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Google Voice Launches, Perfect for Small Businesses

Google stepped up its attack on the telecommunications industry on Thursday with a free service called Google Voice that, if successful, could chip away at the revenue of companies big and small, like eBay, which owns Skype, telephone companies and a string of technology start-up firms.

Google Voice is an expanded version of a service previously known as GrandCentral, a start-up that Google acquired 20 months ago. It is intended to simplify the way people handle phone calls, voice mail and text messages. The service will initially be made available only to existing GrandCentral subscribers; Google says the general public will be able to use it in the coming weeks.

Google Voice allows users to route all their calls through a single number that can ring their home, work and mobile phones simultaneously. It also gives users a single and easy-to-manage voice mail system for multiple phone lines. And it lets users make calls, routed via the Internet, free in the United States and for a small fee internationally.”

From the New York Times (sub reqd, content free only a short while). There’s also interesting commentary from Learn Online (which links to demos) and John Batelle at his Searchblog.

While most commentators focus on the Fortune 500 aspect (who will Google drive out of business next?), the most powerful story about Google Voice (formerly Grand Central) is what it offers small businesses and consultants. They no longer will need a dedicated business line. They can use Google Voice to screen calls, route calls, and handle all the telephone-related tasks currently handled on a one-off basis. For businesses that don’t need a PBX to traffic calls to multiple numbers, Google Voice will be a very useful tool.

I’ve been lucky to use Grand Central for years and it makes a huge difference to have a universal, follow me everywhere, phone number. It even one day got me out of cleaning my teen age daughter’s locker at middle school when a client called just as I was about to start helping her clean out her papers and books. Sadly for her, I had to take the call.

When Google Voice is available to the public in the next few weeks, I highly recommend you look at signing up. The only problem I’ve seen in converting from Grand Central to Google Voice is that my Grand Central inbox disappeared and with it my contacts. For me, I simply have to recreate my contacts. For others, that might be a big deal.

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