Item: Google Voice
Rating: 8
Author: Roberto Abreu

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use google voice personally when traveling abroad and have limited service or would not want to use data roaming fees I would route my calls to my Google Voice number. It is not used from an enterprise-level more of a personal choice. I find it very convenient since I am always traveling.

Pros and Cons

Easy user interface
Integrated very well across my Google products such as Gmail
Exceptional call forwarding

I would love to see Google Voice become an independent service provider. It only works well if there is a phone number attached from the major telecom companies. Since it is VOIP it should work with simple internet not reliant on mobile USA carriers.
Google Voice should be able to receive voice calls directly from the app as it once did using Hangouts. Now calls must get forwarded if I am traveling out of the country.

Return on Investment

The fact that Google Voice is integrated across all my devices is superb. I can easily access its services from multiple platforms. Its integration of calendar status is a great feature that routes calls when out of office or past working hours sending to voicemail or call forwarding. This impacts overall business objectives since most of employees are in meetings or away from desk and can easily pick things back up with ease.
The fact that you can call from other UC applications is great. The transcribe function is spot on and if you are away from your desk you can receive transcribed voice messages from your email. This helps you stay on beat with important missed calls.

Alternatives Considered

Skype for Business (formerly Lync) and now part of Microsoft Teams

I chose Google Voice for their seamless integration. Calls and text bundle and email alerts. While Skype had great quality calls a long time ago, I noticed their support team is horrible with many bugs and crashes. The call logs on Skype were not registering and sometimes it goes unresponsive running on the latest version of Windows. In all, Google Voice is much superior.

Key Insights

Do you think Google Voice delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Voice's feature set?

Yes

Did Google Voice live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Google Voice go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Google Voice again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Skype for Business (formerly Lync), now part of Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp Business, Discord

Likelihood to Recommend

I receive a lot of unsolicited calls and Google Voice has great functionality where I can screen who is calling me and decide if I would like to speak to that person. The texting of messages is superb, I like this functionality better than Voice functions. One of the scenarios that are less appropriate is that when a call is coming in and the auto-forward mode is one if I have Google Voice or Gmail open on my computer I can hear both functions ringing, the phone number used to auto-forward and the Google Voice on my browser.

Google Voice, The only VOIP you need

Overall Satisfaction with Google Voice