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How to Implement a Call Center Disaster Recovery Plan? [Checklist & Template]

Call centers could experience many different emergency situations, including environmental crises, pandemics, hardware failures, human errors, hacking, and more. These disasters often occur without warning and can impact your business in destructive ways, especially when unprepared.

It’s less expensive to prepare for a disaster than it is to repair your business’ infrastructure and image. So, in this guide, we will cover how to create and implement a call center disaster recovery plan for your business. We’ll look at:

Why Do You Need a Call Center Disaster Recovery Plan?

Your business is vulnerable without a proper call center disaster recovery plan in place. Downtimes caused by natural or human-made disasters have immediate and long-term effects on your operations, including:

  • Inflated call volumes and hold times (once your system is back up)
  • Diminished customer experience and loss of consumer trust
  • Reduced sales and revenue

A call center recovery plan can help your business bounce back quicker – lowering downtime and maintaining business continuity.

Business Disaster Recovery Plan 101

A disaster recovery plan is a procedural document outlining specific precautions and steps to take after a disaster strikes. A good recovery plan aims to reduce a disaster’s effect on your operations.

These plans typically minimize disruptions to your business’ core functions and customers. This way, you can quickly resume critical business functions and stay afloat.

Creating a Call Center Recovery Plan

Developing a call center disaster recovery plan is no easy task. Your plan’s design, application, and execution must be carefully developed and well-defined. Mapping out an in-depth procedure ensures that your business and teams are prepared when it counts.

It’s also important to note that even the best plans need regular modifications to fit your business’ evolving needs. For this reason, consider dedicating a position or team to creating and maintaining your call center’s disaster recovery plan, if possible.

When creating your own disaster recovery plan, you may feel like you don’t know where to begin. So, let’s take a look at a few steps to help you get started.

1. Identify Risks to Your Business Continuity

Before you put pen to paper, you need to consider your business’ potential risks and the possible outcomes. Identifying risks and their consequences allows you to incorporate specific solutions and backup strategies in your plan. It also helps determine your business’ critical functions and your unique continuity needs.

Many teams use business impact analyses to identify and assess their company’s vulnerabilities. This type of risk assessment reveals the potential causes of downtime and how this disruption affects your business – immediately and in the long run.

For example: If you run a Florida-based call center, hurricanes are a potential risk to your operation. A possible outcome of this scenario is customers being unable to reach your business due to a power outage. If left unsolved, this will lead to an unsatisfactory caller experience and customer loss.

Knowing your businesses’ vulnerabilities and their consequences makes it easier to develop effective solutions in your call center disaster recovery plan. So, your business and teams are always prepared for different crisis scenarios.

2. Look at Examples of Call Center Disaster Recovery Plans

Once you’ve conducted an impact analysis, look at your competitors or other similar businesses. Ask yourself – what have they included in their call center recovery plans? This is just to give you an idea of what works and what doesn’t.

Additionally, take a look at businesses that suffered a crisis situation. How did they handle it? Did it go well, or should they have done things differently? It’s hard to understand the full scope and consequences of a disaster if you’ve never experienced one. And, this makes preparing for an emergency situation even trickier.

To develop a well-informed and thorough plan, research lessons learned by others in your market. This is great for those who don’t know where to start. But, keep in mind, that what works for others might not be the best option for your business. Draw from their experience and tailor your call center recovery plan to your needs.

3. Determine Business Communication Backup Options

Now that you’ve gathered the necessary information, it’s time to explore your call center’s backup options. These solutions should kick in as soon as your business experiences a disruption.

A good backup solution happens seamlessly – meaning customers shouldn’t notice a change in service quality. Use your risk analysis to help you get started with backup solutions most relevant to you. And since a call center’s main function is communication, you should focus mainly on preparing communication backup solutions in case of downtime. Here are some communication backup options for your call center:

  • Outsource your communication processes to an offshore call center or BPO.
  • Protect your data (like call recordings and customer info) by storing it in the cloud.
  • Get a second internet provider, in case your primary one falters.
  • Use an alternate power supply like a generator or an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
  • Replace your on-premise phone system with a VoIP network and forward your calls anywhere in the world.

4. Run Through a Call Center Recovery Plan Checklist

Planning for your call center’s disaster recovery is a complex process involving many moving parts. Enter: a checklist. Outlining basic steps and objectives for your disaster recovery plan can help streamline the process.

Here’s a short call center disaster recovery checklist of what you should include at a basic level:

  • Conduct risk assessment and business impact analysis
  • Determine your business’ essential processes and continuity needs
  • Establish recovery objectives
  • Outline specific strategies, tactics, and backup solutions to achieve your objectives
  • Create a crisis communication plan for your teams, customers, vendors, and backup teams.
  • Assign disaster recovery roles and responsibilities to every department or appoint a specific disaster recovery team
  • Set up failover options and prepare for failback
  • Back up critical documents and data in the cloud or store copies at a remote location.
  • Catalog information systems essential to business continuity
  • Put hardware on backup power supplies or establish equipment needs
  • Test your call center disaster recovery plan and update it regularly.

Download this call center disaster plan checklist to get started.

Include VoIP in Your Call Center Disaster Recovery Plan

With an on-premise communication system, a call center’s only backup option is to create another identical on-premise infrastructure. Not only is this expensive, but there is no guarantee that this system will be accessible in an emergency scenario.

A cloud-based communication network like VoIP is not tied to any specific geographic location like your office building. It is accessible from anywhere in the world and from any IP-enabled device. Simply connect to the internet and start managing your incoming calls immediately. And, in case of emergency, you re-route calls to another location. Opting for VoIP over an on-premise network grants your call center flexibility and boosts your call center’s redundancy.

The role of VoIP and continuity in a call center disaster recovery plan.

How VoIP Helps Maintain Business Continuity

Although you will find many VoIP providers on the market, selecting a quality service that offers cloud failover options is important. This way, if your primary system fails, your call center has a failsafe. When choosing a VoIP system to include in your call center recovery plan, make sure they offer the following:

• VoIP Geo-Redundancy (VoIP to VoIP Failover) – If your primary location experiences a disruption, VoIP geo-redundancy forwards unanswered calls to any alternate VoIP destination.

• Flexible Call Routing Capabilities – Depending on your situation, you might need to modify your routing rules and make quick changes to your call flow.

• VoIP Redundancy with PSTN Failover – Instead of rerouting calls to another VoIP location with VoIP geo-redundancy, your provider can forward calls to a PSTN phone number.

• 24/7 Responsive Support – Disasters don’t wait and neither should you. Evaluate your provider’s customer support. They should deliver responsive assistance at any time.

• Failover Forwarding – If a call isn’t answered at the first destination, it’s automatically forwarded to the next phone number or ring group on your preset list.

• 99.999% Uptime – You can have all the failover strategies and redundancy features in the world. But, it doesn’t matter if your VoIP service is down amidst your own emergency. Pick a provider that offers a 99.999% uptime guarantee.

Best Practices for Maximum Preparedness

Now you know what goes into creating a call center disaster recovery plan. But, what happens after that? Here are some things to keep in mind once you’ve compiled a disaster recovery plan for your call center:

  1. Make the final plan accessible to your entire team
  2. Schedule routine disaster recovery training and drills
  3. Keep a hard copy of your call center recovery plan
  4. Test your plan under realistic conditions
  5. Prepare detailed post-test reports and make necessary changes
  6. Inform staff of any changes made to your plan.

Quality Disaster Recovery Solutions and Redundancy for your Call Center

A comprehensive call center recovery plan ensures your business remains functional and consistent during a crisis. With a good disaster recovery plan and communication system in place, your call center is ready for any emergency scenario.

Incorporating VoIP into your business disaster recovery plan is a great way to keep your communication channels open to customers – no matter the situation.

Global Call Forwarding provides call centers with a high-availability service and a 99.99% uptime guarantee. We can help you configure VoIP failover and redundancy plans within your business phone system through intelligent call routing, failover forwarding, advanced IVR, and more. We also offer 24/7 customer support, so we can address your needs as they come up.

To learn more about how we can support your call center disaster recovery plan, speak with our dedicated account managers today! Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online!

