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Imagine a busy hospital where unanswered calls lead to missed appointments and critical lab results get stuck between departments. Such scenarios can compromise patient safety and satisfaction, creating a stressful environment for healthcare professionals.

The healthcare industry requires clear and efficient communication. From booking appointments to receiving critical medical advice, timely and accessible healthcare communication tools and channels are essential for both patients and providers.

As the demand for more streamlined healthcare communication grows, the limitations of traditional phone systems become more apparent, affecting patient satisfaction and operational effectiveness.

Cloud telephony has varied solutions to bridge these healthcare communication gaps. Its secure and scalable platform can transform communication within your institution. This translates to streamlined workflows, facilitated information sharing between departments, and ensuring calls reach the right person. Ultimately, this improves healthcare accessibility for patients and enhances overall care delivery.

Challenges of Medical Phone Systems

Here are some of the reasons why traditional phone systems fall short of providing effective communication.

1. Traditional phone systems lack integration with electronic health records (EHRs) and other digital platforms, which creates information silos. This may cause delays in patient care and hinder interprofessional collaboration.
2. These phone systems have limited scalability. Therefore they struggle to handle fluctuating call volume and adding new features, phone lines, or users.
3. Traditional systems also lack advanced telehealth capabilities. Audio call conversations don’t have the visual cues and detailed information exchange that video consultations offer.
4. Traditional and legacy systems can prove more expensive than VoIP alternatives. Research shows companies can reduce costs by 87% when switching to a cloud phone solution.

What Role Can Cloud Telephony Play?

Cloud telephony leverages the internet to make and receive phone calls. Instead of relying on traditional phone lines, this technology transmits voice data as packets over the internet using voice over internet protocol (VoIP).

VoIP in healthcare allows for greater flexibility, scalability, and advanced features compared to traditional systems.

6 Ways to Increase Healthcare Coverage and Accessibility with Cloud Telephony

Besides facilitating telehealth services, cloud telephony has offered innovative solutions to overcome traditional communication barriers in patient care.

Let’s take a look at six ways in which you can leverage cloud communication for healthcare telephony:

1. Extend global reach with virtual phone numbers
2. Streamline communication for distributed healthcare teams
3. Organize call flows with IVR
4. Track calls to improve caller experiences
5. Enhance privacy for professionals with caller ID management
6. Ensure service continuity with failover options

1. Extend Global Reach with Virtual Numbers

Cloud telephony provides extended global coverage for target regions through virtual numbers. You can get toll-free numbers or local numbers for your business from different regions. And for hard-to-reach and remote regions, some providers offer other bespoke solutions to enable accessibility.

Patients from these regions requiring specialists can reach your organization for free or with local standard rates. This expands access to specialized care and breaks down geographical barriers for patients in remote areas.

Global Call Forwarding can set you up with international phone numbers from more than 160 countries around the world. Check out our global coverage to see if we cover your target regions!

2. Streamline Communication for Distributed Healthcare Teams

If your clinics, teams, or specialists are dispersed globally, you can connect through a centralized communication platform. With cloud telephony features like international call forwarding and advanced routing, you can automate call management, sending calls to the most appropriate location automatically.

Or, acquire multiple international numbers and have the calls pass through one phone service to the right location. For example, one of our healthcare clients Healthy Stuff needed a phone system that covers their sales and support teams across Australia, Ireland, and US and sends incoming calls to their teams in the UK.

With international phone numbers and routing, you don’t need a manual operator managing incoming calls. You simply set everything up beforehand and let the system work for you.

3. Organize Call Flows with IVR

Cloud telephony empowers healthcare providers to manage call flows strategically, fostering both efficiency and patient trust. An interactive voice response system (IVR) routes calls based on voice or touch-tone inputs from callers. You can plan for different call flows and customer queries beforehand and feedback them into your healthcare IVR.

For instance, the IVR can greet callers and present clear options—‘1’ for scheduling appointments, ‘2’ for prescription refills, etc. Based on the input, the IVR system can route the call to an agent or voicemail or the appropriate destination accordingly.

This automated telephony system can significantly improve patient satisfaction by reducing wait times, improving accessibility, and empowering callers with self-service options.

4. Track Calls to Improve Caller Experiences

Every call holds valuable information. Track trends in call volume, wait times, and reasons for calls using call records and analytics. By analyzing this data, healthcare institutions can identify areas for improvement like appointment scheduling bottlenecks.

Say there’s a spike in calls for appointments during lunch when lines are busy. Features like time of day routing can be implemented during these times, and incoming calls can be redirected to another available team. In this manner, you can reduce wait times and deliver better customer experience.

Moreover, dedicated hotline numbers for emergencies and non-emergencies ensure patients receive the appropriate level of care promptly. Then, when calls come in, your teams can identify the type of call and know how to respond. This targeted approach prioritizes urgent situations while also addressing non-critical needs through self-service IVR options.

Also, call tracking data can help in allocating resources effectively based on call types. For example, if a high number of calls are related to pediatrics, more staff or dedicated lines can be channeled for pediatric inquiries.

