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In a major shift in business communication, Microsoft has announced that Skype will be shutting down in May 2025. For businesses relying on Skype phone numbers to manage customer interactions and make international calls, this raises an urgent question:

What happens to your number and how can you transition to a new provider without losing service?

At Global Call Forwarding, we offer a seamless Skype replacement solution for businesses. If you’re concerned about losing your Skype number, need a new number in a different country, or want to maintain your international calling capabilities, we’ve got you covered.

What’s Happening with Skype?

Skype has long been a popular choice for businesses looking for cost-effective international calling and virtual phone numbers in select countries. However, Microsoft is officially discontinuing Skype in May 2025, meaning:

• Businesses that purchased a Skype number will need to port it to another provider to keep it active.
• Users who registered their existing phone numbers with Skype for international calling will require a new international calling service.
• Users who relied on Skype for business communication will need to transition to a new cloud phone provider.

Can You Port Your Skype Number?

At Global Call Forwarding, we can port your Skype number to our network and ensure your business communication remains uninterrupted. However, keep in mind that only business numbers can be ported.

Additionally, Skype’s number coverage was limited—only available in about 25 countries. Global Call Forwarding offers coverage in 160+ countries, so if your Skype number isn’t eligible for porting, we can still provide a replacement number in your desired country.

How to Replace Skype’s International Calling Feature

Many Skype users didn’t buy phone numbers through the platform but instead registered their existing phone numbers with Skype to make international calls. After verification via OTP, they were able to place calls with their registered Caller ID.

However, this feature will be discontinued.

Thankfully, with Global Call Forwarding, you can still make international business calls—and with added benefits:

1. Port your Skype phone number, or buy a virtual number from us in the country of your choice.
2. Route inbound calls to any device or location.
3. Enable Outbound Calling to place international calls using your business number as the Caller ID.
4. Access and download your monthly invoices in the Billing section of the control panel.

Our service provides a more reliable, business-grade alternative to Skype, with greater global coverage and professional call management features.

How to Port a Skype Number?

To port your Skype number over to Global Call Forwarding, follow the below steps:

1. Go to our Pricing page.
2. On the left, select the country of the number to be ported (United States, Canada, etc).
3. Select the number type (toll free, geographic, mobile).
4. Select the prefix or area code (as relevant).
5. Select Port/Transfer My Number.
6. On the right, enter the phone number you would like incoming calls to be forwarded to.
7. Select your phone plan based on monthly minutes included: Basic, Value, Power, Premium, and Enterprise.
8. On the next screen, add Outbound Calling, if you want to make calls with this number.
9. Submit your request.
10. Send an invoice from your current carrier to changes@unitedworldtelecom.com.

Note: We only offer number porting for businesses. It is not available for personal use or TFA verification purposes.

Once we receive your application and documents, we will start working on your porting request. This can take a few days to a few weeks.

Depending on the country of the desired phone number and the number type, additional porting fees will be applicable.

Remember to cancel your old service only after the new service is activated.

Need to check if your Skype number can be ported? Chat with our team today to discuss your options!

Switching to Global Call Forwarding

If your business has been using Skype numbers or Skype for international calls, now is the time to transition to a more reliable, feature-rich provider.

With Global Call Forwarding, you can:

• Expand your reach with local, toll-free, and international numbers in 160+ countries.
• Access enterprise-grade call features, including IVR, call forwarding, call recording, and analytics.
• Get professional invoicing and transparent billing for your records.

Ready to port your Skype numbers to Global Call Forwarding? Check out this step-by-step Skype porting guide and transfer your numbers.

Our 24/7 teams are ready to help you transition smoothly and keep your business connected.

The rise of VoIP technology has improved global communication, offering businesses and consumers a flexible and cost-effective way to stay connected. However, as VoIP gained traction, it also opened the door to new challenges—chief among them being caller ID spoofing.

Fraudsters exploited VoIP’s flexibility, using international calling capabilities and fake local caller IDs to spam and defraud people. In response, telecom authorities in various countries began clamping down on fraudulent telephony activities, implementing stricter measures and regulatory requirements to protect consumers and the integrity of their networks.

The Challenge: Calls Being Blocked or Mutated

So, what is happening?