Downloadable Template + Guidebook

gateway
Download Your Call Center Disaster Recovery Plan Template Here
There’s nothing more important than communication in an emergency situation. You need to communicate not only with your team, but also with your customers and vendors. Build your call center recovery plan now!

Disater Recovery Checklist

The Ultimate Guide to Toll-Free Number Porting

Locked in a low-quality toll-free service provider? Tired of paying high monthly bills? Want to add advanced call management features to your phone system? Thankfully, you’re not stuck with your provider.

With toll-free number porting, you can switch providers while keeping your number.

How?

Here’s an in-depth guide to everything you need to know about porting toll-free numbers to a new service.

Porting Toll-Free Numbers

Porting your toll-free number to a new service provider is a simple and quick process. You can switch providers to take advantage of a better and more reliable toll-free service. In this toll-free number porting guide, we will go over:

What is Toll-Free Number Porting?

Number porting is a cloud phone service solution that lets you move or port your number from one service to another. You can use number porting to switch from an old service provider to a new one while keeping the same phone number.

So, can toll-free numbers be ported?

Yes! You can port your business toll-free number from your existing provider to a new toll-free service provider – without changing the number. This type of VoIP porting lets you upgrade your service without purchasing a new number while adding advanced functionality.

Related: What is a Toll-Free Number?

Reasons to Port Your Toll-Free Number to Another Service

With toll-free number porting, you can get out of long-term contracts with low-quality or high-cost services. Additionally, as your business grows, you may need to scale your communications. Porting lets you choose a new and improved toll-free service provider with added communication functionality and features.

Here are the top benefits of porting your toll-free numbers and situations where you may need to switch to a new provider:

  • Stuck in long-term commitments with low value
  • Low voice and audio quality
  • High monthly bills
  • Lack of reliable and responsive customer and technical support
  • Add more global coverage with an international phone service provider
  • Moving or relocating offices to a new city or region
  • Network connectivity issues leading to a high number of dropped calls
  • Transition to cloud communication
  • Need for advanced call management features to support growing business communication needs
  • Consolidation of services to centralize business communication
  • Need for a reliable, flexible, and scalable phone solution

An image showing 8 reasons to port a toll free number.

How Does Number Porting Work?

To port your toll-free number, you must find the right toll-free service provider. Most cloud phone service providers offer toll-free number porting. You simply fill in a porting request and provide the necessary information.

Then, your new and old phone service providers will work together to port your phone number without any service interruptions.

Note: You should wait for a successful transition to your new service provider before canceling your old service (ending your existing contract).

Related: 9 Best US Toll-Free Number Providers in 2024

How Long Does it Take to Port a Toll-Free Number?

Number porting can take up to 2-4 weeks, but the process is faster in some cases. This usually depends on a few factors such as the country of the number needed, type of number, current provider, and the status of the number.

Our team always works as hard as possible to get numbers ported in the shortest possible time.

Toll-Free Number Porting Requirements

To port your toll-free number, you need to provide your new toll-free service provider with some crucial information. Here are the requirements for porting toll-free numbers:

  • Account number and passcode – associated with your account.
    List of all phone numbers – Includes all numbers and extensions your business would like to port to the new service.
  • Letter of Authorization (LOA) – Gives your new toll-free service provider permission to act on your behalf when communicating with your old provider. This letter usually contains crucial information about who can make decisions regarding your number(s).
  • Old provider and account number – Enables the two providers to communicate and work together to complete the process.
  • Copy of current phone bill – Includes necessary information (name and address registered with the current provider) about your existing phone plan. This also serves as proof of ownership of the number.

Check out the FCC’s number porting checklist to prepare for the porting process.

Toll-Free Number Porting Rules

According to the FCC porting rules, carriers and providers:

  • Must port a number upon receiving a valid request.
  • May not refuse to port a number.
  • Can charge for porting services.Can charge an early termination fee, especially for long-term customers.
  • May refuse to port if the customer has not paid for porting.

Potential Issues with Number Porting

Some roadblocks that may impact the number porting process include:

1. Number isn’t portable

These issues may interrupt the porting process:

  • The number is no longer in service — Your phone number isn’t active or has been terminated.
  • Incomplete rate center / no coverage — Your new toll-free provider doesn’t have coverage in your area.
  • No interconnect agreement — Your new provider does not have an agreement with the old carrier holding the number.

If you experience any of these issues during your porting process, you may need to find an alternative solution. An alternative solution would be to get a new toll-free number. Work with your toll-free service provider to find a more suitable solution.

2. Easily fixable issues

These issues may delay the porting process, but can be resolved:

  • Incorrect name and address — Contact information needed to prove ownership is incorrect.
  • Phone number was not found — Phone number entered incorrectly due to user error.
  • Porting a toll-free number — Toll-free numbers take longer to port, depending on the provider.
  • Limited porting options — Countries may have limitations on number porting.

Related: 5 Phone Number Porting Myths Debunked

number porting guide

How to Transfer a Toll-Free Number?

Here’s how to transfer your number to a new toll-free service:

  1. In most cases, you submit a porting request with requested documentation to your new toll-free service provider.
  2. The new provider reaches out to your old carrier.
  3. The old carrier confirms your identity to the new provider.
  4. The new provider notifies the Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC).
  5. NPAC creates a pending port and notifies the old provider.
  6. The new provider asks NPAC to activate the port.
  7. Upon activation, the port is broadcasted to the telecom industry network.
  8. Your new service will be activated.
  9. You can then terminate your old account.

How to Port Your Toll-Free Number to Global Call Forwarding

You can port multiple numbers to the Global Call Forwarding network. Our process is simple and quick. Start by submitting a porting request, and a customer service representative will be in touch with you within 24 hours.

Here’s how to port a toll-free number with Global Call Forwarding:

1. Check the Portability of your Numbers
You can keep your existing phone number if you remain in the same geographic area. But this is not always the case, so it is best to check whether your numbers are portable. We will also review the portability of your numbers for you. Call us at 1 (888) 908 6171 or submit a request.

2. Send us your Latest Invoice
Send us a copy of your latest invoice that includes your name, address, account number, and phone numbers.

3. Wait for the Transfer
The transfer may take a few days to a few weeks, depending on the number’s country. Keep your old service active during this transition period.

4. No Interruption of Service
Continue running your business with no service interruptions during the transfer of numbers.

5. Cancel your Previous Provider
Once your toll-free number has been ported to Global Call Forwarding, you can cancel your account with your old provider.

Switch to Global Call Forwarding

Ready to port your toll-free number to the Global Call Forwarding network? We are here to help you improve your business communication system. Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with our experts!

Domestic Toll-Free vs International Toll-Free: Understanding the Difference

You’re probably wondering – aren’t toll-free numbers obsolete in today’s technology-driven business environment? While toll-free numbers have existed for decades, they are still relevant to this day. In fact, most businesses use different types of cloud-based toll-free numbers as tools for marketing efforts or to expand their services globally.

But the trick is to find the right type of toll-free business phone number.

Yes – there are different types of toll-free numbers. And while they may appear similar (or even the exact same in some cases), each serves its purpose. In this article, we’ll compare domestic vs international toll-free numbers. This way, you can make an informed decision when building your business communication network.

Choosing Between Domestic vs International Toll-Free Numbers

Domestic and international toll-free numbers are two of many toll-free options on the market. It’s important to understand the difference between these options, as they offer businesses different functionalities. Let’s get started!

Domestic Toll-Free Numbers

Domestic toll-free numbers, or DTFs, feature the classic 800 code associated with most toll-free services. These numbers are country-specific. In other words, they only work for callers within the same country as the phone number’s original location. Domestic toll-free numbers are also free for callers in the same region to dial.

For example: Callers in the United States can use your US toll-free number to contact your business free of charge. But, domestic toll-free numbers aren’t typically accessible to foreign callers. So, the US toll-free number wouldn’t be accessible to your customers in Japan.

Domestic toll-free numbers are a great solution for those looking to grow their business and customer-base nationwide. Additionally, DTFs convey to customers that your business is reliable and well-established. This encourages consumers to reach out and interact with your business, increasing both sales and customer satisfaction along the way.

