Resources
Managed Voice
Managed Voice is a fully managed business phone system: every extension, call menu, voicemail box, and phone number for your company. We configure, host, and keep it running, instead of you maintaining an in-house system yourself. It replaces a traditional on-premises phone system (a PBX — Private Branch Exchange, the equipment that routes calls inside a company — see Glossary) or a patchwork of consumer phone plans. One managed service covers everything from how calls are answered to how your team works from anywhere.
What’s included in Managed Voice?
Everything a business needs to run its phones day to day: automated call menus, ring groups and skills-based routing, voicemail, call transfer and parking, phone number and extension management, paging and intercom, and mobility tools. So your team can work from a desk phone, a laptop, or a mobile app interchangeably. Browse by category below.
How is this different from a basic VoIP phone line?
A basic VoIP (Voice over IP — making calls over the internet instead of copper phone lines — see Glossary) line just gets calls in and out. Managed Voice is the full system around those calls: how they’re greeted, routed, recorded, and handled when no one answers. It also includes ongoing management, so you’re never the one troubleshooting it.
Resources
Auto Attendant (IVR)
Business Hours vs. After-Hours Menus →
Automatically give callers a different menu during open hours vs. closed hours, based on your schedule.
Department-Based Call Routing →
Simply let callers reach the right department directly from your main menu, without being transferred around.
Dial-by-Extension →
Let callers who already know a colleague’s extension skip the menu entirely and dial straight through.
Dial-by-Name Directory →
Let callers find and reach a colleague by spelling their name on the keypad, no extension required.
Routing a Published Number Straight to a Menu →
Instead, point any DID directly at a specific menu, department, or greeting, bypassing your main switchboard.
Bilingual & Multi-Language Prompts →
Offer callers a choice of language at the start of your menu. Every prompt and voicemail behind it will match their selection.
Multi-Brand Greetings →
Run multiple company brands off one phone system, each with its own greeting, hours, and menu. Callers never know they share infrastructure.
Conditional & Time-of-Day Routing →
Route calls differently based on time of day, day of week, or caller information, beyond a simple open/closed toggle.
Holiday & Exception Schedules →
Simply set holiday closures and one-off exceptions once, in advance, without touching your regular weekly schedule.
AI Receptionist →
Here, a conversational AI answers calls 24/7 and routes or answers based on what a caller wants.
Menu Call Recording →
Specifically, record calls from the moment they enter your auto attendant, including menu selections, for review or compliance.
Escape to a Live Person →
Give callers a way to bypass your automated menu and reach a real person at any point, without getting stuck.
Multi-Level / Nested IVR Menus →
Build sub-menus beneath your main menu. Callers can then drill down to exactly the right destination in a couple of steps.
Resources
Ring Groups
Ring Strategies →
Choose how a group of phones rings when a call comes in. Ring all at once, in order, or spread evenly by who’s answered least.
Overflow & No-Answer Handling →
Define exactly what happens when nobody in a ring group answers in time. That way, callers never sit on an endless ring.
Ring Group Activity Reporting →
Instead, see exactly how many calls a ring group received, answered, and missed, without needing a full contact center setup.
Resources
Skills-Based Routing
Routing by Skill Set →
Instead, send a caller to the specific person with the right expertise, not just whoever happens to be free first.
Ring Count Before Reroute →
Simply set exactly how many rings a call gets before it’s automatically sent somewhere else, so nothing rings forever.
Queue Callback →
Instead, let a waiting caller request a callback rather than staying on hold. They keep their place in line.
Floating Agents & Virtual Extensions →
Assign people to a routing group based on their skills, not a fixed desk or physical line. That way, coverage flexes with your team.
Resources
Call Transfer & Parking
Blind (Cold) Transfer →
Send a call directly to someone else’s line in one step, without speaking to them first.
Attended (Warm) Transfer →
Brief the receiving person privately before connecting a caller, so the handoff is smooth and informed.
Call Parking & Retrieval →
Put a call on hold in a shared slot. Then anyone else in the office can pick it up from a different phone.
Call Waiting →
Meanwhile, get notified of a second incoming call while you’re already on a line, and choose how to handle it.
Resources
Extensions & Phone Numbers
Extension Management →
Simply add, remove, and reassign internal extensions in minutes, without needing a technician on site.
Direct Inward Dialing (DID) Numbers →
Give a person, department, or campaign its own direct phone number that rings straight into your system.
Outbound Caller ID (DOD) →
Instead, control exactly which number shows up on the recipient’s caller ID when your team calls out.
Number Porting →
Move your existing phone numbers over from your current provider, with the switch scheduled to avoid any gap in service.
Local & Toll-Free Numbers →
Get local numbers in the areas you serve and toll-free numbers for a national presence, all on the same system.
