The new NextivaONE business phone system seems like it’s much more than another business phone system. And Nextiva says it’s definitely not just another CRM platform.
It absolutely is a phone system, however. And it does perform as a CRM. But it also works as a team collaboration app with features that just about any small business team would find meets or exceeds its needs.
As Nextiva releases this new solution for small businesses, it says NextivaONE really will cut down on the number of separate apps your company uses to get its work done, specifically with communications.
“From the beginning, Nextiva’s vision has been to power human connections,” Tomas Gorny, the founder and CEO of Nextiva, says on the new product release. “With our latest innovation, we’re helping businesses transform with meaningful conversations that build strong and lasting relationships with customers. Our goal is to help our customers have great conversations, effortlessly.”
NextivaONE Business Phone System Debuts
NextivaONE looks like much more than just another business phone solution or another collaboration app.
Small Business Trends spoke with one of the designers of NextivaONE just before it launched. Ray Harker, the Senior Managing Director for Product Design at Nextiva, says, “It became especially evident during the COVID era that people were working at home. And they had a lot of applications to deal with.
“The problem straight out of the gate they were are trying to solve has to do with bringing external communication together. And the number of applications that people need to navigate through. They were looking for one application to do it all.”
So, NextivaONE addressed that relatively new need for businesses by bringing together its phone system with a team collaboration solution.
But it’s not simply bridging those two functions. It’s making them smarter with enhanced features. Here’s how it handles interactions with your customers:
- Threaded conversations: When a customer calls your business for the first time, one of your company’s representatives essentially starts the forever conversation with that person. Notes from the conversation are saved for the next time they contact you. NextivaONE will even let you gauge the sentiment of that customer and set their communication preferences for the future, be it a call, a text message, or email.
- Team management and call routing: If a customer needs the help of a specific team member, NextivaONE allows those previous conversations (and any notes your team has already collected on a customer) get moved to the person who’ll help them best.
- Tagged conversations: If your company starts getting calls about a product issue or even just to tell you how much they enjoy a product or service you’re offering, NextivaONE allows you to tag and organize those conversations.
- Customer surveys: Get feedback from your customers using a survey tool built into NextivaONE. Typically, you’d have to rely on a separate, third-party app to do that and then spend the time and money integrating the data you collect into another app.
NextivaONE doesn’t abandon the functions you come to expect from a business phone system either. It’s not just a traditional phone system though. It offers things like:
- Unlimited calling
- Call routing
- Local and toll-free numbers
- Advanced voicemail
- SMS/MMS
NextivaONE as a Team Collaboration App
All those functions of a business phone are ideal for just about any small business. But typically a phone system works independently of your team members. NextivaONE basically ties in your work and team members to the phone system. That turns it into a centralized communication center, really, for your small business.
And it’s got all the data you’ve collected on your customers and their interactions with your business right there in front of you.
Here’s a look at some of the features of NextivaONE that you’re probably already using for your business, but relying on at least one more app to do it. These happen right in the NextivaONE system:
- Voice/video conferencing
- Screen sharing
- Instant messaging
- File sharing
Integrations for NextivaONE
Right off the bat, NextivaONE integrates with the communication apps you probably use most already, like Gmail and Outlook, places you currently store contacts. That could be the biggest hurdle to integrating a new phone or messaging system at your business.
Harker tells Small Business Trends that more integrations are planned with NextivaONE in the future, too.
Big Differences
There are some big differences that separate this product from the pack. Harker points out one big one that helps small business.
“Here’s an example. The files area is a little special,” he says. “ Any communication either inbound or outbound is captured in a central repository.”
Even video meetings that take place wind up in this central location. The information gets categorized and put into certain files so it’s easy to find and use. You can pull up one of these files in a team or one-on-one meeting.
Pricing and Availability of NextivaONE
NextivaONE is now the standard product the company is offering new customers. Pricing tiers are based on how much your business would use it.
The Essential plan starts at $18.95 a month per user and includes:
- Unlimited VOIP calling
- Unlimited internet fax
- Free local and toll-free numbers
- Full-time customer support
At the Professional tier, the $22.95 a month per user includes everything from the Essential plan but also includes enhanced customer communications and team collaboration. Businesses also get:
- Unlimited audio and video meetings
- Business text messaging
- Team collaboration tools
The top level for NextivaONE, the Enterprise solution, starts at $32.95 and adds in features like:
- Call recording
- Voice analytics
- Conference recording
- Microsoft and Salesforce integrations
Image: Nextiva
This article, “The New NextivaONE Brings Together Your Business Phone and Team Collaboration” was first published on Small Business Trends