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Looking for a new business call forwarding service? While there are many call forwarding services in the market, you need to choose one that meets your communications needs and fits your IT budget.

Here we compare 11 best call forwarding services, so you know where to start when choosing a provider in 2024.

Choosing the Right Call Forwarding Service

Call forwarding is a cloud telephony solution that lets users automatically forward incoming calls to a different number, phone line, or location of choice. This enables employees and distributed teams to answer calls from any location or device and stay connected.

Call forwarding services give businesses the ability to communicate across geographical borders while expanding their reach and connecting with new customers.

What to Look for Business Call Forwarding Services

Choosing a call forwarding service can prove tricky when you are not entirely familiar with how the service works and what makes it reliable.

So, what makes a good business call forwarding service? Here are the top forwarding features to look for in your new call forwarding provider:

• International call forwarding
• Advanced call routing
• Call groups or hunt groups
• Follow the sun routing
• Find-me follow-me routing
• Business phone automation
• Forward-to-device
• VoIP/SIP forwarding
• Number porting

Note that most call forwarding features come free within a plan. So, watch for providers that attempt to charge highly for basic forwarding features.

How to Compare Best Call Forwarding Services

Since there are many call forwarding services out there, you need a system to determine which one works best for your business communication needs. When comparing the best call forwarding services for small business, consider the following:

• Geographical coverage: If you have teams and customers in different locations, you need to ensure your service provider has reliable coverage and geographical numbers in those areas.
• Pricing and subscription: Monthly fee for your number (if buying a new number) and forwarding service. This may include monthly calling minutes or talk time.
• Forwarding rates: This is the additional rate per minute for forwarding a call. It is not included in your monthly calling minutes and is typically a small additional charge.
• Feature set: The suite of features and tools offered.
• Setup fees: Additional charges to set up your forwarding system.

11 Best Call Forwarding Services for Business

Here we list the 11 best call forwarding services for businesses with information about features and pricing so that you can make an informed decision:

• Global Call Forwarding
• Grasshopper
• GoTo
• Talkdesk
• Google Voice
• Dialpad
• Freedomvoice
• Talkroute
• Ringcentral
• Numberbarn
• 800.com

*Note: Costs mentioned in this article are current at the time of publishing and may be subject to changes.

Choosing Global Call Forwarding

Part of reviewing best call forwarding services is to reach out to their teams and understand how exactly they can help your business run efficiently. To learn more about the international call forwarding service offered by Global Call Forwarding, speak with our experts today! Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online.

As a business, one of your primary goals is to make people comfortable with your products and services, staff, and company. And part of creating that environment of comfort and reliability is making it easy for them to connect with you.

This is why it is crucial to effectively manage incoming calls. A caller waiting in line for an hour or lost within an automated menu will lead to a disgruntled and unsatisfied customer. And your business cannot afford that.

You can avoid this by preparing for it. How? Create custom and efficient call flows to help callers move down the call flow process and arrive at the right destination.

Understanding Your Business’ Call Flow

Taking time to understand your business’ call flow can help you manage incoming calls more smoothly and improve caller experience. But how?

First, let’s start with: What is a call flow?

A call flow is a map or diagram of how incoming calls will be managed once they enter your business phone system. In other words, a call flow details what happens when a customer or prospect calls your business and how they move down the call process to the right person for assistance.

This process or flow varies based on what options a business wants to offer its callers. For example, are people calling only for customer support, or are they looking for more departments? Do you have multiple offices to route calls to? Do you need to route phone calls based on the caller’s location?

A call flow can help you map out the most effective way calls should move within the system so that your callers have the best experience.

What is the Purpose of a Call Flow?

The main purpose of designing a call flow is to manage incoming calls effectively by helping callers reach the right individual or department and get assistance quickly.

Customers calling a business do not want to be waiting in a call queue for a long time, and they definitely do not want to be bounced around from one department to another to resolve an issue. They want quick service with accurate information. It is your responsibility, as a business, to have the right tools in place to give them this uninterrupted and reliable service.

Mapping out your call flows will help you create an efficient call management system that works for both your business and your customers.

What Does a Call Flow Contain?