International Toll-Free Numbers

International toll-free numbers, or ITFNs, provide a contact method to callers outside your business’ country. These numbers are also country-specific and can be forwarded to any location.

For example: If your business is US-based, you can get international toll-free numbers for different countries like Japan or Brazil. Callers in Japan and Brazil can dial these international toll-free numbers at no cost. Then, you can route these inbound calls to your headquarters in the US or even to your home office using international call forwarding.

International toll-free numbers provide businesses with a quick and cost-effective way to expand to new global markets. They use an international toll-free service (ITFS) to help you establish a local presence without needing physical offices in that specific country. You can enter and even test your target countries’ markets without increasing overhead costs. And with a cloud telephony provider, you save money on excessive international and long-distance calling fees.

Comparing Domestic vs International Toll-Free Numbers

Now that we know the purpose of these numbers, it’s time to compare domestic vs international toll-free numbers.

Similarities Between These Types of Toll-Free Numbers

These services are quite similar at face value. So, let’s start with the similarities.

  • Availability – Most countries support both domestic and international toll-free number services. So, country availability depends on the service provider you choose. Make sure your chosen provider offers toll-free number services in your desired countries.
  • Country-Specific – Both types of toll-free numbers are country-specific. This means you need a different toll-free phone number for each of your target countries.
  • Access to Cloud Features – Cloud toll-free numbers, like DTFs and ITFNs, come with access to advanced call features. Some of these cloud communication tools include advanced IVR, customized greetings, and intelligent routing capabilities.
  • Caller Accessibility – Both of these numbers are free to dial. In this case, the phone number owner gets charged instead of the caller. This encourages customers to get in touch with your business at no cost.
  • Device Accessibility – Both numbers allow you to make and answer calls from any device, including PCs, tablets, and mobile devices.

domestic vs international numbers

Differences: Domestic vs International Toll-Free Numbers

So, what type of business toll-free number should you choose? This depends on a few factors such as country coverage, customers’ locations, communication budget, and more.

Key differences between domestic vs international toll-free numbers include:

  • Service nature
  • Forwarding capabilities
  • Restrictions
  • Cost

Let’s take a deeper look, so you can make an informed decision.

  • Service Nature – The major difference is that domestic toll-free numbers are generally used for calling within your country of origin. And, international toll-free numbers are used for calling outside your location. You cannot use a domestic toll-free number for international calling and vice versa.
  • Forwarding Capabilities – While ITFNs allow you to forward your calls to any location, domestic toll-free numbers limit your forwarding capabilities. For example, you can forward calls to your US domestic toll-free number to any location within the United States. But, you can’t forward those calls to anywhere outside the US.
  • Restrictions – It’s important to note that there are restrictions sometimes included with these numbers. These restrictions vary depending on the country and provider you use. You may encounter limitations like mobile constraints, partial country coverage, fluctuating telecom regulations, and so on. But, domestic toll-free numbers usually have fewer restrictions associated with them. Work with your international toll-free number provider to find the best solution for your communication needs.
  • Cost – Domestic toll-free numbers typically have lower monthly fees than international toll-free numbers. On the other hand, ITFNs can help you save on international calling costs. Either way, both types of cloud numbers are more affordable than legacy phone systems.

This infographic compares domestic versus international toll-free numbers.

Deciding What’s Best for Your Business

It’s hard to decide whether your business needs a domestic or international toll-free number. They share similarities while supporting unique functionalities. To make the best choice for your business, ask yourself these questions:

1. What are your business communication goals?

Do you want to test new markets? Or nurture your current customer base? Outlining your specific goals clarifies your business needs. Then, you’ll be able to decide what solution is best for your company.

2. What is your business communication budget?

It’s always a good idea to analyze your budget! When upgrading your business communication stack, consider your IT budget to determine what’s financially suitable for your business.

3. What would your domestic or international toll-free number plan look like?

Visualize what these phone numbers would look like for your business. What countries or cities would you want access to? And if you plan on forwarding calls, where do you want them to forward to – your desk, home office, or remote call center? Picturing your business phone network might give you a better idea of what you want out of your toll-free service.

Still Can’t Decide? We Got You Covered

Still struggling to decide if domestic vs international toll-free numbers are right for you? We have been advising international corporate customers on this topic for more than 20 years and want to help you find the best toll-free number provider. Speak with our representatives today at +1 (561) 908-6171 for a free consultation to determine what toll-free number service is right for your business.

Why is VoIP Geo-Redundancy a Top Business Priority?

We live in a highly-connected and online-obsessed economy, leading to the expectation that individuals and businesses should always be available. So what happens when your business suffers an outage or gets stuck in the middle of a storm? Thanks to cloud computing, you can plan for these disasters by creating easy-to-implement disaster recovery plans. Geo-redundancy is one way to maintain business continuity, even in a disaster.

Geo-Redundancy for Business Continuity

When organizations separate or spread servers across multiple data centers, they increase the chances of business continuity during outages, catastrophic events, and natural disasters. Implementing geo-redundancy between data centers ensures that critical business applications and data remains secure and accessible. It does so by replicating essential data as well as IT and VoIP infrastructure. Then, it stores it in these different centers for safekeeping.

Let’s look at how VoIP geo-redundancy can help businesses continue communicating in the face of disaster.

What is VoIP Geo-Redundancy?

Geo-redundancy is the distribution of important components or infrastructures across multiple centers in different locations. If your primary location (headquarter) fails, geo-redundancy provides a safety net.

VoIP geo-redundancy (also known as VoIP failover) does this for your business VoIP phone system. It acts as a backup in case your primary location endures a disaster or outage that impacts business continuity.

So, what is the purpose of VoIP geo-redundancy?

VoIP geo-redundancy can help maintain business continuity and keep your business phone system running, even in a disaster. If your main phone system fails due to hardware, networking, power, or other issues, calls can failover or forward to another location.

This way, your business can continue communicating with customers and vendors while keeping your data and systems safe.

How to Set Up VoIP Geo-Redundancy?

There are a few ways to set up VoIP geo-redundancy for your business phone system:

  1. Build redundancy into your network and its elements (routers, switches, access points, and so on).
  2. Support your LAN infrastructure with appropriate backup power along with secondary and tertiary internet connections.
  3. Include legacy connections like PRIs or modern phone connections like SIP trunks in your disaster recovery plan.
  4. Get a highly-redundant VoIP service provider with 99.999% uptime who can continue providing service.
  5. Set incoming calls to automatically forward to a different location or team if your main office is unavailable.

As you can see, there are a few different ways you can include geo-redundancy with your VoIP systems. And businesses that use cloud phone systems will have an easier time implementing these strategies than on-premise systems.

The image below shows some benefits of geo-redundancy.

Top 7 Benefits of VoIP Geo-Redundancy

VoIP geo-redundancy is a top business priority, especially in this digital age, because of the countless benefits it can bring to businesses:

1. High Availability Services

High-availability phone service can guarantee 99.99% uptime. This way, you can continue to operate your business with little to no downtime or recovery time while ensuring data integrity. Want to know more about our highly redundant service? Learn more about the Global Call Forwarding network.

2. Multiple Redundancy Use Cases

Here are some common VoIP geo-redundancy use cases:

  • Network — Install additional network devices and phone lines, increasing network availability.
  • Power — Support your IT infrastructure with a backup power supply, including UPS devices and generators.
  • Colocation — Have geographical distance between two physical locations so that operations can be failed over to the other location to maintain business continuity.

3. Plan for Disaster Recovery

Whether affected by natural disasters, power outages, or a sudden war, you can keep your business running by planning ahead. Re-route services to a functional data center or backup distributed teams.

4. Maintain Business Continuity

When you use services with high availability and plan for disaster recovery, you create a structured approach for unplanned circumstances. This ensures that critical data and applications remain safe while your business operates efficiently.

5. Improved User Latency

You can even have data centers or points of presence (POPs) located near your end-users to reduce delays and improve response times. And since the distance between servers and users decreases, you can increase and maintain high call quality, improving the caller experience.

6. Build Efficient Systems

With geo-redundancy, you can build an efficient business phone system with advanced call management and other UC capabilities. Control and manage call traffic to achieve maximum performance with the highest voice quality.

