One missed phone call to your small business could result in untold last revenue. For this reason, it is crucial to have a reliable phone system that can log calls, record voicemails, and direct callers to the right team members.
Since it is not 1985 and you do not have to sit by a desk to manage calls anymore, come, let’s review digital solutions that work with any high-speed Internet connection.
Ringcentral and Grasshopper dominate the industry. But Ooma and Google Voice Business for Workplace are also options that excel in their own ways. If you are looking to decide between these two platforms, use this side-by-side comparison guide to select the option that works best for you.
Both Ooma Office and Google Voice price out at about $300/year per user or $25/month per user. Since pricing-wise, they are comparable will look at the other factors to consider when making a decision. This article will highlight the main differentiators, dealbreakers, who comes out ahead with certain features, and what you get for your money.
The goal is to have a phone system that can serve sales leads, staff, customers, and vendors even when key team members are unavailable.
Even though they do have some common features, the main differentiators will make one stand out as best for your company based on the must-haves and designate the other as a no-go based on the dealbreakers.
It is worth noting that regardless of which company you choose, having someone strategically set up your auto attendants and phone tree is critical to not losing customers. You could still lose sales if your phone system set-up is clunky. Too many automated voice prompts or extensions to dial before getting to a human can leave callers to hang up before they ever get to hear the best you have to offer.
If you need help setting up your phone system and lead management tree as part of your overall customer relations management process, self-schedule a consultation
MAIN DIFFERENTIATORS
OOMA BEST FEATURE
Record and upload your own automated auto-attendant greetings using your own uploadable customized audio files. Text-to-speech robots sound amateur and unprofessional for businesses wanting a relatable and professional customer interface. Even though it’s an option with Ooma, it’s, unfortunately, the only option for Google voice menus.
OOMA WORST FEATURE
The desktop app uses a lot of Internet bandwidth. Tying up Internet resources can interfere with your ability to use other audio or video streaming services as well as other robust Internet-dependent programs and apps. The Internet drain affects call quality, and many calls are inaudible.
GOOGLE VOICE BEST FEATURE
The web-based interface is clean, user-friendly and allows you to add callers to your Google contacts for easy caller recognition.
GOOGLE VOICE WORST FEATURE
Text to speech only – You can not record your auto-attendant greetings using your own recordings. You customizable text. Note this becomes especially problematic when your greetings require ethnic names and complicated names, no workarounds since it is automated text to speech.
Differentiators and Deal-breakers
| Feature | Ooma Office | Google Voice for Business by Workplace |
| Voice greetings | Record and upload your own automated auto-attendant greetings using your own uploadable customized audio files. | Automated voice to text. It mispronounces some words, and there is no workaround. |
| Call Quality | Out of 20 calls, half will report call quality issues. Both parties will have trouble hearing what is said. | Out of 20 calls, 1-2 may have quality issues that only get resolved by hanging up and calling back. |
| Bandwidth | Uses a lot of bandwidth to operate. Slows down everything else. | If your Internet connection is solid, calls don’t interrupt your internet capacity. |
| Interface | Ooma Office App is glitchy as sometimes the app goes into spinning wheel hell.The ringer is too low, and the volume can’t be adjusted higher. If you are using the audio for other things that volume will muffle the low Ooma ring tone and you may miss a call coming through unless you notice the push notification. | Google BrowserThe interface is clear and easy to use. Rings show up in the browser, your email, and ring loud enough to be heard. |
| Call log history | Ooma’s paginated call logs force you to click many numbered pages to find or get to a certain point in your call history. | Scrolling down the call log is an easy way to scan the history without clicking through multiple pages |
| Incoming call notifications | Ring (low ring volume is not adjustable)
Popup push notification |
Google volume matches computer sound level setting
Browser tab phone icon
Popup in tab and in Gmail |
| Call Recording | You can press to record each call on the virtual keypad dialer.
You can opt to automatically record all calls |
You can press to record each call on the virtual keypad dialer. |
| Easy contact adding | Ooma does not have a way to change the caller ID name to note the contact calling you. | Google voice allows you to press the three-dot feature at the top of your center panel and add a caller to your Google contact with a customized name you choose. After that calls will show up in your caller ID as you designated it. |
Major missed features for both
| Call log notes | Neither interface allows you to add any customized text with each call or voicemail in your call log. No call log notes is a significant oversight, especially for busy companies where you may want to put a custom message beside the calls in your log to remind you of the conversation and the status. |
| Seen/Unseen logging | Neither interface allows you to mark calls/voicemails as new/unseen. If you click it once and come back to the log it’s difficult to know which items were actually addressed versus those that were click but not attended to. |
OOMA VS Google Voice by Workplace Side by Side Feature Comparison
What’s Comparable
| 24.95/user/monthMulti-level auto-attendant
Call hold, mute, transfer to staff or any number Music on hold Call logs Voicemail transcription Web browser-based Downloadable history
|
|
| Phone Support | Given the complexities and nuance, it’s excellent both have humans you can speak to along with web search support resources. |
| Call handling | Place calls on mute or on hold with or without musicTransfer calls to an internal number or any external number
On-screen/soft keypad dialer
|
| Operationally | 1. A call comes in2. The call is received by a human or your auto-attendant/virtual assistant
3. Incoming calls get routed to the destination of your choice either another automated greeting with prompts, voicemail, or extension.
|
| Voicemail | Click to-play voicemail with transcription to read and hear messages. |
| Search | Search by name, phone number or keyword |
| Archives | Archive calls or voicemails in the history |
| General | Ring groups, call forwarding, US calls, |
Again, beyond the tech, having the right setup and lead management plan is critical to getting new sales. Get help setting up your phone system’s lead management tree as part of your overall customer relations management process, self-schedule a consultation.