Countries like Singapore, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and Australia, among others, have taken decisive steps to curb the misuse of local caller IDs.

To reduce such instances, telecom authorities stopped allowing calls from international networks to come into the country with a local in-country caller ID.

This means that people and businesses using VoIP to call into these countries were facing a major issue:

a) Their calls were being blocked if they tried to use a local in-country caller ID or
b) The caller ID was altered or mutated.

This means that businesses relying solely on traditional VoIP methods can face significant obstacles when trying to reach customers or partners in these regions. The intended trust and convenience of a local number are lost, potentially affecting communication, customer experience, and even business credibility.

The Solution: Local Termination and Local 2-Way Voice

Fortunately, there is a solution to these challenges: Local Termination (also known as our Local 2-Way Voice solution). With increasing restrictions on the use of international routes for domestic calls, the Local 2-Way Voice solution ensures regulatory compliance by leveraging local in-country carrier routes to terminate calls, aligning with the latest global telecom regulations. These technologies ensure that your outbound calls appear with a genuine, local caller ID—exactly as intended.

In other words, you can place calls to customers in these countries without the risk of being blocked), as well as display a guaranteed local in-country caller ID.

This approach not only bypasses the stringent restrictions imposed by telecom authorities but also preserves call quality and reliability. With Local 2-Way Voice, businesses can manage both inbound and outbound communications seamlessly, ensuring a consistent and trustworthy calling experience that is crucial for customer engagement and operational efficiency.

Call Reliably with Local 2-Way Voice

As the international telephony landscape evolves, ensuring authentic and reliable phone service becomes more critical than ever.

As a provider of international phone numbers, we at Global Call Forwarding understand the importance of maintaining clear and uninterrupted international communication. Our Local Termination and Local 2-Way Voice solutions are designed to help your business overcome these regulatory hurdles, allowing you to present a credible local presence in markets that matter most.

Want to learn more about our Local 2-Way Voice solution? Chat with us online or call us at +1 (561) 908-6171. We’re here to help!

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is renowned as a global and regional business hub, attracting companies with its favorable time zone, strategic location, and competitive corporate tax advantages.

Many businesses choose to establish themselves in the UAE to tap into international markets and expand their global footprint. On the other hand, many businesses in the UAE rely heavily on international commerce.

However, while the region offers significant opportunities for growth and global trade, it also presents unique challenges when it comes to international communication.

So how do local UAE businesses communicate with customers and business partners in other countries over the phone?

UAE International Calling Restrictions

One of the major hurdles facing businesses in the UAE is the heavy restriction on VoIP services, limited to a few applications like WhatsApp. This makes it extremely difficult for companies to call international numbers using traditional VoIP channels.

As a result, businesses are often forced to rely on the main telecom providers, such as Du and Etisalat, for international calls. These providers typically charge exorbitant fees for international business calling, significantly lowering the return on investment (ROI) for companies that depend on international business.

Some businesses may also consider configuring a VPN tunnel to bypass these restrictions, but this approach carries substantial risks, including potential legal issues and operational instability.

Our Alternative: Local Access Number

Being in the industry for over 28 years, we understand the communication challenges faced by businesses in the UAE. That’s why we have developed a reliable, cost-effective solution: International Calling through a Local Access Number.

How does this work?

1. The company sets up an outbound calling plan with us.
2. They register their phone number(s) with us.
3. We provide a toll-free access number that their users can dial, from one of their pre-registered phone numbers.
4. Upon connecting with the toll-free access number, the user then dials the phone number they wish to call.

Our solution bypasses the heavy VoIP restrictions by offering an alternative, legal pathway for international communications.

How Much Does a Local Access Number for UAE Cost?

The pricing structure is straightforward: Outbound calling plan + a per-minute rate (for the country you’re calling) + an additional $0.19 per minute for connecting to the access number.

You can find more information on our Outbound Calling plans and country per-minute rates here.

Despite this pricing structure, our rates remain significantly more favorable than those imposed by the local telecom monopolies, ensuring that your international calls from the UAE are both cost-effective and reliable.

Call Outside the UAE Reliably & Cost-Effectively

For businesses operating in the UAE, international and reliable phone service is a necessity as part of growing and expanding globally. However, the strict VoIP restrictions in the region have made it challenging to connect with customers and partners overseas without incurring high costs or resorting to risky workarounds.