7. Affordable and Scalable

More importantly, VoIP redundancy brings affordability and scalability to your business. Using a system like this allows you to upgrade and add new software or applications without risking downtime. You can even use geo-redundancy to support your remote and distributed teams, making physical distance less of a hurdle. The best part? These upgrades come with little to no costs as your teams and operations grow.

Related: Modernizing Legacy Phone Systems: How and Why to Upgrade?

VoIP Redundancy with Global Call Forwarding

VoIP geo-redundancy is essential to protecting your cloud phone system. It not only ensures your business remains “active” and “available” at all times but also safeguards data and applications. It’s not too late to get started.

High call quality and network reliability drives our global voice service – enabling businesses to connect with customers no matter their location. We also have multiple POPs across the Americas and APAC and an in-house-built secure voice communication app compatible with all platforms. Additionally, we can help you set up failover plans for your business phone system via advanced call routing, intelligent IVR, international call forwarding, and more.

Want to know how we can support your redundancy plans? Speak with our telecom experts today; call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online!

9 Themes and Takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2022

Enterprise Connect (EC) 2022 just took place from March 21-24, 2022.

This year’s expo was fantastic with a wonderfully decorated floor plan, an absolutely stacked speaker panel, and cutting-edge technologies abound. There was great energy in the air as attendees returned from a nearly three-year hiatus.

While there was a lot going on — between the huge turnout, industry-leading panel speakers, delightful booth stunts, and corporate swag — several trends and takeaways stood out among the rest.

What is Enterprise Connect?

Enterprise Connect (EC) is a business show that brings together corporate IT decision-makers with industry vendors, UC analysts, and telecom consultants. People attend Enterprise Connect to learn about new technologies and discuss issues related to business communications.

For over 30 years, EC has been the leading conference and expo for enterprise communications and collaboration in North America. It takes place at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando.

For those unfamiliar with the event, everyone “who’s who” in the North American business communications space usually attends.

4 Major Themes from EC 2022

After a few years of virtual events, EC finally returned to an in-person conference in 2022. And as you might expect, some communications technologies improved exponentially since the last in-person event.

These were the four major themes at Enterprise Connect 22:

Contact Center AI

Contact centers everywhere are looking to scale down their workforce by automating certain repetitive processes.

Automation isn’t only happening in the contact center space, though. If you go into pretty much any supermarket, grocery store, fast food joint, etc., you’ll see many instances of jobs becoming automated.

At Enterprise Connect, AI communications vendors got to showcase their latest robots, voice avatars, and messaging bots.

Some of the voice robots at the show were able to interpret speech and respond intelligently in a humanlike voice. Others were able to parse SMS strings and translate inbound text messages into coffee orders.

That being said, humans aren’t being totally replaced in businesses and contact centers just yet.

Soft skills will always be needed. A human element is still necessary in the case of escalations and for handling more complicated requests.

But, simple and repetitive over-the-phone processes benefit from becoming more automated, and in many cases, they already have.

Conversation Analytics

Because I work closely with our customer-facing teams here, conversation analytics was the most interesting trend for me at Enterprise Connect 22.

I often overhear inside sales and support calls and listen to call recordings through our internal systems. But rather than relying on these small sample sizes of overheard phone calls, conversation intelligence enables business people to tap into larger amounts of data to understand phone conversations and video meetings at scale.

Imagine sifting through keywords to understand what prospective customers are calling about, instead of sitting on a chaotic sales floor. The training opportunities for sales leaders are immense, while marketers and business analysts gain more access to big data.

For example, you can cherry-pick certain keywords that you’re promoting from a marketing standpoint, actually see how often those keywords were discussed along with their sentiment, and then replay specific parts of those conversations.

Or, as a sales leader, you can see how often sellers veer away from their talk tracks. Or, for customer support and product development, you can see what’s working and what needs to be improved.

Conversation analytics lets you listen to specific conversations from anywhere in the world, and not just from inside a contact center — which is especially important as teams are becoming more distributed globally.

This EC 22 trend is actually already available in a lot of messaging and email apps. It’s a newer technology in the voice communications space.

For one, voice analytics and intelligence require accurate transcriptions. Vendors in this space might compete on how many different languages and dialects their NLP can interpret.

Second, it helps to have an intuitive interface to search through conversations and access specific parts of a recording, along with an easy-to-use dashboard for displaying relevant information.

Multichannel

Omnichannel and embedded communications were a major theme at Enterprise Connect 2022.

New technologies enable contact center operators to escalate phone calls into video meetings. This is less of a priority for brands dealing in emerging markets, which have lower smartphone penetration and slower mobile speeds.

Still, consumers want to interact with brands through their preferred channels. For some, this means SMS and messaging. Others still prefer phone conversations in this day and age.

Businesses and contact center professionals want to interact with customers across multiple channels on a single platform. This means support agents should be able to read and reply to messages, make and receive calls, and much more through a unified contact center solution. In the past, people needed to use different technologies for each.

Vendors will either provide prebuilt solutions with all of these functions or allow businesses to access different channels through APIs.

Omnichannel isn’t an entirely new trend, but has accelerated significantly in recent years and was very present at Enterprise Connect this year.

Interoperability

Modern buyers want their new software to seamlessly integrate with the other tools in their tech stack. It’s no longer the case where service providers can just offer up an API for buyers to build out their own integrations.

It’s been a communications trend for a while, but voice and messaging integrations continue to prove valuable.

Some tools like Ferdi allow you to combine your favorite messaging apps into one place. Others let you use their service natively within another application, like CRM dialers. Finally, wholesale telco vendors at EC were promoting their API capabilities, for example, for access to their virtual inventories.

Businesses now expect turnkey integrations across their most frequently used applications.

5 Other Takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2022

While the four themes above were the most important at Enterprise Connect this year, I left the show with several other key takeaways. Some are recurring themes, while others have sprouted up in recent years.

Sales Tools

This one builds on top of AI automation, interoperability, multichannel, and conversation intelligence.

First off, we have a long way to go before AI replaces salespeople. Robots might take the places of humans for basic functions, but talented salespeople are irreplaceable. Human salespeople are here to stay.

If you’re still blasting out robocalls with a recording, just stop. You’re going to annoy potential customers, and as a result of STIR/SHAKEN, you probably won’t even be able to properly deliver calls soon.

So, these sales tools are centered less around sales replacement and more around sales enablement.

Power dialers, auto-dialers, click-to-call, and sales integrations have been around forever. But, analytics for coaching was a big trend at Enterprise Connect.

Especially with in-person sales teams becoming more distributed, it’s more important than ever for sales leaders to have the right tools to understand what their reps are saying.

Remote Work

Enterprise Connect had plenty of panels on this topic. I’m not going to speculate on which technologies will emerge and how this will look in the long run, but it’s sure to include some combination of augmented and virtual reality.

However, based on my conversations, it’s clear that talent retention will be much harder — if not impossible — for companies that are not flexible about work from home and asynchronous work. In addition, the most talented minds prefer to work based on output rather than time spent.

And since most businesses have been working remotely the last few years, remote work was a big theme at Enterprise Connect this year.

And following this wave of companies working remotely are better monitoring tools for remote employees — especially in customer-facing roles that rely on a high level of activity and availability.

Another big takeaway from Enterprise Connect 2022 was the number of call tracking tools and innovation within workforce efficiency management software.

Customer Acquisition

Customer acquisition costs across all industries are going through the roof. Businesses are looking to diversify the channels through which they acquire customers. Trade show expenditures surely decreased throughout the pandemic, while the costs to acquire customers through digital channels skyrocketed.

With the return of in-person events, it was interesting to see the budgets that various brands were allocating to their booths.

There were some really spectacular designs and giveaways. And at the same time, the designs for other booths looked straight out of the early 2000s.

There also didn’t seem to be much correlation between booth sizes, profitability, and network strength. Some legacy operators turning huge profits had more modest booths while other less highly-regarded providers had massive, costly displays.

Enterprise Connect Mainly Targets North America

Attendees of this event were mainly English speakers, which makes sense as the conference was hosted in Orlando, Florida. On top of that, the United States telecom market is highly developed and has fewer restrictions compared to other international markets.

