Google Voice - Why I made the switch to Google Voice?

I recently heard that Google Voice had expanded to open enrollment and figured I’d check it out to see if it would be useful for me. Initially, I didn’t see why I would need it, my existing phone setup was pretty simple and I did not see why I needed to make any changes. (Existing setup=Work Office, Cell, Home Office). After watching a couple of the Google Voice YouTube videos, I figured that having a single phone number to reach me would be an improvement over what I currently have.

The main inefficiency in my existing system was when I worked from my Home Office, I asked my team to call my Home Office #. In actuality, they usually call my cell phone, which is fine, I would just rather talk on the Home Office speaker phone or headset.

So, be moving to Google Voice, I now have only 2 numbers for people to reach me (Work Office, Google Voice (aka cell/home office)). This basically combined my ‘not in the office’ phone numbers and when someone calls the GV number, it rings me at both my Home Office and on my cell.

With GV, I also consolidated my Home Office and Cell voicemail systems into 1 voice inbox, which transcribes the VMail into text and emails this to me. No more Visual Voicemail on my iPhone, but the transcription and not having to listen to Vmails anymore is much more efficient for me.

Now, my big hurdle is moving my Work Office number to GV. Not sure how well that will go from the Corporate aspect.

If you haven’t checked out Google Voice, I urge you to watch some of the videos, and think about making the move. While the advantages may be minor for you, in the end they will make you more productive and efficient.