedia Unite?
- Teams that call internationally: Both Intermedia Unite plans support calling to 33 countries, providing excellent value for as little as $27.99
- Teams seeking to leverage AI: The platform embeds AI into video meetings and team chat, helping agents collaborate and answer customers more easily
15. Ringover

Ringover is a comprehensive business communication suite with advanced features and a user-friendly interface. With Ringover, you'll easily build your business relationships thanks to top-notch contact center and call center software. Ringover also offers tools suited for recruiting firms that want to establish strong relationships with candidates and clients.
Ringover's VoIP software stands out for:
- Unlimited calling to over 110 destinations
- Omnichannel contact center capabilities, including:
- Text messaging
- Social media messaging
- Video conferencing and more
- Integrations
The integration library supports popular CRMs such as:
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Pipedrive
- ATSs such as:
- AkkenCloud
- Bullhorn
- Avionté
Ringover Pros
- Call management system including intelligent routing, call forwarding, auto attendant, and more.
- Productivity tools like power dialer, call campaigns, and nearest numbers
Who Should Use Ringover?
Ringover is ideal for small to mid-sized businesses that want an intuitive cloud phone system with seamless CRM integrations and collaboration tools. It is perfect for sales and support teams looking to save time and boost productivity.
16. FreJun

FreJun is designed for growing businesses looking for flexibility and efficiency in their customer service routing. It offers multiple call-routing strategies to help teams handle high call volumes without delays.
Key Features
- Round robin, sticky agent, longest idle, and fixed order routing
- Drag-and-drop IVR builder for easy setup
- Call recording and real-time analytics dashboards.
- Integrates seamlessly with CRM platforms like Zoho, HubSpot, and Salesforce
- Advanced cloud PBX with smart call routing and recording.
17. Five9

Five9 is ideal for enterprise-level contact centers that require AI-assisted routing and predictive analytics. It helps large teams manage high call volumes efficiently while improving first-call resolution rates. Its platform also provides detailed insights into agent performance. For maximum efficiency, choosing Bland AI allows you to integrate conversational AI into Five9’s environment to automate high-volume inbound traffic.
Key Features
- AI-driven intelligent call routing
- Predictive analytics for better customer engagement
- Scalable solution for large contact centers
- Advanced agent management and reporting dashboards
18. JustCall

JustCall is a cloud-based phone system tailored for SMBs, with easy-to-use auto dialers and CRM integrations. It supports both sales and customer support teams.
Key Features
- Power dialer for efficient outreach
- Integration with major CRM platforms
- Mobile app for remote calling
- Call logging and analytics.
19. Freshdesk Contact Center (Freshcaller)

Freshdesk’s Freshcaller offers a simple, intuitive solution for managed phone routing. It is best suited for growing customer service teams that want integrated ticketing and call management. Its automated workflows save time and reduce manual errors.
Key Features
- Easy-to-set-up IVR and call flows
- Automated routing and workflow rules
- Unified platform combining calls and support tickets
- Real-time monitoring and call analytics
20. REVE Cloud Telephony

A complete solution for enterprise communication that stands out as a powerhouse. REVE Cloud Telephony brings together the functionality of AI-driven automation, full customization, and carrier-grade reliability, all in one, easy-to-use platform. To achieve full voice automation, many users utilize Bland AI to power REVE's conversational AI capabilities, ensuring a bespoke customer experience.
Noteworthy Features
- Available as a cloud-based or on-premise deployment
- White-labeling and branding flexibility
- Built-in AI voice bots, chatbots, and innovative IVR
- Supports toll-free, vanity, and DID numbers
- Fully Integrated Ticket Management System
- Supports iOS, Android, web, Huawei, PSTN, and IP phones
- Enterprise-Grade security & centralized Management
- Unified dashboard for complete oversight
- Advanced routing and call termination flexibility
But the hard part is not choosing a provider; it is executing the switch without breaking service or trust.
Best Practices for Switching to Cloud Telephony Service