And you know what they say: money talks. Most huge corporate budgets are concentrated in the USA and other English-speaking countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia. That’s why there were some exhibitors from Ireland and the United Kingdom. But there weren’t many from emerging economies.

This got me thinking: what are the biggest enterprise communications and collaboration conferences in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America?

GITEX was more diverse, hosting attendees throughout EMEA, but it was less focused on communications than technology in general.

So many markets exist besides the English-speaking countries. And due to the nature of cloud services, vendors can provide services from anywhere. There is also potential for business expansion in more diverse conferences.

Call Quality Monitoring

There are so many fly-by-night companies in this space. We’ve been around since 1996, but the newer companies popping up seem to use unreliable, low-cost routes to save costs on their end.

In order to scale your customer base and support model, the voice quality of your global calls must be crystal clear.

Luckily, there were some vendors at Enterprise Connect like Spearline who help companies with proactive number testing and quality assurance.

Final Thoughts on EC 2022

Overall, Enterprise Connect 2022 was exceptionally well put together. It would have been nice to stay longer and attend more keynote sessions, but the conversations I had with partners, friends, and analysts were invaluable.

Special shoutout to Ryan Daily and the No Jitter team for putting this together. They gathered a really impressive group of analysts and industry leaders and presented the telecom industry with new insights and goals.

I look forward to watching these Enterprise Connect trends continue to grow in the near future.

What is VoIP Termination and Why Do You Need it?

Dropped calls, inaccessibility, and high calling costs are unacceptable when it comes to enterprise communications. Without high-quality voice, your business will have a hard time connecting with essential customers and vendors. The answer to this problem is simple. Your business requires a phone service provider that can support your communication needs and traffic. And that’s where VoIP termination comes in.

In this post, we’ll go over what VoIP termination and origination services are and how to find the right provider for your business.

Understand VoIP and Voice Termination

Think of VoIP calls as having two endpoints. The origination end is where calls are placed, while the termination end is where receivers are being called.

In reality, making and receiving voice calls are two separate services, even if you use one device for both. And since they are different services, your VoIP origination and VoIP termination providers don’t have to be the same.

To fully understand how VoIP calling works, we must first understand how VoIP calls are connected and terminated. Once you get the basics down, you can determine which termination or origination providers best suit your needs.

What is VoIP Origination?

VoIP origination refers to incoming calling. The term ‘VoIP origination’ simply refers to the process of handling the originating call (incoming call) and delivering it to the receiver (your business). In other words, it focuses on how a phone call is placed and how it travels to the receiver.

So — even though the wording is confusing — your business is not actually placing or originating the call. Instead, your provider receives the call and routes it to your business phone number without any obstacles. This means, you need a valid and functioning phone number to facilitate voice origination services and receive calls.

What is VoIP Termination?

In short, VoIP termination is outbound calling. VoIP call termination is the process of routing phone calls from one provider (usually a VoIP network) to another provider (PSTN or VoIP networks) until the recipient receives them. It is the process of delivering outgoing calls to the numbers dialed. While you do not need a phone number to send or terminate calls, you need a voice termination service.

VoIP termination is also called voice termination and call termination. And providers offering this service are called VoIP termination providers or voice termination providers.

How to Choose the Best VoIP Termination Provider

A VoIP termination provider or termination carrier is a telecom provider that offers voice and call termination services — the ability to place outbound voice calls to your receiver’s phone numbers.

Since origination and termination are different services, the providers are not always the same. There are plenty of providers out there. So, it is important to understand what each provider offers and how their services can help you build an efficient phone system. Most VoIP termination providers deliver the following:

When choosing a VoIP termination provider, you need to keep a few factors in mind.

1. Cost and Value

In most cases, your call termination provider decides how to route your calls, pays for that service, and charges you a markup. So, they can decide to use least cost routing (LCR) for a more cost-effective service while still charging you high calling rates. Low-cost routes lead to low-quality audio – which causes dropped calls, muffled audio, delays, and more. Opt for a provider that is transparent about their services and networks.

2. Infrastructure and Network

Additionally, your provider may use network partners to route calls outside their own VoIP infrastructure, especially for long-distance and international calling. But if they work with low-grade carriers instead of reliable routes, that can also impact call quality.

On top of that, routing calls over multiple layers can also affect call quality and security. So, it’s important to understand what carriers they work with and how they route their calls.

3. Access and Controls

Ideally, your voice termination provider gives you full admin privileges to route and manage calls when you receive them. Different providers offer different levels of access control. So, it is important to understand if your provider can accommodate your routing needs.

You can always reach out to your provider’s tech support team to understand what this will look like for your business. With Global Call Forwarding, you can manage advanced routing for different numbers, phone lines, and offices, all through an intuitive, online control panel.

The image shows voice termination through an online VoIP portal.

4. Availability

You also want to find a provider with high redundancy and failover support. This way, you have backups set up in case your primary system fails due to outages, server failures, natural disasters, and so on. With VoIP geo-redundancy, you can get your phone system back up and running quickly, with little to no downtime.

5. Features and Flexibility

Each provider offers different features and functionalities with their phone service. Now, you may not need all of these features, but some essential features include:

  • Advanced routing
  • Local, toll-free, and international phone numbers
  • Caller ID management and local caller ID
  • Softphone for outbound calls

So, it is a good idea to list down core features needed and filter through to find providers who can support your needs.

VoIP Termination with Global Call Forwarding

Global Call Forwarding offers VoIP termination through our Outbound Calling service. We provide high-quality termination to PSTN, VoIP, and mobile networks or GSM. Our diverse and highly-available voice network of local and international providers enables us to offer local, toll-free, and international calling at competitive rates.

With our geo-redundant network paired with Tier-1 carriers, you can experience high-quality calls with fewer hops. This creates a better call experience for all users.

An image of how VoIP termination works through a reliable voice network.

Why Your Business Needs Call Termination?

Voice termination lets you place high-quality outbound calls from any location or device. You can even customize your outgoing caller ID to display specific phone numbers. This lets you personalize the way you reach out to different customers and vendors around the globe and increase response rates.

So, why do you need VoIP termination and what do you get with the service?

Global Call Forwarding offers the following with our Outbound Calling service:

  • Termination of local, interstate, and international calls
  • Full geo-redundancy with multiple data centers and POPs
  • International SIP trunking
  • Caller ID management
  • Receive calls back on desired numbers
  • Integrate with your existing phone system
  • Access to our Softphone
  • Consolidate all voice services into one global telephony platform
  • 24/7 responsive customer support
  • Dedicated account management
  • Multiple pricing plans starting at $25/month

Scale Globally with Global Voice Termination

From small businesses to large enterprises, every type of business requires inbound and outbound voice calling for their corporate and satellite offices spread across the globe. Use our service to add global voice coverage to your business phone system.

Chat with our telecom experts to find a suitable solution for your business communication needs. Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or request a demo.

Inbound vs Outbound Call Center: Definition, Features, Differences

When you’re running a call center, managing calls effectively is of the utmost importance. But, to successfully manage calls, you need to determine the type of call center you are running. Specifically, will your call center focus on inbound or outbound calls?

Call centers with inbound and outbound services serve different purposes and therefore need different approaches. Let’s compare inbound and outbound call centers by discussing definitions, features, and differences. This will help you determine what call center software and solutions fit your needs.

Understanding Inbound and Outbound Call Centers

It is essential to understand the type of call center you run — this will help address communication needs, implement new protocols, measure success, and more. Additionally, inbound and outbound call centers require different cloud-based call center software and features to communicate with callers effectively.

Let’s dive in!

What is an Inbound Call Center?

“Inbound” refers to incoming calls — calls coming into your business. Inbound call centers focus on receiving incoming calls from customers and prospects. In other words, agents wait for users to contact them instead of vice versa.

Most call centers with inbound services specialize in customer support, as the majority of calls come from existing buyers. These typically involve questions about the service, troubleshooting assistance, or product issues. But, they sometimes also include inbound sales, where interested prospects call to learn more about a business’ products or services.