Our Local Access Number solution offers a proven alternative, enabling you to maintain seamless, cost-effective connections with your global customers.

Want to learn more about our Middle East calling solutions? Chat with us online or call us at +1 (561) 908-6171. We’re here to help!

I had the opportunity to represent Global Call Forwarding at the Seamless Middle East 2024 Expo in Riyadh.

Having worked in telephony and communications for so many years, I’m always curious about how brands interact with customers and how people in different countries interact, particularly in the context of phones and phone numbers.

Here are some key telecom takeaways and trends that I noticed during my business trip to Saudi Arabia:

9200 Numbers Can Be Noticed Throughout the Country

One striking observation was the prevalence of 9200 numbers. They’re published everywhere throughout the country, from roadside billboards to outdoor acrylic signs to hotel key cards!

These Unified Numbers can be dialed anywhere in Saudi Arabia and outside the country.

Formatting Nuances

9200 numbers were written in a lot of different ways. Some common formats include:

• 9200XXXXX
• 9200 XXXXX
• 9200 XX XXX

Sometimes, I even saw these unified numbers in the format 92 XXXX XXX. This variance in display could be because of memorable number sequences or design preferences.

Global Comparisons

9200 numbers do not have a direct equivalent in the United States. The closest comparison might be toll-free numbers.

Internationally, Saudi’s Unified Numbers are similar to 1300 numbers in Australia, 400 numbers in China, and 03 numbers in the United Kingdom. They’re essentially non-geographic numbers that aren’t tied to specific area codes in a country.

Larger Companies Still Desire Toll-Free Numbers

800 numbers remain prominent for larger corporations in Saudi Arabia.

From the moment I left the airport, I saw billboards for well-established companies, with toll-free numbers published on them, lining the highways. Many ATMs had toll-free numbers prominently featured, and so did brochures and flyers from the Expo.

This highlights the continued importance of toll-free numbers to major corporations and their customers in Saudi Arabia.

It makes sense – I met with another client in downtown Riyadh, whose company helps large and well-established multinational corporations from the US and the UK establish a regional presence in Saudi Arabia.

Our client shared that the corporations his company works with overwhelmingly prefer toll-free numbers over the other phone number types.

Customer Engagement and Automation: The Role of AI

Though I didn’t experience this as much in my day-to-day excursions in Riyadh and Jeddah, customer engagement automation was a fundamental digital transformation theme at Seamless.

Many vendors showcased innovative solutions for customer-facing activities, like agent workflows, marketing automation, campaign personalization, and customer segmentation.

I also saw several exhibitors advertising their AI voice agent solutions and chatbots built to automate customer interactions.

Given the current technology, agentic AI can automate internal business processes and perform routine customer service tasks. Still, I don’t see its effectiveness for direct sales just yet.

WhatsApp: The Communication Channel of Choice in the Middle East

Heading into the trip, I understood the importance of WhatsApp as a preferred communication channel in the region.

In the past, we’ve helped businesses that offer automated WhatsApp solutions in the Middle East. We’ve also fielded hundreds of requests from companies that wish to use WhatsApp Business in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, among other countries.

Just as in Latin America and Europe, WhatsApp was on full display.

Not only were Uber drivers engaged in full-on WhatsApp group conversations mid-drive, and drivers from food delivery services contacting me through WhatsApp, many businesses also advertised their WhatsApp Business numbers online and in person.

Snapchat and Social Media for Branding

Social media marketing and advertising were common themes in the breakout sessions at the CMO Summit. While social media is not generally for purely business communications, brands must be present on various channels.

Snapchat was a hot topic during breakout sessions, and I even saw one of our Saudi-based clients, a B2B service provider, running advertisements on Snapchat. X, Instagram, and TikTok are also hugely popular.

One of the speakers mentioned that in the case of TikTok, even though a younger audience mainly uses it, forward-thinking brands should still use the platform to promote themselves to their next generation of customers.

Telecom Players: STC, Mobily, and Zain

STC and Mobily dominated visible advertising and physical retail throughout my travels; Zain also had a solid presence.