A call flow contains a variety of actions and interactions that decide how a call is handled. A call flow builder (cloud telephony feature) will let you control these actions and triggers so that you can create custom call flows for different business numbers and lines. Most call flows contain the following actions and interactions:

• Announcements
• Automated and attended call transfers
• IVR menus
• Advanced routing features
• Send calls to voicemail
• Send faxes to emails, etc.

You can use these different call flow features and triggers to design call flows that let your business offer reliable customer service, no matter where your teams or customers are located.

Related: 9 Benefits of Advanced Call Routing

What Steps are Included in a Call Flow?

When you start to design a call flow, you need to consider the following steps to determine how calls will move within your phone system:

1. Different phone numbers and lines involved
2. What happens when the line connects? Will callers hear an announcement or welcome message or an IVR menu with input options for different departments and scenarios?
3. What will the caller be required to do after the welcome message or IVR message?
4. Which options will be made available to the caller? Examples: speak with an employee, verify identity, activate/renew a service, leave a voicemail, etc.
5. Do you need any advanced routing systems in place? Geo-routing, time-based routing, round robin call routing, etc.
6. What departments will be included in the call flow? And what happens if the caller needs a department not listed or if they enter the wrong number?
7. What should happen if one of the options or triggers fails? Example: What if the desired team is busy and no one answers the phone for 5 minutes?

Here’s an example of steps included in a call flow:

Not sure where to start? Check out these call flow templates before you start mapping your own call flows.

Building Call Flows to enhance Caller Experience

Use the Global Call Forwarding call flow designer and IVR manager to create custom call flows for your virtual phone system. We provide this feature for free with our cloud phone number plans. Browse through our features or speak with our experts to learn more! Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online.

Phone number masking is a popular cloud communication feature being used by companies around the world for various reasons. In this post, we will go through different examples of number masking in use. In other words, how are companies using this service, and how do they benefit from it?

But first, we need to understand what number masking is and how it works.

Let’s dive in.

What is Number Masking?

Number masking, also known as call masking, is a VoIP feature that allows you to hide or “mask” your phone number. You can choose to completely hide the number from displaying on caller IDs or replace it with a different number, which is called caller ID override.

How Does a Number Masking Solution Work?

Once subscribed to a cloud phone service provider, you can set up call masking within their features. This will let you hide or display another phone number in place of your original or personal number. Then, when you call someone, they will see your masked number and won’t be privy to the actual number.

You can set up phone number masking in a few ways:

• Connecting our phone numbers to your PBX system
• Changing your outbound caller ID through the GCF control panel or account dashboard
• Changing your caller ID through the softphone app

You can get a call masking service from a cloud phone number provider like Global Call Forwarding that has the capability to hide or display specific phone numbers.

If you have a phone number plan with Global Call Forwarding, you can update your caller ID and use call masking in all three ways mentioned above.

Note: FCC rules prohibit anyone from using phone number masking with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongly obtain anything of value. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrong.

Who Uses Masked Numbers? Use Cases

Why use a masked number? From individuals to businesses, many different users would want to mask their number and avoid displaying their original phone number. Here are some use cases of number masking:

1. Remote Teams

Number masking comes in handy when your employees work remotely and need to make customer calls from their own phones. By masking their phone number, they can protect their personal information and make calls from the business number instead. This way, they appear professional and maintain credibility when calling customers.

2. Global Reach

Like with remote teams, global teams can use call masking when placing calls to customers in different regions and countries. Here, instead of hiding the number, they can show a local phone number that your business owns for a particular region or country. For example, an employee in the US calling a customer in Mexico can override the caller ID to display a local Mexico phone number instead of their personal US number. Customers are more likely to answer when they see calls coming from a local caller ID.

3. Vendor-Buyer Interactions

When managing vendor and buyer interactions — such as with a delivery service or online marketplace — it is essential to track leads and maintain excellent customer service. And part of this is facilitating vendor-buyer relationships in a comfortable and secure manner.

Masking the phone numbers of your vendors and customers ensures their privacy and protection. They can contact each other during the time of the order and not outside of that. This makes sure no one is bothered on their personal line outside of the business interaction.