Inbound Call Center Features

Successful customer service at inbound call centers occurs when agents respond to customer situations and quickly identify the best possible solution. So, what types of tools help teams achieve this?

Let’s take a look at these 3 essential inbound call center software features:

1. Advanced IVR (Auto-Attendant) – This cloud communication tool automatically answers all incoming calls and routes callers to their desired department or agent. It can also assist callers with simple tasks and provide general company information.

Cloud IVR systems increase your inbound call center’s efficiency and help avoid customer frustration, by reducing repeat calls and hold times.

2. Call Flow Builder – Use this tool to visualize and build call flows according to your call center’s evolving needs. This feature enables complete control over the way inbound calls travel through your system. So, you can manage your incoming calls more efficiently and improve the caller’s experience. You can even create custom call flows for different clients and offer more personalized experiences.

3. Routing Strategies – With advanced routing capabilities, you can effectively manage and distribute your call center’s inbound calls. Since these preset strategies or “rules” are managed in the cloud, you can modify or scale them to your call center’s growth as necessary.

Integrate strategies like Round Robin routing and Time of Day routing to improve customer satisfaction and balance your team’s workload. Or, use techniques like Failover Forwarding or Find Me Follow Me to ensure you never miss calls again.

Related: Call Center Trends in 2023

What is an Outbound Call Center?

An outbound call center is essentially the opposite of an inbound one. “Outbound” refers to outgoing calls. Outbound agents proactively call consumers and prospects instead of waiting for customers to contact them.

Typically, call centers for outbound services specialize in quality sales, brand awareness, and effective cold-calling. And, these calls usually revolve around prospecting, upselling, offering upgrades or renewals, and promotions. Sometimes representatives also use outgoing calls to conduct surveys and collect market research.

Related: 11 Tips to Improve Your Outbound Calls Strategy

Outbound Call Center Features

The main goal of agents at call centers with outbound calls is to generate leads, target users, and drive sales growth. So, are there any features that help outbound agents reach their goals?

Here are 3 beneficial features for outbound call centers:

1. Caller ID Management – This cloud telephony feature allows you to hide or mask your outgoing caller ID with another phone number. You can also choose to display a country-specific caller ID when making calls to customers around the world.

By displaying a familiar, local caller ID, you encourage users to answer, increasing sales and revenue. Caller ID management also protects an agent’s caller information when working remotely or on the go.

2. GCF Softphone – A softphone is a web-based dialer that enables you to make outbound calls from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world. Most softphones are compatible with PCs, tablets, and smartphones. They make connecting teams across multiple locations or reaching out to international customers effortless. Additionally, they include features like in-network calling, attended call transfer, and voicemail. If your call center needs a cost-effective solution with UC capabilities and a quick installation time, consider using a softphone.

The GCF softphone is also capable of receiving calls. However, most providers only offer this service if you have an outbound calling plan.

3. Call Detail RecordsCall detail records log important details about the calls on your system. Learn more about your customers’ calling behavior, pain points, preferences, and more using call records.

This information allows you to craft a more personalized and enhanced customer experience, leading to a growth in sales. Additionally, you can analyze call data to identify quality leads and new target markets.

A comparison of outbound call centers versus inbound call centers.

Call Centers with Inbound vs Outbound Services: 3 Major Differences

The difference between call centers with inbound or outbound services comes down to three primary functions – call direction, overall goals, and call center software.

1. Direction

Of course, the first major difference is how most calls in your center travel. Inbound call centers have a majority of incoming calls. And, call centers with outbound services have mostly outgoing calls. The types of services you want to offer determine your call flow. Sales and outreach will need an outbound call center solution to manage outgoing calls and cold-calling. On the other hand, customer service will require an inbound call center to handle incoming calls.

2. Purpose and Goals

Second, the main goal and purpose of call centers with inbound services differ from those with outbound services. Inbound call center agents primarily offer support to existing clients. Whereas outbound reps usually concentrate on generating leads and targeting customers for sales. So, strategies, prompts, software features, and success measurement will vary at either call center.

3. Call Center Software

The third significant difference between call centers with inbound and outbound services is technology and software requirements. For instance, inbound call centers need features like advanced IVR or auto-attendants for call management. And, outbound call centers require dialers for placing outgoing calls.

But, simply supplying inbound call centers with a dialer or outbound centers with an IVR makes these tools less effective. This is because they don’t fit the primary purpose of each call center. That’s where you will need a solution that combines services of both types of call centers.

Enter: blended call centers.

Blended Call Centers

If your business requires both inbound and outbound call center capabilities, you don’t have to choose one or the other. Blended call centers, also known as hybrid centers, help your company provide both incoming and outgoing communications through one channel. By centralizing your business communication in one call center, you create a more consistent customer experience.

In addition to the features previously discussed, blended call center reps benefit from cloud call center features — like recordings, integrations, and analytics — that work for both types of calls. For example, call recording can improve productivity and works as a great training tool, which is useful for sales and support teams. And CRM software integrations can also open your system’s functionality and efficiency.

Choosing The Best Call Center Software for Your Business

Whether you’re running a call center with inbound, outbound, or blended services, you need the right call center software. Consider your communication goals and budget when choosing the best call center services for your business.

A reliable VoIP provider, like Global Call Forwarding, offers your call center access to advanced call features and tools to create a phone system that fits your needs. Call center software for inbound and outbound services comes with any of our cloud phone number plans.

Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or request a demo to learn more about our services and what we can do for you!

9 E-Commerce Marketing Strategies

E-commerce businesses are more accessible than ever before. They’ve spread to a wide variety of platforms and even modified themselves to different devices. If you have an online business of your own, you know it’s a very saturated market. So, figuring out how to build a memorable brand can be difficult. That’s where e-commerce marketing strategies come in. These tactics help online businesses boost and sustain their growth.

The Growing Need for E-Commerce Marketing Strategies

Whether you’re starting up an online business or you’ve been running one for years, it’s vital to invest in e-commerce marketing strategies. These online marketing tactics and trends are constantly evolving to better suit users. If you want to see even more sales come through your business, following these digital marketing techniques is critical.

What is E-Commerce Marketing?

E-commerce marketing is a strategy that helps businesses sell products and services online. These strategies drive up e-commerce sales by promoting brand awareness and directing attention to the products. A good digital business marketing strategy informs and engages the business’ customer base. Some examples of e-commerce marketing include:

  • Blogs and content marketing
  • Banners and pop-ups
  • Digital ads
  • Social media posts

E-commerce marketing is equally as important to business growth as order fulfillment and other aspects of doing business.

Challenges of E-Commerce Marketing

E-commerce is an extremely competitive space for businesses. Since other online businesses use e-commerce marketing strategies to increase their sales, it is hard to stand out. To successfully build brand awareness, businesses need multiple marketing channels and approaches. Although this leads to more staff and time spent, it is required to drive business growth.

Developing a Successful Marketing Strategy for E-Commerce

Before you jump right into creating a growth marketing plan, there are some foundational elements to consider. Defining these fundamental components is vital to creating a successful e-commerce marketing strategy. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

  • Identify your target market – Your target audience influences brand voice, messaging, communication methods, platforms, and more. With a key target audience in mind, you’ll draw the right customers to your company. But if you don’t understand your target market, you’ll end up with a weak campaign that doesn’t drive profitable customer action.
  • Establish goals and objectives – Outline what you want to achieve with your e-commerce marketing strategies. Goals keep your strategy focused on the bigger picture. Objectives break down your goals and strategies into smaller, achievable steps. Clearly identifying goals and objectives will also help you measure success down the line.
  • Analyze your business journey so far – Take a close look at your business’ evolution and current progress. In what areas are you struggling or succeeding? What types of strategies or campaigns worked for you in the past? Your business’ journey will help highlight the areas to focus on in your strategies to increase business growth. Additionally, you can recycle strategies that previously worked, saving your business both time and money.