However, it would be important to note that high visibility only sometimes equates to market share. According to industry insights, there are several major telecom providers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia regulates telecommunications and information technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and its presence was also observed at Seamless.

Localization

While localization plays a crucial role in companies looking to market their products globally, people that I talked to and speakers in breakout sessions mentioned that Arabic localization is increasingly essential for resonating with Saudi consumers.

Consumers in other GCC countries tend to be more receptive to English content than Saudi consumers. Additionally, Saudi consumers will likely be more receptive to their native Arabic dialects and cultural nuances compared to generic Arabic translations.

Saudi Vision 2030 and RHQ

Saudi Vision 2030 and the Regional Headquarters Program (RHQ) came to my attention on the trip. Saudi Vision was incredibly evident throughout the expo and in my travels. RHQ came up during discussions with our local clientele.

Closing Thoughts

Seamless Expo emphasized the fact that customer communications in Saudi Arabia are rapidly modernizing.

From the use of long-standing mediums like toll-free numbers and 9200 numbers to the digitally-driven, giant-scale WhatsApp and social media usage and emerging trends like AI automation, there was a lot for me to take in.

At the end of the day, the people of Saudi Arabia were wonderfully inviting and welcoming to me as an outsider. Exhibitors at the Seamless Expo also showed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is eager to diversify its economy by supporting modern businesses and digital transformation.

There is a bright future for people living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and for companies doing business there.

Managing numerous sales and support calls daily can often lead to missed details and oversights due to multitasking or information overload. With AI Call Transcription, your team doesn’t have to rely on memory or notes—ensuring that every customer interaction is accurately captured.

By converting phone conversations into written records, both managers and agents can quickly access critical information to boost operational efficiency, reduce misunderstandings, and improve customer service quality.

So, how does call transcription work, and how can your teams use this VoIP AI feature? In this article, we’ll explore:

• How calls are transcribed
• Key benefits for businesses
• Common use cases of call transcription

What is Call Transcription?

Call transcription, powered by AI, converts speech from customer calls into written text. IT decision-makers, heads of sales, and global support leaders can use this scalable solution to improve visibility across high-volume call traffic, streamlining post-call follow-ups, and ensuring no critical information slips through the cracks.

So, how does it work? Once a call concludes, AI and large language models (LLMs) can process conversations from the recorded call and convert it into a readable transcript.

By eliminating the need for manual note-taking, this feature encourages agents to pay more attention to customer conversations. These text transcripts make it easier to keep an accurate record of conversations, especially in industries like customer service or healthcare, where details really matter.

Benefits of Transcribing Business Calls

Transcribing business calls can offer several advantages that really help improve how a business operates—from increasing visibility into team activity to boosting productivity. Here are some of the key benefits of the call transcription feature:

1. Save time: Instead of manually summarizing calls, employees can simply refer to transcriptions, freeing up time to focus on more value-driven tasks.
2. Document customer conversations: Accurate records of conversations also provide legal protection in case of disputes, allowing businesses to easily resolve disputes or misunderstandings.
3. Review past calls: Instead of listening to entire recordings, managers can quickly gather high-level insights of the call through transcripts and assess customer concerns, agent performance, and opportunities for process improvement.
4. Identify priority cases: Quick access to transcribed calls helps agents and managers identify pending calls, unresolved issues, or upset customers, prioritizing support for these cases.
5. Isolate recurring issues: Managers can also use transcriptions to identify common customer complaints and objections or agents’ knowledge gaps and can customize coaching accordingly.

How to Use Call Transcription: 8 Use Cases

Whether it’s for resolving customer issues, training teams, or maintaining compliance, transcription provides valuable insights. Here’s a look at some business use cases where call transcription can make a significant impact.

Quick summary:

• Document customer calls for future reference
• Increase focus on customer conversations
• Gain high-level visibility into team performance
• Pay attention to what customers are talking about and gather feedback
• Provide specialized coaching and quality assurance training
• Collaborate across different departments
• Access comprehensive call analytics

Let’s dig into these use cases in more depth:

1. Document Customer Calls for Future Reference

Transcriptions eliminate the need for guesswork when recalling important details from a conversation. With a written record, there is a lesser risk of missing key points or misremembering queries or instructions.