You can use number masking to manage vendor-buyer interactions and driver-customer communication. Some common examples for where number masking proves helpful:

• Ride sharing apps like Uber, Lyft
• Delivery services like Doordash, Uber Eats, FedEX
• Online marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon
• Pet sitting like Rover, Spruce
• Other services like TaskRabbit, ChoreRelief

Number Masking Solution from Global Call Forwarding

You can get phone number masking with our Outbound Calling software. Simply add this service to your existing phone plan or purchase a phone plan with us.

Check our pricing page for more details, or talk to an expert today!

The growth rate for call centers and contact centers continues to rise, with more businesses looking to outsource their sales and customer service. And with advancements in telecommunications and global telephony, it is easier than ever to increase profits and revenue with a contact center.

But this is harder to achieve with outdated and vulnerable technology. With the right legacy contact center modernization, you can transform your contact center into a customer experience center.

What is Legacy Contact Center Transformation?

Legacy contact center transformation or modernization is the process of replacing or modernizing legacy phone systems and contact center technologies with new, modern ones. For most businesses, this might mean switching over to a cloud-based contact center software or using contact center as a service (CCaaS).

When you upgrade or transform your contact center, you set your company and your employees up for success. This is because you use modern technology to improve quality and scalability. And you pay for the contact center tech you need with flexible terms.

Need for Legacy Contact Center Transformation

The primary purpose of a contact center is to offer customer service and sales support to different businesses. As your contact center adds on new clients and companies, you will need advanced technology to support your teams.

For example, you may onboard clients from different countries or who have customers spread across globally. In this circumstance, you will need to provide customer service and sales globally. Legacy systems may support global coverage, but they are not as cost-effective as cloud-based solutions built for virtual and global scalability. The same goes for contact centers that want to offer remote or hybrid work capabilities. Cloud-based solutions are easier to manage than traditional legacy systems.

With legacy systems, you will:

• Need to purchase, install, and maintain heavy-duty hardware
• Run your contact center on outdated technology
• Enter long-term contracts and overpay for basic, essential services
• Lack flexibility and scalability to support your remote, flexible, and global teams

This is why many businesses are gradually switching to cloud communications solutions.

What Does Contact Center Modernization Look Like

With legacy contact center transformation, you open up new avenues of growth and modernization within your business.

Advanced and cloud-based technology
Cloud contact center solutions come equipped with modern features and tools to help your teams do their jobs well. Use SIP trunking to make high-quality voice calls and route calls automatically to the correct department or employee based on preset rules. Forward calls internationally without paying high international calling rates.

Local, remote, and global teams
You have the opportunity to bring in advanced technology and features to support your local, remote, and global teams. You can offer services in neighboring countries as well as remote locations without increasing your budget. This lets you offer your customers more varied solutions.

Benefits of Contact Center Modernization

So, why do you need to transform your contact center? Here are some key benefits of investing in legacy contact center transformation for your company:

1. Newer systems come with advanced features and improved functionality
Use fast and updated technology to offer high-quality service. Gain access to multiple advanced and premium features and functionality to manage your contact center as you want to.

2. Easier to install and maintain
A cloud-based contact center is quick to set up and does not require additional hardware or software to run. You can, therefore, get your teams up and running with little to no downtime, whether they work in-office or remotely. Additionally, you do not have to worry about maintaining and updating your contact center tech as the provider takes care of those factors.

3. Enterprise-grade security and reliability
Since they are not always updated with modern security measures, legacy systems have security vulnerabilities that leave them prone to cyberattacks. But with new technology and software, you can expect improved security and encryption that will keep your contact center and customer data safe.

4. Unlimited scalability to let your contact center grow efficiently
Modern contact center solutions are designed to help your business grow easily without incurring more expenses. This means that you do not need to buy additional services or equipment to add new lines, support larger call volumes, or offer services in different regions. You simply add them to your existing system and not worry about downtime. Adding them to the existing system lets you control all communications in one place through one provider instead of dealing with multiple service providers.

5. Reduce contact center costs
By bundling contact center technologies, you can save on hardware and software costs. Additionally, your business can save on the high cost of dealing with cyberattacks and retrieving lost data with increased security.

Cloud contact center providers will also help you expand your reach beyond geographic borders with low-cost local and international toll free numbers and international call forwarding. This means you can scale your business easily without crossing your budget.