Emergency Calling (E911) →
Specifically, every 911 call automatically shares the correct office address with dispatchers, even across multiple locations.
E911 for Remote, Hot-Desk & Field Workers →
Keep emergency location accurate for people who aren’t sitting at one fixed office desk, wherever they’re actually calling from.
Call Tracking Numbers for Marketing →
Assign a unique tracking number to each marketing campaign or webpage and see exactly which one is generating calls.
Common-Area & Guest Phones →
Meanwhile, set up phones for lobbies, conference rooms, and other shared spaces that aren’t tied to any one specific employee.
Resources
Voicemail
Individual/Personal Voicemail →
Specifically, every employee gets a private voicemail box tied to their own extension, with a custom greeting and PIN protection.
Department & Shared Voicemail Boxes →
Give a whole team or department one shared voicemail box so no message depends on a single person being available.
Forwarding to a Backup Extension →
Automatically forward voicemail to a second or third extension. That way, an important message never depends on one person checking their phone.
Voicemail-to-Email →
Every voicemail can land straight in an employee’s email inbox as an audio file. So nothing depends on checking a desk phone.
AI Voicemail Transcription →
Every voicemail is automatically converted to readable text using AI speech-to-text, delivered alongside the audio.
Broadcast & Announcement Voicemail →
Instead, send one recorded message to an entire team’s voicemail boxes at once, rather than calling or emailing everyone individually.
“Press 0” Escape from Voicemail →
Let a caller skip out of voicemail and reach a live person instead. That way, an urgent call never gets stuck leaving a message.
Resources
Paging & Intercom
One-Way Paging →
Broadcast a live or recorded announcement to a phone, group of phones, or overhead speakers, with no reply expected.
Two-Way Intercom →
Open a live two-way conversation between phones instantly, without dialing a full call or waiting for someone to pick up.
Multicast & Zone Paging →
Broadcast one announcement simultaneously to many phones and speakers across specific zones of a building or site.
Scheduled Paging →
Set a recorded announcement to play automatically at set times, without anyone needing to trigger it live.
Door Phone & Intercom Device Integration →
Connect door buzzers, entry intercoms, and video door stations directly to your phone system. Then any extension can answer the door.
Resources
Mobility & Remote Work
Softphone Apps (Desktop, Mobile, Web) →
Turn any laptop, phone, or browser into a full office extension using a softphone app. It keeps the same number and features as a desk phone.
Call Flip →
Move a live call seamlessly from one device to another — desk phone to mobile, or mobile to laptop. It never drops.
Remote Access & Work-From-Anywhere →
Let employees securely use their office extension from home or anywhere else, without risky router configuration or a VPN.
Presence & Status Sync Across Devices →
Instead, see who’s available, busy, or away in real time, with status staying accurate across every device someone uses.
BYOD Support →
Let employees use their own personal phone or laptop for business calls. It never exposes your business number or mixes personal accounts.
Resources
Connectivity
Choosing How You Connect to the Network →
Here, understand the difference between SIP trunks, PSTN lines, and analog lines, and which one fits your business.
Connecting Analog Devices →
Keep using older analog equipment like fax machines and alarm panels alongside a modern phone system, using a small adapter.
International & Long-Distance Calling →
Simply make and receive international and long-distance calls at predictable rates, with controls to prevent unexpected charges.
Resources
Getting Started
Resources
More Managed Voice Features
Hot Desking & Shared Phones →
Let any employee log into any shared desk phone. It instantly becomes their own extension, with their own number and voicemail.
Visual Call Flow Designer →
Build and edit exactly how your calls are routed using a drag-and-drop visual builder, no technical expertise required.
Executive-Assistant Call Handling →
Let an assistant screen, answer, and manage calls on behalf of an executive, with full visibility into their line.
Busy Camp-On & Callback-on-Busy →
Automatically connect a caller to a busy extension the moment it frees up. So they never need to call back manually and try again.
Distinctive Ringtones & Caller-ID Matching →
Assign different ringtones to different types of calls. That way, employees know what they’re picking up before they even answer.
Call Accounting & Billing Codes →
Track and attribute call usage by client, project, or department using billing codes. Then report on it for cost control or client billing.
Fax-to-Email & Virtual Fax →
Send and receive faxes as email attachments, with no physical fax machine or dedicated analog line required.
Where does Managed Voice end and the other services begin?
Managed Voice covers your core phone system. Team chat, video meetings, and boardroom systems live under Team Collaboration & Unified Communications. Queues, agents, and customer-facing call center tools are covered by Managed Contact Center. And security, integrations, compliance, and the network your phones run on fall under Platform, Security & Integrations.