For instance, managers can filter across different phone lines and quickly access call summaries, transcripts, and sentiment for a particular call. They can review these calls to identify key topics discussed, recurring patterns, high-performing calls, etc. Managers can also use these transcriptions to tailor agent training and coaching.

Similarly, agents can refer to transcribed calls to recall important customer preferences or product requirements. This avoids the potential for errors in product orders or service offerings.

Additionally, certain regulatory bodies require documentation and compliance of customer interactions and information. For instance, healthcare organizations may need to retain recorded calls that contain to maintain compliance.

2. Increase Focus on Customer Conversations

With AI-powered transcripts and summaries generated after every call, your agents don’t need to spend time manually taking or entering notes for every conversation. This gives them more time to focus on the customer with undivided attention.

Additionally, since their calls are being recorded and transcribed, agents will actively work towards performing better on support and sales calls. They may identify quicker ways to resolve common issues or develop new tactics to navigate objections. This increased focus will lead to improved customer satisfaction.

3. Gain High-Level Visibility into Team Performance

Managers can access a wealth of information and call content data by using summaries, transcripts, and sentiment analysis.

Quickly review summaries for different phone lines, teams, or regions and generate a comprehensive yet concise overview of call content. Dive deeper with recordings and transcripts to know what your customers talk about, how agents handle unhappy customers, and what common patterns exist. Determine how teams and agents are performing and use top-performing calls as training for low-performing teams.

Whether it’s resolving recurring issues or refining sales strategies, this visibility into business calls will help you drive continuous improvement across your sales, support, and marketing departments.

4. Pay Attention to What Customers Say

Transcribed calls offer a treasure trove of feedback that businesses can use to improve their products and services. By reading and listening to what customers say during their interactions, companies can spot patterns in feedback and adjust their sales and marketing efforts accordingly. For instance, you can learn more about:

• How customers talk about your products and services
• What features or functionality they are looking for
• What problems they are trying to solve with your service
• Which competitors they have considered
• Common obstacles they’re facing with your product or service
• Whether your sales and support teams are properly equipped to handle customer queries, and so on.

Use this feedback to further improve your sales, support, and marketing efforts.

5. Provide Specialized Training and Quality Assurance Sessions

Transcribed calls offer an excellent resource for training and quality assurance materials. By reviewing real interactions, managers can pinpoint areas where agents excel or need improvement.

For example, if an agent handled a tricky customer situation well, that transcript and recording can be used as a training tool for new hires. On the flip side, if there’s a recurring issue with how certain queries are handled, teams can analyze those transcripts to refine their approach and identify more efficient ways to resolve such issues.

6. Collaborate Across Different Departments

With AI-powered call transcriptions, cross-departmental collaboration becomes seamless. Call transcriptions allow team members across departments to access the same information, making collaboration smoother.

Whether it’s sales following up on a support ticket or marketing crafting campaigns based on customer feedback, teams can access unified, real-time information. This shared knowledge ensures that everyone is aligned, reducing miscommunication and enabling quicker, more effective solutions.

7. Access Comprehensive Call Analytics

By turning conversations into data, businesses can generate deeper insights, measure customer sentiment, track common topics, and evaluate agent performance.

Our AI Call Insights feature unlocks actionable data with the help of AI. When paired with other call data tools such as translation, summaries, recordings, and sentiment analysis, your teams can get a 360-degree view of customer conversations. Furthermore, you can filter call records based on specific phone lines, duration, call direction, or phone tags to get a more narrow view of call activity.

How Can GCF Help?

By implementing AI Call Transcription, your organization can improve communication accuracy, ensure regulatory compliance, and enhance customer experiences at scale. This feature is a game-changer for global sales, support, and IT teams aiming to deliver data-backed insights and high-performance outcomes.

Global Call Forwarding offers Call Transcription as part of our larger AI Call Insights feature. Contact our experts today to learn how AI-powered transcription can transform your business operations.

Managing a myriad of inbound and outbound phone lines efficiently can often become chaotic and disorganized. This is especially true for businesses that may have different phone numbers for different locations or different functions.

This lack of structure not only slows down operations but also complicates call tracking and analysis. Proper organization of phone lines means easier sorting through multiple phone numbers and more streamlined reporting.