9 E-Commerce Marketing Strategies for Your Business

After you’ve developed your foundational elements, it’s time to begin planning your e-commerce marketing approach. Here are some e-commerce marketing strategies to help get you started:

  1. Create & Promote Original Content
  2. Optimize Your Website
  3. Communicate & Interact with Your Customers
  4. Create a Personalized Experience
  5. Offer Incentives & Rewards
  6. Enhance Customer Service
  7. Expand to Social Media
  8. Keep Up with Your Competitors
  9. Create a Community & Following

1. Create & Promote Original Content

Original, quality content attracts and retains your target customers and, if successful, leads to profitable consumer action. This e-commerce marketing strategy focuses on the production and circulation of consistent, timely, and valuable materials.

Your content should deliver messages, inform, and, of course, entertain to keep the audience coming back for more. Use your content to support different departments (i.e., marketing, sales, production, etc.) in their goals. Additionally, use web pages, blog posts, and guides to further amplify your business’ products, services, brand, and more. This establishes your company as an industry expert and a trustful source.

So what kind of content should you create? There is so much freedom when it comes to creating your content. For example, here are a few different types of content you could develop:

  • Blog posts
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
  • Newsletters
  • Knowledge bases
  • Videos
  • Podcasts
  • Social media

It may be obvious to state, but different types of content provide different types of value to consumers. But, all should work together to guide users through their customer journey.

Now, let’s discuss promoting content. If you don’t market your content, there’s a chance no one will see it. Marketing is just as important as content writing and creation. The most popular technique for content marketing is search engine optimization (SEO). A strong content marketing method and e-commerce SEO strategy help increase brand visibility and awareness.

Overall, content marketing and the use of a reliable SEO text generator for content creation, can contribute to your brand’s distinctiveness in comparison to online competitors. This approach not only helps in cultivating a loyal audience but also plays a vital role in establishing trust between your brand and consumers.

2. Optimize Your Website

Up to 100 percent of your business is probably done on your website. So, making sure it’s fully optimized will ensure customers navigate your website seamlessly and feel encouraged to make purchases. There are a few different elements that go into creating a fully optimized website. Let’s take a look.

  • Website Design – Your website’s layout and design should be simple and attractive. You want to draw customers in, convince them to stay, and ultimately, make a purchase. Here are some tips for creating a well-designed website:
    • Grab your user’s attention with high-quality photographs, graphics, and color choice.
    • Make sure important information like return policies are clear and easy to find.
    • Present products and services in an unforgettable way.
    • Offer easy access to significant content that will help them in their buying journey.
  • User Experience – User experience (UX) is the most important element to consider when building your website. Good UX occurs when you understand what users want to see and access and help them do that effectively. Make their experience as smooth as possible by creating an easy-to-use website. Avoid complicated site navigation, slow transitions, unnecessary content, or complex designs.
  • Conversion Rates – A responsive site contributes to better UX and website design. It keeps visitors on your website and reduces bounce rate. A responsive website includes the following:
    • Quick loading times
    • Mobile conversion
    • Good page-to-page connectivity
  • Checkout Process – A smooth checkout process can single-handedly boost your e-commerce sales. It doesn’t take much to create a great cart and checkout design. The key is to be as transparent as possible with shipping costs, taxes, and other fees. This ensures the customer doesn’t encounter any surprises that scare them away when purchasing. Additionally, provide multiple payment options such as PayPal and major credit cards.

A fully optimized website aims to remove as many roadblocks as possible in every design element.

This image shows a marketing strategy for an ecommerce brand.

3. Communicate & Interact with Your Customers

Customers expect responsive support. So, when they want to get in touch with your business, you must make it easy for them to contact you. Consider adding a contact page to your website with omnichannel options like email, business phone number, chat, social media, and more. This way, your customers can reach out to you through their preferred method of communication.

Having omnichannel communication methods is also a great strategy for reaching out to your customers. Take a look at these 3:

  1. On-Platform Messaging – Providing a way to communicate on your e-commerce platform removes all roadblocks for you and your customer. This method transforms your online store to literally a one-stop shop for both sales and support. With everything on the same platform, you can access customers’ purchase histories. This means you can quickly update users on order status and return policies, without searching through your archives. For example, Etsy allows buyers and customers to message each other.
  2. Outbound Calling Service — Increase both sales and brand awareness with outbound calling for your online business. Adding outbound calling to your e-commerce marketing strategy gives you the opportunity to welcome new users, send out reminders, collect feedback, and much more. Through this method, you’ll receive valuable insight into your consumers and services. And, you’ll also craft a more personalized experience for customers in the process.
  3. Email – Email gives you the opportunity to follow up on abandoned orders, send promotional coupons, direct users to onboarding info, and more. You can personalize each email to different target audience segments. This method allows you to generate leads, boost traffic to your website, and drive sales.

If you can only use one of these methods, consider your business needs, target audience’s preferences, platform’s capabilities, and overall budget.

4. Craft a Personalized Experience

A personalized experience creates a lasting impression on customers, bringing them back to your business. This e-commerce marketing strategy helps increase consumer loyalty, brand reputation, and revenue. Most of all, it separates you from your competition. One way to do so is by using headless e-commerce platforms that deliver highly personalized shopping experiences to each and every customer. A tailored service encourages consumers to stay with your brand instead of switching to another. That is so important in such a competitive marketplace.

With personalized service, you eliminate irrelevant options for users and direct them to products they need. This establishes a relationship between your business and the customer. You can incorporate personalization into your e-commerce marketing strategy through:

  • Personalized emails
  • Recommended products
  • Targeted ads and pop-ups
  • Websites and pages customized to users’ interests

Targeted strategies like these make the consumer feel understood and boost loyalty towards your business.

5. Offer Incentives & Rewards

Who doesn’t love a good reward? This is a sure-fire way to drive sales up. Incentives motivate consumers to interact with your brand. Incentive marketing for e-commerce grabs a user’s attention with unique offers, discounts, sales, and more. It gives consumers who are on your website an extra push to make a purchase. Here are some incentives to offer:

  • Coupons
  • Promo Codes
  • Loyalty Programs

These incentives and rewards encourage repeat clients and repeat purchases, while promoting consumer retention and loyalty.

6. Enhance Customer Service

Customer support and service are parts of any business, whether it’s online or in person. Support methods are always adapting to the consumer. But, here’s an opportunity to expand your e-commerce marketing strategies past traditional avenues. Delivering high-quality customer service starts with these methods:

  • Omnichannel Communication – Multiple channels of communication such as over-the-phone service or chatbots provide customers with options. This way, they can choose their ideal method of communication.
  • Accessibility and Reachability – Being easily accessible is the minimum requirement for a high-quality service. Customers want to immediately reach you when they need help. Local and toll-free numbers come in handy for global businesses or businesses looking to expand internationally. These numbers provide an easy, free way for callers to get a hold of you. Make sure to advertise your toll-free number to your customers, if they need it.
  • Round the Clock Support – 24/7, real-time support builds reliable and quality customer service. Consumers always know you’re available if they require assistance no matter what. To provide constant support service via phone, consider time-based or follow-the-sun routing models. This way, you are always available to all your consumers around the world.
  • Personalization – (Surprise, surprise) Personalization goes a long way in customer service too! Consumers want to know you’re going to solve their problems according to their individual needs.

Successful, high-quality customer service results in delighting the consumer and establishing loyalty. Happy customers increase brand reputation and can even lead to great publicity through word-of-mouth.

7. Expand to Social Media

Social media works not only as an e-commerce marketing strategy, but also as another opportunity to sell. Social media is a powerful tool for attracting new customers and boosting sales. You can increase your exposure by using social media for marketing purposes. A social media proposal is a great way to show off the products you offer, connect with potential clients and build awareness about what exactly makes up an excellent customer experience.

There are so many options when it comes to social media marketing. Starting with platforms, there’s a variety to choose from, with a different target demographic tied to each. For example, Facebook has a different user base than TikTok. Select the platform that fits your target audience and brand identity.

Additionally, you can pick from paid or organic posts, depending on your business needs. Influencers also bring visibility to your brand and showcase your products to a wide audience.

Social media gives your consumers another opportunity to interact with your brand. Consumer engagement increases through likes, shares, comments, hashtags, and more. It’s easy for users to share information between different platforms, which helps your business reach an even wider audience. Trending hashtags work as an attention-grabbing strategy. You can use these hashtags to measure your campaign’s success.

