Most entrepreneurs and small business owners will agree: one of the biggest challenges they face is the one of mobility. The advanced technology of smart phones helps with this matter as business owners can now receive e-mail on their phone and deal with them accordingly.

But what about true freedom? True mobility. What happens with the direct calls that the receptionist or assistant answers, or the faxes, or the direct calls that go to voicemail?

The first paragraph mentioned how the smart phone’s technology has helped with mobility. Given the technological advances in the past few years, companies can now manage virtually any application digitally and inexpensively. By taking advantage of inexpensive technologies, small business can now project a Fortune 500 image while allowing mobility and, often, reducing expenses.

The solution works rather cleverly. Your clients call or fax a computer, which translates the data into a digital format and essentially redirects the call or data to any mobile phone, hard-line phone, voicemail, or e-mail inbox (you pick which one). This simplistic description truly affords you the opportunity to work from any corner of the globe using your existing web-enabled smart phone or computer!

The market leader in this segment and the company we recommend is RingCentral. This single company alone can propel a small business’s image to the big time. And since image is so important these days with company failures and consumer apprehension about dealing with new “players,” image must take precedent when setting up your back-end. At any rate, through RingCentral you can project a better image through the following:

Toll Free Number. While this feature is more important for companies whose reach crosses area codes (e.g. consultants, sales & support businesses, etc.), a toll-free number immediately gives the impression of a “large” company. Toll-Free numbers can be arranged through RingCentral, including vanity numbers at a marginally higher cost.

Virtual Receptions, on-hold “music”, and voicemail. When you call a large corporation, you will hear some fancy music while you wait for your call to get redirected to your intended party. This fancy feature is a standard with RingCentral, just as is the virtual receptionist who will ask your callers to say a name or enter an extension. As an added bonus, you can also set up voicemail boxes where messages will get forwarded to you via e-mail.

Call Queues. If you are on the phone and don’t want to lose your next client, they can go into a call queue rather than find your voicemail. Since you sell your product or service best, you want to make sure you don’t miss another prospect call. Again, this is a Free feature.

Internet Fax. Send and receive faxes online or by e-mail. This feature alone allows a tremendous amount of freedom from the office, and it also eliminates courier costs. Another Free feature.

The feature list has a surreal quality in that items you might expect to be “optional” are actually standard. Still, there is one disappointment with RingCentral. Their DigitalLine VoIP function is optional when they offer so much else for free… what gives? In reality, however, this option has little importance to most small business owners. And, for subscribers who absolutely need VoIP capabilities, the extra $7.99 is more than justified.

Whether you choose RingCentral or another provider, the key motivators for using such a service include mobility for you and your employees, true cost-effectivness, and instant image enhancement (your customers won’t know whether you work out of your basement or out of the 40th floor of a Wall Street Tower. Most plans cost roughly $30/month with RingCentral’s most popular plan (which includes a lot more standard features than their competitors) starts at $24.99 per month with a Free Trial period.