Phone number tags can help businesses better organize their call traffic, streamline operations, and analyze call types for insights. Let’s see how!

What are Phone Number Tags?

Phone number tags are tags or labels users can assign to different phone numbers within your phone number management system.

These tags allow you to categorize phone lines based on their purpose, location, team, or other relevant criterion. By tagging phone numbers, you create a more organized framework that can help filter and track call data more efficiently. Small businesses and large enterprises can easily adapt phone number tags to meet their specific needs.

Global Call Forwarding offers phone tags along with our virtual phone numbers for more enhanced and efficient call tracking.

How to Use Phone Tags?

Setting up phone number tags is generally straightforward. Most cloud telephony providers offer an interface or dashboard where users can easily assign and manage tags effectively. All you need to do is:

• Define your tags: Decide on the most relevant categories to your business needs.
• Assign tags to phone numbers: Attach one or more tags to the appropriate phone numbers within your system.
• Manage phone numbers: Organize and sort through business phone numbers efficinetly.
• Customize reports: Filter call reports with phone tags to see more focused and detailed call activity.

Global Call Forwarding customers can create and manage phone tags for inbound and outbound phone lines in our control panel.

6 Ways to Use Phone Number Tags

So, what are some ways your business can use our phone number tagging feature? Let’s go over some common use cases:

1. Organize Phone Lines by Department

Use tags to differentiate phone lines used by various departments within your business. For instance, tag specific phone numbers as “Sales,” “Customer Support,” or “Human Resources.” This helps you understand how your call traffic is distributed. Then, you can further filter to see how many outbound sales calls were answered or how many inbound support calls went unanswered.

2. Filter Calls by Type

Use phone number tags to filter calls associated with different phone lines — like your APAC support center or HQ — in your call reports. This allows managers to analyze the types of calls coming through and identify trends or areas needing extra attention or support.

3. Manage Distributed Teams

Businesses operating across multiple locations or regions — working with different call centers or service centers — can use tags to understand call distribution. Phone number tags like “APAC Office” or “US HQ” can help determine how call traffic is spread geographically and which locations are receiving more calls. Managers can use this data to reevaluate staffing or routing methods.

4. Improve Custom Reporting

When integrated into custom reporting tools, phone number tags can further narrow down the depth of insights available. For example, if you want to analyze the performance of your tech support team specifically in the APAC office, you can quickly generate reports for all phone numbers tagged under “Tech Support” and “APAC” tags.

5. Enhance AI Capabilities

Users can further expand their call reports when using phone number tags alongside AI call features. For example, Global Call Forwarding customers can turn on AI insights, filter to view specific tagged lines, and then see call activity, status, summaries, transcripts, and sentiment analysis for these specific lines.

6. Assist in Training and Quality Assurance

Phone number tags such as “Training” or “Quality Check” can help in separating phone lines that are being used for training purposes or quality assurance checks. Managers can then filter to see call insights and activity for those specific lines to better train new agents.

Experience Improved Call Handling and Deeper Insights

With tags, companies can ensure better management of call data, detailed call analytics, and a more organized communication structure.

Use phone number tagging alongside our other core features like Custom Reports and AI Insights to get a more detailed view of your business’ call activity.

Want to test it out? Give Global Call Forwarding a try! Book a demo today or speak with your account manager.

VoIP and cloud telephony have become staple tools for global business communication. Its ability to deliver voice calls over the internet has changed how we stay connected—both in businesses and personal lives. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is taking VoIP communication to unprecedented heights.

Some experts believe that by 2025, nearly 95% of customer interactions will be powered by generative AI. Imagine virtual assistants handling customer inquiries with unmatched efficiency or AI sales teams creating opportunities, freeing up human agents for more complex tasks. This underscores AI’s growing influence in shaping communication experiences.

With that in mind, let’s explore the latest AI in VoIP trends and see how AI is creating richer, more personal, and automated conversations. We’ll cover:

• What it means to integrate AI with VoIP
• Benefits and challenges of combining both technologies
• 5 new AI in VoIP trends

Integrating AI with VoIP

By leveraging AI subfields like machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), Large Language Model (LLM), AI empowers VoIP platforms to understand, respond, and predict user needs with unprecedented accuracy.

