Hosted business phone system: Essential guide for growing businesses

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Your team is growing and your customer base is expanding. But can your phone system scale with you? Hosted phone systems are built for ambitious teams that want to have better conversations, move faster, and scale smarter.

This software goes beyond the basics to offer powerful features, productivity-boosting AI tools, and time-saving integrations. Most importantly, these platforms adapt to your business, and not the other way around.

Let’s explore the key benefits of hosted business phone systems and provide tips for implementation and setup that will help turn your communications platform into a growth engine.

Why growing businesses need a modern hosted phone system: Key benefits

What sets hosted business phone systems apart from traditional phone systems? It comes down to flexibility, speed, and smarter tools built for modern business. Let’s break down some of the key benefits.

Improve professionalism and the customer experience

While traditional phone systems come with limited features, a hosted phone system lets you set up custom greetings, automatically routes calls to the right person or team, and seamlessly guides customers using interactive voice response (IVR). This means every caller gets a smooth, consistent experience that reflects the professionalism of your brand, whether you’re a team of three, 30, or 300.

Increase productivity and responsiveness

When your tools talk to each other, your team works better. Hosted phone systems connect with your collaboration platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams so updates, voicemails, and call data flow where your team already spends their time. 

And integrations with CRM and helpdesk software mean less time transferring information between platforms, increased productivity, and quicker responses for your customers and prospects.

Scale with your team

Adding new team members, expanding into new regions, or scaling up for your busy season? A hosted phone system makes it easy to bring new people on board fast. You can add new users and assign numbers instantly, plus manage teams across locations without having to set up additional on-site hardware and infrastructure. 

Leverage new technologies

In addition to time-saving features and integrations, a hosted business phone system gives you access to cutting-edge features and technology. These include smart coaching to improve agent performance, AI agents that answer common inquiries and enable you to offer 24/7 service, and automated call summaries with action items and conversation trends. 

From advanced call insights to round-the-clock AI agents, the latest tech is right at your fingertips with Aircall. Sign up for a free 7-day trial. 

Hosted business phone system implementation tips for seamless setup and onboarding

From setup to onboarding, our top six tips will help you make the most of your business phone system and avoid common pitfalls.

1. Find a tool that offers robust implementation support

A hosted phone system is only as good as the support team behind it. So, look for a platform with best-in-class customer service and a proven onboarding process. 

When choosing a tool, ensure the support team offers guided VoIP installation to help you set the platform up efficiently and make the most of all its features. 

Aircall, for example, offers 24/7 global support to answer questions, troubleshoot issues, and make sure your system is always running smoothly. As one G2 reviewer puts it, “Customer support, in my experience, has been excellent; they are very quick to respond and usually resolve issues quickly.”

“When choosing a phone system, I think reliability and customer support are huge factors. If I’m busy, I can’t afford downtime or being stuck on hold with support.”

—Danilo Coviello, Founder of Espresso Translations

2. Set up numbers and users

Whether you’re starting from scratch or moving over from another cloud business phone system, the next step is creating or porting numbers and designating admins and users. 

Start by assigning local, toll-free, and international numbers. Then, create user profiles with specific permissions and roles. Assign admin permissions to managers, who have deeper access to your phone system and its analytics, and create unique users for your agents and representatives answering and making calls. 

Pro tip: Set up a shared call inbox for your customer-facing team. This enables agents to work together to respond to and follow up on calls and creates shared visibility and responsibility. 

3. Configure call routing, IVR, and business hours

Setting up call routing and your IVR system will help ensure callers are directed to the right agent as quickly as possible. Configure time and date-based routing that aligns with your business hours so you can provide continuous service. And when setting your business hours, be sure to update availability to reflect holidays or seasonal changes.  

When setting up IVR, classify callers by their needs so they’re automatically routed to the right agent. For smooth IVR implementation, look for a phone system like Aircall with a drag-and-drop interface that enables you to easily map out the most intuitive call flows for your customers. 

Customize your IVR call flows depending on your team’s hours and schedules with Aircall. 

Pro tip: Save your team time by adding a tool like Aircall’s AI Voice Agent to your call flows. This feature automatically responds to frequently asked questions, answers calls outside of normal operating hours, and collects caller details for improved follow up. 

4. Integrate with your existing tech stack

To maximize efficiency, your phone system needs to work with the other tools your team uses every day. So make it a priority to connect your phone system with your most essential tools, such as your CRM and helpdesk software. 

Integrations make it easier for your team to respond quickly and track customer history for an improved customer experience. They’re also an important tool for saving time and boosting productivity, as they enable agents to access customer information and record conversation details without having to switch between multiple platforms.

