Cloud calling

Cloud calling: Communicate more effectively with your customers

Get a business phone that helps win more customers and keep your existing ones happy. Share visibility into customer conversations and collaborate effortlessly with your team. Plus, make free calls and texts to US and Canadian numbers with our desktop and mobile apps. 

Plans start at $15 per user per month.

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"Highest Satisfaction" business phone system (VoIP), rated by 3,200+ reviews G2

What is cloud calling?

Cloud calling is a method of making voice calls over the internet using a computer or a smartphone. With cloud calling, your team can share a virtual number to make calls from any device, as long as you have an internet connection. You don’t need physical desk phones, custom hardware, or special equipment. 

Modern cloud calling platforms like Quo offer more than just basic calls and texts. Your team gets access to business-friendly features like:

  • Automatic business call recording and AI call summaries and transcriptions
  • Third-party integrations, including with your CRM software and Slack
  • Collaboration features, like shared inboxes and internal threads
  • 24/7 AI voice agent to handle incoming calls after business hours

How does cloud calling work?

Cloud calling is powered by Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, technology. Cloud telephony systems use a VoIP server to send and receive calls over the internet. Here’s how it works:

  1. You (or a team member) place a voice call through your VoIP mobile app, computer, or VoIP desk phone.
  2. Your VoIP service converts your voice into digital data.
  3. Your internet provider sends your data through your Wi-Fi router to VoIP servers.
  4. The call reaches the VoIP server, which then routes it to a customer.
  5. Your call ultimately reaches the customer, who only hears your voice on the other end of the line.

Benefits of cloud calling for businesses

See why every modern business should get a cloud-based phone system.

Built for remote teams

The biggest benefit of cloud calling services is your team can talk to customers anywhere, as long as they’re connected to WiFi or mobile internet. Team members can take calls at home, on the go, or in the office. It offers flexibility and mobility for teams, which means you don’t have to rely on desk phones in a traditional office setting.

More cost-effective than desk phones

Cloud calling solutions help you save thousands of dollars every month. Traditional on-premises PBX systems require you to install custom equipment and purchase a desk phone for every member of your team. 

VoIP phones don’t require any additional hardware to get started. Your team can use their existing devices, both computers and smartphones, and install your preferred VoIP provider’s apps. Once they log in to your team’s workspace, they can start talking to your customers. 

Designed for reliability and scalability

Cloud phone systems offer high levels of uptime and performance to teams. They also comply with global data security standards to ensure your customer data is always protected. For example, Quo is GDPR- and SOC 2-compliant. We also offer HIPAA compliance with a Business Associate Agreement to teams that sign up for our Business and Scale plans. 

Speaking of scale, virtual phone systems are built to scale with your growth. If you’re looking to expand into a new market, you can easily get started by getting a local virtual number. That’s how Christopher Sands, CEO of law firm Hannon De Palma, was able to expand to New Jersey and Massachusetts in minutes. 

“How Quo helps us with that is we can just add a new phone number with that area code. We’re literally up and running tomorrow,” says Chris. 

See how Chris is using Quo to scale his client relationships automatically.

Work together as a team

Cloud phones act as shared communication platforms for your team. All your customer interactions are brought together in one place. 

With shared numbers, your team can split responsibility for incoming calls and texts. Shared inboxes gives your team visibility into your ongoing customer conversations. And with collaboration tools like internal threads, you can assign follow-up tasks to colleagues in real time.

Increase your team’s productivity

Cloud phone platforms help your teams get more done in less time. Business call recording enables your team to record their calls. AI-powered call transcripts let your team automatically take notes so that no detail slips through the cracks. Plus, with third-party integrations, you can sync your calls and texts with your cloud CRM platform.

Deliver a better customer experience

Teams can communicate with customers more efficiently with cloud phone systems. They can cut down on missed calls and continue conversations without missing a beat. Customers get a more personalized experience without waiting for callbacks or missed follow-ups. 

How to set up cloud calling in Quo

  1. Create a Quo account and try out Quo for free for seven days.
  2. Launch the Quo web, desktop, or mobile app.
  3. Import your contacts and invite your teammates to your account.

That’s it! Start calling your contacts right away.

▶ Getting started with Quo in under 3 minutes

A phone call is displayed on a screen.A conversation between two people on a messaging app.

Move faster with Quo

Provide a superior customer experience with our cloud communications solution.

Call and text with local and toll-free numbers

Get local numbers with specific area codes to build trust with customers. Offer free nationwide calling with a North American toll-free number.

Split responsibility for incoming calls

Handle incoming calls as a team with shared numbers. Control exactly how calls reach your team — simultaneously or in groups — with ring order.

Get a clear view of your conversations

See exactly what customers shared with your team. Calls, texts, recordings, summaries, and internal discussions are logged in real time. No more asking, “Did we respond to that customer?”

Troubleshoot call quality in real time

Understand and troubleshoot audio quality issues quickly during active calls. No more guessing why a call sounds choppy or delayed.

All the phone features your business needs

Port your existing numbers for free

No stress with free number porting to Quo

AI call summaries and transcripts

Capture every customer detail right after a call ends

Business caller ID

Let customers know when you’re calling with an outgoing caller ID

SMS and MMS messaging

Keep customer conversations going over text

Visual call flow builder

Drag and drop call flow steps — no technical expertise required

Third-party integrations

Share your call and message logs where you need them

Why thousands of teams love Quo

See why thousands of small businesses manage all their customer relationships on Quo.