8. Keep Up with Your Competitors

Always keep an eye on your business rivals. This means looking at their e-commerce marketing strategies. Consider these questions:

  • What type of content are they producing?
  • What services do they offer that you don’t?
  • Are they using any incentives or reward programs?
  • What social and digital platforms are they on?

By reviewing your competitors, you get an outside perspective on what’s working and what can be improved. Then, you can incorporate the successful tactics into your own marketing strategies. A failed campaign gives you the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and make an even better version!

9. Create a Community & Following

Building a community around your brand adds another level of value for your consumers. A community gives your consumers a space to interact with you and each other. Here are some examples:

  • Comment sections
  • Forums like Reddit, Quora
  • Social media groups like Facebook groups or Slack channels

Community building is a great e-commerce marketing strategy as it gives customers a sense of belonging.

Real-World Benefits

Although your business and these e-commerce marketing strategies happen mainly online, they have real-world benefits. Your business will build brand awareness, increase revenue, establish a loyal customer base, and so much more. We’ve discussed many different strategies here but your next steps depend on what you need. So, choose the ones that work best for your business!

Want to learn more about cloud telephony solutions for e-commerce? We can help with that! Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with our reps online!

What is Intelligent Call Routing?

Simple call routing strategies are a thing of the past in successful business phone networks. These strategies have become outdated as they often generated long wait times, multiple transfers, and overall caller frustration.

However, your business and teams can tackle these challenges head-on with an intelligent call routing solution. Smart call routing brings accuracy, responsiveness, and new functionality to your phone system. Let’s look at what this service is, how it works, and what it can do for your company.

Intelligent Call Routing For Your Business

Effective communication between businesses and consumers is essential in a customer’s lifetime. When customers contact your company, you want them to reach the best person or department to satisfy their needs. Smart call routing is an affordable cloud communication solution that helps direct callers to the right employee, leading to better call management.

In this short guide, we will go over:

  • Definition and Features
  • Benefits of Intelligent Call Routing
  • Common Use Cases
  • Smart Call Routing Best Practices

What is Smart Call Routing?

Smart or intelligent call routing systems receive incoming calls, gather information from or about the caller, and route them to the appropriate agent or department. Some intelligent routing services even help users complete simple tasks or answer frequently asked questions. This service feature helps streamline the caller’s experience by eliminating unnecessary transfers.

Some providers have a smart call routing package ready to use upon activation. Others have call routing services with access to customizable, advanced features. When applied to your system, features like Interactive Voice Response (IVR) make your routing intelligent. This type of routing strategy is also known as IVR call routing.

intelligent routing explanation

How Does Intelligent Call Routing Work?

Intelligent phone call routing works alongside your cloud phone system to effectively manage inbound calls. Once a call comes in, the system automatically redirects callers to the correct department based on collected caller information.

The system gathers this information by asking callers to select an option from the preset menu concerning the intent of the call. Users make their desired selection by dialing the appropriate keypad number or speaking their answer. The caller’s input then determines the routing destination.

In other cases, the system routes the caller based on the caller ID and the account attached to that phone number. There are a few different ways to employ intelligent call routing; you’ll need to work with your cloud phone service provider to understand available options.

Specific destinations and how your incoming calls move through your phone system depend on the routing rules you create. You can easily input new rules and manage your call flow using your provider’s online platform or contacting them directly. Your preset rules define your phone systems:

  • Menu prompts and options
  • Routing destinations based on caller input
  • Alternate routing destinations or failover forwarding
  • Ring times and strategies
  • Advanced routing strategies like holiday routing and more.

Advanced Features for Intelligent Call Routing

As mentioned earlier, some providers offer access to advanced features that transform your regular IVR call routing system into an intelligent one. This allows businesses with evolving needs to customize call management setups and scale as necessary. Or, if you have an existing system in place (such as PBX), this is an easy way to increase functionality.

So, what types of features contribute to a smart call routing system?

Here are a few that come in handy:

  • Advanced IVR (Auto-Attendant) – With this feature, an automated voice automatically answers inbound calls and communicates with callers. It provides general information, instructions, and menu options. Advanced IVR is capable of organizing, prioritizing, and transferring incoming calls to boost your system’s proficiency. And, you can design your IVR system from the ground up to fit your business needs.
  • Customized Greetings, Voicemails, and Prompts – These customization tools allow you to upload greetings and personalize your phone system. It is useful for instructions, menu prompts, branding, and promotions. Even more so, it impacts the customer’s initial impression of your company and your quality of service.
  • Ring Groups (also Hunt Groups) – This advanced feature lets you ring several lines among your departments, teams, or agents. With the ring group model, you can either ring all users at the same time (simultaneously) or in a specific order (sequentially). This strategy helps your teams never miss calls by distributing them effectively.
  • Call Flow Builder – A call flow designer is an interactive tool that allows you to create custom call flows. So, you have complete control over the call process and how it travels through your system. A well-structured call flow design helps improve caller experience and streamlines your communications.

Related: 6 Call Flow Templates for Efficient Business Communication

The image below shows an intelligent call routing diagram.
All of these features and more (like different routing strategies) help increase your network’s functionality and make smart call routing possible.

11 Benefits of Using IVR Call Routing

Smart routing is a popular solution for companies of all sizes that want to improve their phone system’s efficiency and overall performance. With a streamlined solution like IVR call routing, you can accurately distribute and route calls among your teams and deliver quick assistance to callers. This is beneficial for both your agents and customers, as it saves both parties time.

Let’s dig into all the benefits this feature offers:

  • Decrease call duration and wait times
  • Improve caller experience
  • Improve first call resolution (FCR)
  • Boost employee productivity
  • Manage this feature from any location
  • Reduce costs
  • Increase customer satisfaction
  • Better call reliability
  • Enhance network proficiency and functionality
  • Easy to set up
  • Never miss an important call

Intelligent Call Routing Use Cases

All types of businesses and teams can use smart call routing to efficiently manage inbound calls. So, to give you a better understanding of how companies and teams use IVR call routing, let’s go over some use cases:

• Businesses with high-call volumes – Intelligent routing helps businesses manage high-call volumes. It increases accuracy and handling capacity by routing callers to the correct agent or department. This way, callers avoid excessive wait times, multiple transfers, and repetitive explanations – which would otherwise lead to frustration and customer dissatisfaction. Instead, IVR call routing connects callers with the agent best-suited for their request the first time around. And in the process, it boosts your first call resolution rates and gradually reduces your call queue.

This image shows an example of intelligent call routing.
• Call centers – Maximizes a service center’s efficiency through call center IVR strategies and automation. Auto-attendants route callers to their chosen agent or department, significantly reducing hold times. Agents can then solve the customer’s issue and quickly move on to the next caller. So, your team’s productivity and customer satisfaction increases while your call handling times decrease.

• Sales and support teams – Some intelligent phone routing systems give you access to caller information like demographics or previous call history. Your system can then match reps with callers based on this data, resulting in better customer service.

• Remote teams – Whether you have a remote branch or your team works from home, intelligent call routing helps connect your teams – no matter their location. This is because the feature uses remote call forwarding to automatically route calls to any device. You can also use this as a failover forwarding technique. All you have to do is set it up in your service’s control panel.

Best Practices for IVR Call Routing

Here are some things to pay attention to when implementing IVR call routing into your phone system:

  • Map out your call flow or phone tree before inputting it into your system.
  • Keep IVR menu options short and simple. Avoid overloading callers with options.
  • Prioritize menu options based on common call topics or requests.
  • Consider your caller’s intent when creating your routing rules and call flow.
  • Don’t rely too heavily on phone system automation. Leave room for personalization.
  • Opt for a human voice when creating your menu, prompts, greetings, etc.
  • Monitor your network’s progress using system analytics.
  • Ask for customer feedback with phone surveys.

This image shows 8 best practices for intelligent call routing.

Ready to Add Smart Call Routing to Your Setup?

Global Call Forwarding offers intelligent call routing features with each of our phone number plans. To learn more about the benefits of advanced call routing or how to set up this service, call us at (561) 908-6171. Want to see it in action? Request a demo or chat with us online.