Hosted VoIP provider 8x8 (News - Alert) reports that, despite the downturn in the economy, it added a record number of new subscribers to its Virtual Office hosted VoIP phone service in the first quarter of 2009 -- approximately 15 percent more than the previous quarter.


In a release, the company attributes this boost in subscribership to the fact that there’s a “crop of new business start-ups” out there “whose entrepreneurial founders had perhaps suddenly found themselves unemployed and ready to take destiny into their own hands.” These upstarts, as well as established small businesses, are adopting hosted VoIP in order to reduce communications costs and gain new features and functionality to improve business operations.

“With 8x8’s Virtual Office business phone service, a company can self install a full featured, business class phone system within minutes for a fraction of the cost of traditional, landline alternatives,” said 8x8 CEO Bryan Martin (News - Alert) in the release. “And, if you can't wait for an overnight shipment of our Internet Protocol phones, you can simply visit your local Office Depot store and purchase one or more of them right off the shelf.”
 

Entrepreneur and investor Jase Garner, owner of the recently opened Just4Him Men's Haircut Lounge franchise in Missouri City, Texas, said he chose 8x8's Virtual Office service because it was both “necessary and affordable.”

“I could never have afforded all these bells and whistles if you told me five years ago this was what I had to have,” Garner, a former crop duster, said in the release.

Those “bells and whistles” include an auto attendant feature that greets clients when they call the salon and transfers them to the stylist of their choice with a single push of a button.

Over the past few years Garner has expanded the franchise to about 40 locations.

 

“It isn't your typical salon,” he says. “On any given day, you'll find the ‘receptionist’ is actually a ‘hostess’ serving drinks to waiting customers who are enjoying the ambiance of a salon that has been compared to a modern-day ‘man-cave’ with a high-end bar, low lighting, and flat-screen televisions as far as the eye can see.”

 

When the “hostess” is busy with customers and can’t answer the phone, 8x8’s Virtual Office phone service automatically re-routes incoming calls to each stylist’s cell phone, which helps improve customer service, since customers don’t have to leave a voicemail.

“Our clients are looking for personalized service, and, let's be honest, a little bit of pampering,” Garner said. “They want a place to relax and unwind. With 8x8 Virtual Office, this means that the stylists can give their full attention to their clients without having to turn away and take a call. It also means they don't miss calls from clients that want to come back to a specific stylist if that stylist is on break or off work for the day.”

Earlier today it was announced that 8x8 made it into Infonetics Research’s (News - Alert) new North America Business VoIP Services Leadership Matrix, which analyzes and ranks the top service providers in the VoIP business services market.

8x8 also recently announced a new partnership with Aastra to launch co-branded IP business phones.