Call management made easy

Set up cloud calling workflows that meet your team’s preferences. Use our drag-and-drop call flow builder — no technical expertise required. 

Choose how you want to receive calls with ring order. You can ring your team simultaneously or in custom ring groups. Give your customers self-serve paths to reach your team with phone menus. They can use specific keypad options or interactive voice response, or cloud IVR, to connect with your colleagues. Transfer callers to your colleagues with warm call transfers or bring them into your call with group calling. 

Set up backup call routing options when your team is busy or unavailable. Direct callers to Sona, our 24/7 AI answering service, a backup call forwarding number, or voicemail. 

Handle incoming calls 24/7 with Sona

Never miss a call or a lead with Sona. Answers calls 24/7 with our AI voice agent. Sona can answer questions, take messages, and send texts or transfer calls to your team as needed. 

Train Sona on your company information. Share your business documents as PDFs or provide your website URL. Sona can scrape your website and identify important information it needs to know. You can also instruct Sona to handle specific scenarios, like lead qualification or booking an appointment. 

Have a multilingual customer base? Sona can speak Spanish and French! We’re also adding more languages based on customer feedback.  

Text smarter with advanced messaging features

Build your customer relationships over text with Quo’s SMS and MMS messaging features. 

Reply to customers automatically after business hours. Set clear expectations about when they’ll hear back with SMS auto-replies. Schedule texts based on your customers’ time zones. They can view texts at a time that’s convenient for them. Save common customer support responses with text templates, or snippets. 

Create text automations to send the right text at the right time to your customers. With tools like Zapier and Make, you can connect your Quo workspace with your tech stack. When a customer submits a website inquiry or books a consultation, you can immediately send a confirmation text. 

Improve team performance with insights and analytics

Manage your team effectively with Quo. See how your team is performing in real time with call views. Track historical performance by team member in our analytics dashboard. 

Filter your call history based on custom date ranges. Look at our heatmaps to see when you receive the most calls. Understand whether you need to adjust your resources based on time of day. You can also export your data if you want Claude or ChatGPT to analyze it for you. 

With AI call tags, you can surface recurring issues and opportunities across your calls. Create custom labels to track what matters to your business, like “sales proposals” or “negative feedback.” Our call tags use AI to analyze your calls and label them based on what was discussed. 

Call and text from anywhere in the world

Talk to your customers wherever you go with Quo. No need to outsource your customer calls to a third-party call center. 

You can use Quo on Mac and Windows desktops and iOS and Android phones. Or you can log into your Quo account in your browser. You don’t have to wait beside a desk phone to talk to your customers. 

Get started with Quo today. Try Quo for free with our seven-day trial.

"Quo is by far the best business phone solution I've used. Besides the simple UI, it seamlessly integrates with other tools that my business uses (Zapier, HubSpot, etc.) and lets the entire team have visibility into conversations with contacts. Definitely recommend!”

Meghna Saraf

Growth Marketing Manager, Motion
​​No hidden fees

Find out how much you’re investing in your business phone solution upfront on our pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Can’t find the answer here? Check out our Support Center.

Can I use my existing number for cloud calling?

Yes, you can use your existing phone number to make cloud calls. Simply move your number from your existing provider to a cloud service provider like Quo to start cloud calling.

Is a cloud phone cheaper than a landline?

Cloud services are cheaper than landline systems. Landlines are connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN. They require on-site private branch exchange, or PBX, hardware to be connected. Teams are usually charged per call when they use traditional phone lines in the PSTN network. They might also be subject to hefty fees for long-distance and international calls. 

On the other hand, VoIP technology powers cloud phones, so they don’t require any special equipment. Teams can use their existing devices to make VoIP calls. They can usually make unlimited calls to US and Canadian numbers, offering teams better cost efficiency. 

Dive deeper into the VoIP vs PBX cost comparison for your business phone system.

What’s the difference between VoIP and cloud calling?

VoIP refers to Voice over Internet Protocol. It’s the underlying technology that powers cloud telephony services like Quo. 

What’s the best cloud phone system?

The best cloud phone system is one that meets your business needs.  The cloud phone market has plenty of options available, including providers like Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams. 

Although we’re biased, we strongly believe that the best cloud phone system for small businesses is Quo. 

With Quo, you get unlimited calls and texts to US and Canadian phone numbers. You get access to shared local and toll-free numbers so that you can split responsibility for incoming calls and texts. You also get access to collaboration, call routing, and AI-powered features to help your team stay productive and efficient. The best part is all these features are available for teams without breaking the bank. 

Get started today for free with our seven-day trial.

How much does cloud calling cost?

VoIP providers like Quo provide unlimited cloud calling to US and Canadian phone numbers for a monthly per-user cost. For international calls, VoIP providers offer affordable call and text rates. See our international rate sheet for more details.

Is cloud calling reliable for business communications?

If you’re a modern business that wants to increase your call volume at scale, you should consider getting a cloud phone system. Cloud calling systems can handle simultaneous calls without affecting your call quality.