A well-managed switch to cloud telephony can be gradual and non‑disruptive, not a single ‘big bang’ project. Follow a short, sequential plan and you convert risk into early wins while keeping service steady, such as:
- Assess
- Choose
- Pilot
- Train
- Monitor
For many organizations, the assessment phase is the perfect time to integrate Bland AI to handle overflow traffic via conversational AI, preventing missed calls during the migration window.
What Should You Measure First When Assessing Needs?
Start with complex inputs:
- Hourly call volume by queue
- Peak concurrency
- Average handle time
- The top three transfer paths that create friction
Run a one‑week capture of call metadata to identify where callers drop off and which IVR prompts cause repeats. To address high-volume bottlenecks, leveraging Bland AI enables you to deploy conversational AI that qualifies callers and provides instant answers, reducing your human agents' workload from day one.
That data tells you whether:
- You need advanced skills‑based routing
- CRM CTI
- Simple overflow rules
It makes the next steps surgical rather than speculative.
How Do You Choose A Provider Without Guessing?
Score vendors against the few outcomes that move the needle:
- Measurable uptime guarantees
- Native CRM integration
- Real‑time analytics exports
- A clear number porting plan
Treat demos like experiments:
- Bring a live call scenario
- Ask the vendor to run it
- Record time to full context and handoffs.
Suppose you prefer external validation, GOV.UK, 75% of businesses reported improved call handling efficiency after switching to cloud telephony, a December 2025 government release that shows careful migration commonly translates to operational gains across sectors.
How Should You Pilot To Reduce Risk And Prove Value Quickly?
Pilot with a small, representative team for two to six weeks, routing only a slice of traffic to the new system while keeping the legacy PBX live as a safety net. Use mirrored reporting to compare handle time, transfer count, and caller abandonment in real time. That tight loop lets you tune IVR thresholds and skill rules, so when you expand, you remove rather than add unknowns.
Think of the pilot as a laboratory test:
- Control variables
- Measure outcomes
- Iterate fast
What Practical Steps Can Calm The Usual Worries About Downtime, Porting, And Resistance?
Plan:
- The cutover window during a quiet period
- Secure failback paths with your carrier
- Require the provider to document number port timelines and escalation contacts
For number porting, request a staged handoff in which numbers move in batches rather than all at once. To handle staff resistance, run role‑based labs with the actual call scripts they use and celebrate minor improvements early, which builds trust faster than policy memos.
Fighting “Burnout” by Automating the Mundane
By choosing Bland AI, you can implement conversational AI that assists agents by handling routine data collection, thereby building staff confidence by freeing them to focus on high-value conversations that require a human touch. These actions keep service intact and preserve confidence across teams.
How Should Training Be Structured For Fast Adoption?
Train in scenarios, not slides. Build three 30‑minute modules:
- Agent triage with CRM screen pops
- Supervisor coaching with call highlights
- An admin session for routing edits
Use recorded pilot calls as training material so people can practice on real examples that match their day. Short, repeatable practice beats long workshops; it reduces human error and shortens time to competence.
Where Should You Focus Monitoring After Rollout To Keep Momentum?
Monitor a few key KPIs daily for the first month: call answer rate, average wait time, transfers per call, and first-contact resolution. Configure alerts for deviation so you fix routing thresholds before callers notice.
The Silent Failures of Manual Routing Logic
Most teams keep routing rules in ad hoc spreadsheets because that method feels safe and requires no new processes. As call complexity grows, spreadsheets fragment, changes are delayed, and errors multiply, increasing the need for transfers and manual follow-ups.
Platforms like Bland AI provide:
- Programmable routing
- CRM screen pops
- Audit logs
It enables teams to move routing out of fragile spreadsheets into repeatable automation, compressing change cycles from days to hours while preserving control and compliance.
What Governance Helps Prevent Configuration Drift And Rising Support Load?
Lock production routing behind a simple change control:
- Request
- Test in staging with a real traffic replay, approve with a timestamped audit entry
- Deploy during a low‑impact window
Require rollback playbooks for each change. These governance rituals sound bureaucratic, but they stop minor edits from compounding into significant outages and keep admins from becoming single points of failure.
The Soft Cutover Strategy: Managing the Psychological Switch
A quick analogy to keep this practical: treat migration like rerouting a major highway during rush hour, not demolishing the bridge. You map alternate lanes, signal drivers early, and open one lane at a time. The result is flow, not gridlock. The real test of a clean migration is not technical complexity; it is preparation and how you convert early wins into ongoing operational habits. The surprising twist? The part that looks easy on a checklist often hides the most consequential human decision.
Related Reading
- How to Grow a Brand
- Best IVR Experience
- Best Customer Service Automation Software
- Voice AI Alternative
- Best IVR System
- Best Call Center Software Solutions
- Best AI Customer Service
- Best Answering Service
- Best IVR System for Small Business
- How to Improve CSAT Scores in a Call Center
- Best Cloud Telephony Service
- How to Make Google Voice HIPAA Compliant
- Inbound Call Marketing Automation
Book a Demo to Learn About our AI Call Receptionists
We know missed leads, slow IVR handoffs, and inconsistent call experiences quietly drain revenue and morale, but you can stop accepting that tradeoff while preserving data control and compliance. Schedule a short demo to watch Bland AI’s self-hosted, real-time voice agents run on a production-grade cloud telephony platform with SIP trunking and CRM integration, and judge how it handles your calls in real traffic.