6. Access to integrations
In the name of efficiency, modern phone system solutions let you integrate your business communication system with other business tools so that your users can access all important information in one place. This enables them to be more productive and efficient and leads your contact center to drive desired results.

7. Set your staff up for success
Your teams can use various features to create a custom phone system that works best for your needs. Modern contact center solutions help them do their jobs without any hiccups or issues. Through this, you can support your local, remote, and international team with the right technology and resources.

How to Transition from a Legacy Contact Center

According to a recent report, nearly all IT buyers and decision-makers plan to modernize IT infrastructure to increase operational efficiency. However, IT teams face increased pressure to strike the perfect balance between supporting key services, aligning with the budget, and setting up a foundation that is forever-scalable. And so, a lot goes into deciding how to modernize your legacy infrastructure.

To transform your contact center into one that supports your employees and customers effectively, you first need to develop a plan of action. This entails how you will modernize your system, what provider you choose, and when you will begin the process.

1. Consider Important Factors

Before you set out to transform your legacy contact center, you first need to consider a few key factors:

1. Workload and IT architecture — What is your current communication infrastructure? What areas can benefit from modernization? Audit existing technologies, software, hardware, location of teams, and so on. This will help you determine each department’s value and functionality and how you can use modernization to improve ROI.

2. Operational changes — Next, look at your existing workflow. Where can you optimize processes and productivity? What new technology do you need to achieve these changes? Get feedback from your teams and employees to determine how you can use modernization to help them become more efficient.

3. Finances — Then, evaluate your budget. How much can you spend on this upgrade? You will notice that upgrading your contact center will prove cost-effective in the long run, when compared to using legacy systems. But it is a good idea to keep track of what needs to be updated and what takes priority within the budget.

4. Security and reliability — Next, what security measures do you want your communication infrastructure to have? How does your new provider protect from data loss and cyberattacks? Discuss with your internal IT team to understand what to expect from your new contact center technology.

5. Prepare for possible downtime — Finally, you will need to plan for possible costly downtime and impacts on business continuity. You can discuss a timeline of the upgrade with your IT team and contact center provider to get an idea of how long the process will take and how you can prepare for any disasters and upgrade smoothly.

2. Choose a Cloud Contact Center Provider

The next step is to research and find a cloud contact center provider to help you achieve your modernization goals. Use your audit to identify the changes, features, and technology you need from your new contact center.

Then shop around to see what most providers offer. Compare different providers based on:

• Features and services they offer,
• Extent of global reach,
• Pricing options and flexibility,
• Contact center migration process,
• Responsive customer service and technical support,
• Customer reviews and testimonials.

Then, analyze each provider and decide on one that fits your needs and budget.

3. Weigh Your Options

Next, consider how you will conduct the digital transformation. Will you switch over entirely or in parts? This again warrants a conversation with your provider and internal IT team; together, you will have to determine the best solution for your setup.

1. Complete Replacement
Migrate in a single move. All solutions, telephony, and agents are moved over to the new system at the same time.

Pro tip: Use this solution if your current systems need an urgent upgrade or you want to consolidate multiple vendors into one platform.

2. Phased Migration
Migrate one solution at a time. You may first migrate telephony (inbound and outbound voice), then digital services (email and live chat), and then self-service (knowledge base and automation), or in an order that works for you.

3. Phased Telephony
Switch in parts. Some agents continue to use the legacy system and solutions while others switch over to the new setup. Then, once the others have successfully switched over, the rest of the agents can switch over too.

Pro tip: Use phased migration if you are not ready to switch over completely and don’t want to risk costly downtime or losing data.

4. Begin Your Contact Center Migration

Once you’ve settled on a provider and a migration plan, you can start the process of transforming your contact center. Prepare your employees by informing them of upcoming changes and training that may be required. Create guides and tutorials that will help them onboard quickly. Let them know what the disaster and backup plan entails and who to reach out to if something fails.

Transforming Legacy Systems with Global Call Forwarding

Global Call Forwarding is a cloud-based global telephony provider that provides businesses with phone system solutions. We can help you get cloud contact center solutions and create a phone system that is flexible, scalable, and efficient. Want to learn more? Speak with our telecom experts today, or chat with us online!