Vonage Enterprise Communications Assessment (2024): Is It Value It?

Vonage is a mean enterprise cellphone system when you simply want one thing that helps primary calling and texting capabilities out of your smartphone. In case you’re on the lookout for extra performance, it’s lacking superior options and workforce collaboration instruments, regardless of having the next price ticket than a lot of its opponents.

Nevertheless, Vonage’s assist for communication APIs (Utility Programming Interfaces) to embed customized calling capabilities into apps and web sites could also be well worth the lack of different options if that’s a precedence for your corporation.

Vonage’s pricing

Vonage has three customary enterprise cellphone system plans:

• Cell: $19.99 per person per 30 days for just a few customers who simply want primary calling and texting capabilities.
• Premium: $29.99 per person per 30 days for small groups that need inner messaging, video conferencing, and desk telephones.
• Superior: 39.99 per person per 30 days for on-demand name recording, voicemail transcription, and name teams for groups.

In case you deal with excessive name volumes, Vonage presents two contact heart plans. Pricing isn’t out there for both, however there are a ton of add-ons out there, so that you’re capable of combine and match options to construct the correct plan for your corporation.

There’s additionally a novel conversational commerce bundle that begins at $1,000 per 30 days for as much as 10 brokers, with the choice so as to add extra brokers at $35 per 30 days every. You’ll additionally need to pay a $5,000 set-up payment, making it a major up-front funding.

Pricing for communication APIs relies on utilization:

• Home calls begin at $0.0127 per minute.
• SMS messages begin at $0.0062 per message.
• Video conferences begin at $0.004 per minute.
• In-app messaging begins at $0.0007 per minute.

You can too use quantity insights, dispatch, customized occasion, reporting, social media messaging, and verification APIs.

Vonage’s key options

Vonage’s customary cellphone system options embody limitless home calling, limitless texting, free quantity porting, and a digital receptionist (which is basically an auto attendant). However its standout providing is its helpful communications APIs.

Limitless calling and texting

Each Vonage plan comes with limitless home calling and texting.

If you’d like a less expensive different to conventional service plans with usage-based billing, it is a nice worth. In case you are a enterprise with primary cellphone system wants, and you might be serious about switching from a landline to VoIP, Vonage needs to be in your shortlist.

You can also make and obtain calls or ship texts out of your current units with out having to buy any extra {hardware}. Simply obtain the Vonage app, and you’ll seamlessly transition between your private and enterprise strains.

Free quantity porting

In case you’re curious about switching to a VoIP supplier otherwise you wish to change enterprise cellphone programs, Vonage makes this course of straightforward. They’ll port your quantity to Vonage free of charge so you’ll be able to keep continuity along with your clients with out having to fret about quantity forwarding or lacking calls.

Native and toll-free quantity porting can take as much as 21 enterprise days to totally course of, so it’s a good suggestion to maintain your present subscription energetic till the quantity has formally been moved to Vonage.

Digital receptionist

With Vonage’s digital receptionist, all incoming calls get answered by the digital auto attendant as a substitute of a reside agent.

From there, callers are greeted by an automatic recording or offered with a listing of menu choices — they make a choice and their name is routed easily to somebody who might help. You can too arrange your digital receptionist to play completely different greetings primarily based on the time, day of the week, and vacation hours.

SEE: Find out how name routing impacts clients’ notion of your model. 

It is a customary function out there on all Vonage enterprise cellphone plans. It’s not a full-blown Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system by any means, however the digital assistant can deal with typical enterprise wants for a single location.

From there, callers are offered with a listing of menu choices from which they’re capable of choose their motive for calling. This permits them to be shortly routed to somebody who might help. You can too arrange your digital receptionist to play completely different greetings primarily based on the time, day of the week, vacation hours, and extra.

It is a customary function out there on all Vonage enterprise cellphone plans.

Intuitive admin portal

Vonage’s user-friendly admin portal makes it straightforward to shortly handle and see what’s occurring organization-wide along with your cellphone system.

You possibly can monitor the system standing, observe workforce tendencies, add new cellphone extensions, and handle your numbers. It’s a clear interface that helps managers and system admins shortly full duties with out having to spend hours scrolling and clicking round.

The admin portal additionally provides you entry to the audit log, the place you’ll be able to observe adjustments and restore issues to the unique settings if obligatory.

This function is barely out there to customers with designated admin entry. All common Vonage customers in your workforce can handle their very own extension settings from their person portal, however not different system settings. Position-based entry is one in all many VoIP safety finest practices and this method makes it straightforward to stick to it.

Communication APIs

Vonage presents voice, video, SMS, social media messaging, in-app messaging, dispatch, verification, quantity perception, customized occasions, and reporting APIs you should utilize to create actually customized environments for collaboration and buyer interactions, comparable to:

• Sending real-time updates through SMS.
• Including two-factor authentication (2FA).
• Offering video assist.
• Detecting potential fraud.

