If you are reading this, you have probably started questioning your choice of using Google Voice to manage business calls. The telephony service from Google is great at handling and organizing your multiple devices. But does it fulfil the use cases of your business or your call center?

From building a team to expanding overseas, there are multiple instances where the tools you use could be your biggest and most frustrating limitation. Hence, it’s really important to identify the several business scenarios that cannot be covered by Google Voice before you decide to stick to it, or move away. Here are some of the most crucial ones:

1. Managing a phone team

Google Voice is good for syncing your multiple devices. But if you are a growing business, you are definitely going to have multiple teams or team members using your business number(s) to make or receive calls, on other laptops or phones. Google Voice is not equipped to create this ecosystem where multiple people can work together as a team to handle all calls, incoming or outgoing. On the other hand, call center software that are built for business can help you create and manage phone teams that can answer calls from their own devices.

2. Handling multiple calls at a time

Businesses need a set-up to handle large volumes of inbound and outbound calls. Google Voice only gives you the option to send other callers to voicemail when you are busy on a call. Using a business phone system, you can route calls to other members of your team who are available to talk to your customers. They are highly programmable to handle multiple scenarios too.

3. Helping callers get quicker resolutions

Not every business can hire assistants. Even if you can, your assistants would like to spend their time doing much more productive activities than patching calls to different departments. This is exactly why virtual assistants and IVR systems are integral parts of any phone system that’s truly built for business. They can be programmed with welcome messages, and menu options that callers can choose from, using their keypad. First, these functionalities help your callers reach the right person faster, without getting transferred from one person to the other. Second, they enable you to manage and compartmentalize the volume of phone calls that reach your team members.

4. Monitoring your operations

Operations management needs real-time information about what is going on in your organization. Virtual phone systems like Freshcaller, a Google Voice alternative, offer real-time or live dashboards that allow you or your supervisors to monitor what is going on in your call center. This means, to run your call center smoothly, your team needn’t even sit in the same office. You can always keep track of your agents and callers through your software. However, this is not possible on Google Voice.

5. Expanding your business

Business expansion across geographies is crucial to any business that wants to scale up to the next level. Google Voice works as long as your expansion plans stay within the national boundaries of the United States – you only get to sign up for US numbers. Businesses with a global or potential global audience should be able to sign up for numbers from all or most of the geographies they are present in. This is key to providing a local experience when your customers try to get in touch with you or vice versa.

So, if you have any of these scenarios in your business roadmap, you should consider better alternatives to Google Voice. If not, dig a little bit deeper to identify your exact use cases and find out if Google Voice is the phone system your business really needs at this point, and more importantly, in the future.