ML and NLP can enhance the core functions of cloud telephony solutions, making customer interactions more intuitive and personalized. On the other hand, LLMs process and generate human-like text based on vast amounts of language data. This is used to generate transcriptions, translations, tone analysis, and the like.

For instance, thanks to AI, IVR systems can become more than mere automated menus. With ML, one can develop intelligent conversational agents and systems that can analyze past interactions to anticipate customer needs and route calls to the appropriate department or even offer automated solutions based on similar inquiries.

Similarly, integrating AI into your call analytics and reporting can open up room for more insights and data. Imagine, you can easily tap into your previous calls and get insights like:

• What are the points you need to clarify in your manual, FAQ, webpages to reduce customer complaints by 20%
• What are the real reasons behind each churn and what is the best route to retain the customer
• Based on the previous successful sales calls, what is the best sales pitch for a specific service or product
• What features should I add to my existing product based on customers’ actual demand, etc.

Benefits of Combining AI and VoIP

From efficient call routing and detailed call insights, to sentiment analysis, AI enhances the capabilities of VoIP solutions, helping businesses better optimize their call traffic. Some of the core benefits of integrating AI and VoIP include:

• Data-driven call insights and prompt-driven analysis
• Personalized customer experiences and interactions
• Efficient call routing and handling
• Improved call quality and noise reduction
• Increased accessibility and understanding of call traffic (transcriptions, translations, etc)
• Automation of routine tasks
• Enhanced VoIP security and fraud detection, and more.

Potential Challenges

Adopting AI in VoIP solutions comes with a range of challenges and limitations. One of the most significant hurdles is regulatory compliance. Data protection regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, establish specific requirements for collecting and processing personal data.

Organizations using AI in VoIP must comply with these regulations. Similar challenges arise in regions like the US with regulations such as the FCC’s robocalling compliance. Businesses must ensure that AI-driven calls adhere to all robocalling regulations, including obtaining explicit, written consent from customers before making AI-generated calls. Ensuring ongoing compliance can prove resource-intensive and may require continuous updates to the AI systems.

Technical limitations present another challenge. Integrating AI with existing VoIP infrastructure could be complex, requiring advanced technical expertise and significant modifications to the current VoIP system, including costly upgrades.

Finally, user resistance can slow down the adoption process. Employees and agents may resist adopting AI-driven VoIP solutions due to the lack of trust, fearing job displacement, or being intimidated by the complexity of the technology. Businesses may have to organize additional training and implement change management strategies.

AI in VoIP: 5 New Technologies (w/Expert Opinions)

Even with those challenges, there are many benefits of using AI in VoIP for any growing business. To help this cause, cloud telephony providers have researched, built, experimented, and tested different AI functionality to improve caller experience while maintaining essential compliance.

We reached out to experts in the field to get a better idea of how AI and VoIP are combining forces to improve business communication.

Here are 5 trends of AI in VoIP that we’re seeing:

1. Enhanced Call Handling
2. Voice Transcription and Translation
3. Advanced Call Insights and Analytics
4. AI Chatbots for Customer Interaction
5. Improved Call Quality, Security, and Fraud Detection

1. Enhanced Call Handling

VoIP service providers have long offered advanced call forwarding and routing options like IVR and ACD. These features enable businesses to automate their call handling processes based on predefined rules. And they efficiently manage high call volumes by directing callers to the appropriate department or agent.

According to Stefan Chekanov, co-founder and CEO of Brosix, “AI can identify patterns in call volume, keywords used by customers, and even the time of day calls are received. This way, it can match a caller with the most qualified agent. Employing ML, the VoIP system can assess the nature of the call, its urgency, and determine whether it needs to be immediately assigned to a specific agent or queued for later handling.”

Such AI-powered pattern identification can anticipate customer needs and route calls to the most suitable agents, streamlining workflows and boosting customer satisfaction.

AI’s predictive analytics can also help with improving staffing and call handling. According to Vikas Kaushik, CEO, TechAhead, “Predictive analytics can also foresee spikes in call volume and modify personnel levels appropriately. Businesses may improve their operational efficiency and provide a more individualized and responsive service by utilizing intelligent call routing.”