When you’ve got the assets to construct and keep completely different forms of APIs, customized communications apps, and embedded options, that is one of the simplest ways to make use of Vonage.

Vonage execs

• Primary cellphone programs are straightforward to deploy.
• Each plan features a free predominant firm line.
• Big selection of communication APIs.
• Distinctive conversational commerce answer.
• Modular contact heart choices.
• Consumer-friendly interface.
• Centralized person administration.
• Quite a few privateness and safety certifications.

Vonage cons

• Help isn’t 24/7.
• Restricted cellphone system administration and name dealing with options.
• Telephone plans are mild on options, regardless of costing the identical as opponents.
• Even much less cost-effective on increased tiers.
• No desk telephones on the most affordable plan.
• Lately sued by the FTC.
• Restricted AI capabilities.

Alternate options to Vonage

Many customers discover different VoIP cellphone service suppliers on account of considerations over value, buyer assist, and customization with Vonage. Some discover Vonage’s pricing construction complicated and infrequently pricey as they scale, significantly with added charges for sure options. Additionally, critiques steadily point out challenges with buyer assist, citing sluggish response occasions that may be problematic for companies needing fast fixes.

RingCentral and Nextiva are usually higher choices than Vonage for many companies. RingCentral is extra superior than Nextiva and Vonage, and it tends to be a greater match for companies with over 100 staff. Nextiva presents stability of worth, usability, and scalability for companies of all sizes.

Right here’s a better have a look at how Vonage compares throughout key enterprise communication elements.

RingCentral

In case you want extra customization choices than Vonage presents, RingCentral is a feature-rich different with a protracted historical past of serving to firms construct out the precise cellphone system they want. It’s tougher to arrange and handle in comparison with a easy Vonage deployment, nevertheless it delivers much more flexibility by way of enterprise cellphone administration.

Nextiva

Nextiva is one other superior answer nevertheless it’s simpler to arrange. It’s arduous to beat as a cloud cellphone system that works kind of “off the shelf.” Including in additional channels or integrating extra capabilities isn’t any downside. The platform’s scalability and excessive uptime make it interesting to each small companies and huge enterprises aiming to streamline communications. You’ll seemingly by no means have to fret about outgrowing it.

Ooma

If you’d like desk telephones with Vonage, it’ll value you $10 extra per person per 30 days than Ooma, which is my prime advice for in-person places of work that want bodily telephones. Plus, Ooma’s so much simpler to make use of and deploy, and Vonage requires you to be on the second tier or increased to make use of desk telephones.

Dialpad

Though it has began to observe the contact heart development of including AI to every part, Vonage has only a few such capabilities, particularly in comparison with Dialpad. If synthetic intelligence and automations are essential to you, then Dialpad is a a lot better alternative. Plus, you’ll pay $5 much less per person per 30 days on the most affordable plan whereas getting extra collaboration and productiveness instruments.

Methodology

In growing this evaluate, I drew from private expertise, person suggestions, and a constant set of analysis standards utilized throughout all enterprise communication options.

Customary vs superior options

I consider every firm’s communication options, noting what is obtainable on the entry-level tier and what requires an improve. What’s the vary of supported channels and name heart capabilities? What do customers get, and the way deep is it? I’m particularly curious about IVR, name routing, cellphone system administration, name heart AI capabilities, and different options the place there’s a significant distinction between what distributors provide at every pricing tier.

Buyer assist

I researched the hours of availability for buyer assist, every service’s assist channels, and any buyer critiques associated to the supplier’s stage and velocity of service. As at all times, I take into account destructive critiques fastidiously, figuring out that dissatisfied clients are sometimes extra prone to go away suggestions.

Third-party integrations

To be able to examine performance at an enterprise stage, I checked every platform’s skill to sync with steadily used enterprise software program, like CRM, cloud storage, fax, ERP, SMS, and extra. It’s at all times difficult to take a look at name heart integrations earlier than shopping for seats, however I take into account it a wholesome signal when the corporate has a lot of pre-built integrations, SDKs, and/or API documentation.

Safety and privateness

Encryption, account administration, redundancy structure, knowledge heart audits, multi-factor authentication, and a number of servers and knowledge facilities in numerous areas had been all thought-about. VoIP cellphone programs are a favourite goal of hackers and name heart fraud is rampant — taking an in depth have a look at every vendor is essential as a result of threat of knowledge loss, identification theft, and ransomware assaults.

Demo or free trial

I examine whether or not the platform presents potential customers a reside demo or a free trial interval, permitting them to discover the software program’s capabilities firsthand earlier than committing.

Total value

It’s notoriously tough to estimate how a lot a VoIP cellphone system will value, so I spend a great deal of time evaluating the pricing construction, extra charges, non-obligatory add-ons, and any person and setup charges.