Aircall connects with 100+ popular business tools, from CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce to helpdesks like Intercom and Zendesk. Check out our integrations. 

“The HubSpot integration was our major priority. Once we realised just how easy that was to set up—and to use the platform itself—we were able to start using Aircall almost immediately.”

—Bernat Farrero, Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Factorial

5. Test your system for potential bugs

Unexpected issues can arise with even the most well-planned implementation process. So once your phone system is set up, review call routing, IVR menu, and integrations to ensure everything is functioning properly. 

It’s easy to miss details, like an IVR menu item that leads to nowhere, or incomplete data transfer from your phone system to your CRM, but those small issues can snowball into serious problems if they’re not taken care of. 

A thorough test will help you identify any bugs, like misdirected calls or faulty integrations, so you can fix them early and avoid customer frustration and lost productivity. This may all sound overwhelming, but when you sign on with Aircall, your onboarding specialist will help you run all the tests you need to get your system up and running smoothly. 

6. Roll out and train your team

Depending on the size of your organization, you may want to roll out your new phone system with one department or location and expand as your team becomes comfortable with it. An incremental rollout can help you generate better employee advocacy and ensure agents and managers make the most of the system. 

You should also prioritize training and troubleshooting as you roll out your system. Be sure to offer various levels of training and support depending on each employee’s needs; some will get the hang of the system quickly, while others will need more structured onboarding and training.  

When you choose Aircall, for example, you get a designated onboarding team to assist with porting over numbers, setting up integrations, and providing support to your team, which makes the process

“Onboarding was simple, smooth, and straightforward. Frankly, I have a lot of customer service experience and I've worked with a lot of telephony providers, and what I would say about the onboarding process at Aircall was there were no hiccups.”

—Andrew Katz, General Manager of Operations at CloudTrucks

Get all the benefits of hosted business phone systems without any of the headaches with Aircall

Switching to the right hosted phone provider for your business presents an opportunity to increase your team’s productivity, improve internal collaboration, enhance the customer experience, and close more sales. But whether you’ll enjoy these benefits depends on the success of your onboarding and implementation process.

That’s why it’s so important to choose a service provider like Aircall that’s easy to set up, offers dedicated onboarding, has an intuitive interface, and provides quick and reliable support. 

Join thousands of satisfied customers who rave about the simplicity and effectiveness of Aircall. As one user puts it, “Aircall is a feature-rich VoIP call center solution with seamless onboarding, a simple billing model, and easy phone number porting from existing systems. It also provides dedicated account managers, ensuring smooth setup and ongoing support.”

Make the switch to Aircall today to discover an integrated customer communications and intelligence platform that will rapidly transform your team's sales and customer support operations.   

See how Aircall can help your growing sales and customer support teams have better conversations. Sign up for a free 7-day trial.

Frequently asked questions about hosted business phone systems

What is a hosted phone system?

A hosted phone solution, or a hosted PBX system, is a cloud phone system that uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology rather than on-premise hardware. These systems are managed by third-party providers, meaning businesses don’t have to worry about maintaining complex hardware and infrastructure.

Hosted phone systems like Aircall typically come with features like IVR and smart call routing, call queuing, call forwarding, call recording, video conferencing, voicemail transcription, call whispering and other coaching features, AI tools, and integrations with business software.

How much does hosted VoIP cost?

The cost of a hosted VoIP phone system will vary based on the provider, the features included, and the number of users. Generally, hosted VoIP services range from $10 to $50 per user per month. 

Most virtual phone system providers offer customizable pricing based on the number of licenses and level of support you need. Additionally, you can usually add on additional features for an extra fee, like advanced analytics or AI capabilities. 

What is the best phone system for a small business?

The best phone system for a small business depends on the specific needs of the organization, but a hosted VoIP system is typically the most cost-effective and scalable solution. 

For small businesses looking for flexibility, ease of use, and advanced features, Aircall’s phone system is a popular choice. It offers robust call management features, seamless integrations with popular CRM and helpdesk tools, and a user-friendly interface. 

Additionally, Aircall's 24/7 customer support ensures that small business owners can get the help they need exactly when they need it.

What is the difference between VoIP and hosted business phone systems?

The terms VoIP and hosted phone system are closely related but refer to different aspects of a business phone solution. VoIP is the technology that enables phone calls via an internet connection rather than through an analog phone line.

A hosted phone system, on the other hand, is a platform that uses VoIP technology to enable calling and is hosted and managed by a third-party provider.

Published on June 16, 2025.