Further, AI can expand on VoIP and CRM capabilities by integrating and organizing customer data from various sources (support tickets, past conversations) into a unified profile, creating a comprehensive customer view. This enables CRM systems to handle customer inquiries more effectively and consistently.

2. Voice Transcription and Translation

AI has added more functionality to call management features like call recording and voicemail by enabling transcription and translation capabilities. With the integration of AI, these audio messages can now be transcribed into text and even translated into multiple languages.

For example, voicemail and call transcription and translation services from Global Call Forwarding utilizes AI and machine learning to ensure over 90% accuracy in detecting, transcribing, and translating more than 55 different languages and accents. These include French, German, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, and more.

These features allow users to read, download, and share calls, recordings, and voicemails as text messages. They’re incredibly useful for businesses dealing with a global audience or those that need to keep accurate records of their communications. Think about customer support teams that need to keep track of every detail or legal and healthcare professionals who rely on precise documentation.

3. Advanced Call Insights and Analytics

VoIP providers are already offering a range of call analytics tools like call reports, recordings, transcriptions, etc. These tools have proven invaluable for businesses looking to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and call performance.

AI opens a whole new world of call insights with sub features like sentiment analysis, quick summaries, and prompt-driven analysis. For instance, sentiment analysis—real-time or post-call—analyzes speech and text data to understand the emotional tone of interactions.

Edward Tian, CEO, GPTZero, explains that “AI technology can assess the overall sentiment of the customer and the conversation (e.g. if the customer seems irritated, if the conversation seems to be going in circles with the customer not giving in, etc.). Then with those assessments, AI can then suggest ways for the representative to direct the conversation to get a better result, even going so far as to tell them exactly what to say.”

4. AI Chatbots for Customer Interaction

AI chatbots powered by conversational AI and generative AI technologies are becoming increasingly important for businesses looking to streamline communication and enhance customer service.

Think of them as virtual assistants that can chat with customers through various platforms like websites, social media, and messaging apps. They’re great at handling everyday tasks, like making appointments, sending feedback forms, and answering queries with specificity and accuracy.

For instance, a simple chatbot might be able to answer basic questions about a product or service. But a chatbot using conversational or generative AI can understand the context of a customer’s query, like why an order was canceled. It can then dig deeper to find the answer and provide a helpful explanation. And if things escalate, it can hand over the conversation to a human agent seamlessly. This is because AI chatbots too learn from each interaction, thanks to ML, NLP, and LLM, and provide increasingly specific, accurate, and helpful responses.

One of the best parts about combining these chatbots with VoIP systems is the ability to offer multichannel communication through a unified interface. Also, businesses can facilitate customer service automation.

5. Improved Call Quality, Security, and Fraud Detection

Leveraging a combination of sophisticated algorithms and machine learning techniques, AI can help significantly improve VoIP call quality. For instance, it can detect and remove background noises such as traffic sounds, ensuring clearer conversations even in busy environments.

As you know by now, AI algorithms are great at detecting patterns in data. In the context of VoIP calls, this means analyzing call data – frequency, duration, origin, and destination – to identify unusual activity. These algorithms are adept at spotting anomalies that might indicate telecom-related fraud. This could mean deviations from established patterns, such as sudden spikes in call volume or calls from unusual locations, can signal potential threats, etc. By identifying these anomalies, AI algorithms can flag suspicious activity for further investigation.

Bringing AI into Your Business Communications

With VoIP, businesses have a unique opportunity to improve the way they communicate and connect with customers. Global Call Forwarding offers advanced cloud telephony solutions that make it easier to direct and manage calls.

We also offer AI-powered call solutions like transcription and translation of voicemail and call recordings, sentiment analysis, short summary, and more. These features can help you capture the important and actionable insights from hundreds of hours of conversations, without missing a thing.

Tiago Godoi, CTO at Global Call Forwarding, shares, “Using your existing phone connections and daily human interactions, we can provide profound transformational value to your business. From basic sentiment analysis that can tell whether a call was handled smoothly or had some friction, up to creating an entire training material to optimize sales conversion in a few seconds.”

Ready to upgrade your business communication system? Speak to our experts and let us help you level up!