Marketing and advertising campaigns benefit greatly from call tracking data. By using multiple numbers for different marketing channels such as flyers, social media, and websites, you can track call volume and determine which channels generate the most calls. This allows businesses to make targeted and efficient marketing spends.

5. Enhance Privacy for Professionals with Caller ID Management

Caller ID management is a valuable feature that empowers healthcare organizations to protect their professionals’ privacy during private patient consultations. Adjust your caller ID to display the healthcare organization’s number instead of a professional’s personal number, especially during telehealth visits.

This way, patients don’t have access to professionals’ personal contact information and vice versa, maintaining clear boundaries and avoiding unwanted calls outside of work hours.

6. Ensure Service Continuity

Cloud telephony platforms and features are built for resilience. And both provider and customer redundancy mechanisms are crucial for a reliable communication system.

With phone calls being the preferred communication channel, VoIP providers must maintain robust backups and redundancy options to ensure their network and servers are always operational. Make sure to check their network distribution to understand how they protect their systems and servers.

They should also provide features like failover forwarding and redundant routing that help keep communication active in the event of technical glitches or internet outages. When you set these features up, they automatically route calls to alternative numbers or backup systems, if the primary communication system fails.

Another way to maintain continuous service is to use a responsive provider. For instance, another healthcare client Novartis was experiencing service-related issues and outages with their local provider. They needed a responsive cloud telephony provider so they could continue to communicate with customers without any downtime.

As a healthcare provider, you must safeguard patient access to communication channels and professionals even in unprecedented scenarios. This reliability can make your business a dependable source of healthcare support in times of crisis.

How Can Global Call Forwarding Help?

A robust communication system is absolutely vital for any healthcare setup. Using a combination of solutions like call forwarding, IVR, voicemail, call recording, etc., you can meet unique communication demands of your organization.

Global Call Forwarding has been helping healthcare institutions worldwide with a suite of communication tools to build advanced business phone systems.

Talk to our experts and find out how you increase healthcare accessibility with cloud telephone!

Even though digital communication channels are growing, a surprising 65% of potential customers still prefer reaching brands by phone. This makes phone calls a critical touchpoint for businesses. However, lengthy calls could affect positive customer experience, as attention spans are reducing, and customers expect faster resolutions. Therefore, by reducing average call time, businesses can transform customer interactions into thriving long-term relationships.

In this article, we’ll go over:

• What is average call duration?
• Need for calculating call durations
• How to measure it
• Reasons for longer calls, and
• Top strategies for reducing call duration

What is Average Call Duration in Call Centers?

Average call duration—sometimes referred to as average talk time (ATT) or call time—is a key performance indicator (KPI) that measures the average length of time an agent spends on a call with a customer.

Businesses and call centers that depend on call communication for sales and customer support can use this call center metric to track efficiency and performance.

Importance of Calculating Average Call Durations

It is important to calculate average call time since call durations affect the overall efficiency and effectiveness of customer service operations. Let’s have a look:

Improved Customer Satisfaction

The length of calls directly affects customer satisfaction. For instance, shorter calls are likely to lead to quicker resolution, which translates to happier customers. So, by calculating average call duration, businesses can deliver better customer experiences.

Higher Agent Productivity and Effective Resource Allocation

Tracking call duration can help boost productivity as businesses can increase agents’ capacity to handle more calls. Managers can determine agents’ average call times and identify ways to shorten unnecessary long calls. Shorter calls would free up agents to take up more calls. With a firm grasp of call time, businesses can make informed decisions regarding staffing needs, scheduling, and other factors related to resource allocation.

Better Budgeting and Cost Control

Did you know that even a small reduction in call duration can significantly impact your bottom line? Shorter calls mean agents handle more calls per hour. This allows them to serve a larger number of customers without the need for additional staff, directly reducing labor costs.

How to Calculate Average Call Time for Your Call Center?

While different businesses may have varying practices, average call duration is generally calculated by dividing the total call time by the number of calls handled over a specific period.

This method provides a clear call metric for assessing efficiency and agent productivity.

So, how long should the average customer call be?

Average call duration varies significantly across industries, reflecting diverse customer expectations, service requirements, and business practices.

A high average call time may not necessarily be problematic. This is because call time is quite contextual. For instance, call centers in the financial services industry may have a higher ACD than those in the retail industry. This may be because financial services calls are often more complex, sometimes involving multiple levels of customer authentication, which could add to the total call time.

Comparing call durations across industries

The average duration for inbound contact centers across industries is about 4 minutes. Industries like healthcare, consumer services, and manufacturing tend to have shorter call times, at 2.48 minutes, 3.05, and 3.03, respectively. Whereas travel and hospitality, information technology (IT), and financial services industries have a high ACD—3.78 minutes, 3.48 minutes, and 3.47 minutes respectively.

Related: 12 Call Center Metrics to Track for Customer Success

Reasons for Longer Calls

But what causes longer calls? Various factors—from agent proficiency to complexity of customer queries. Identifying these issues is necessary to create strategies for call duration optimization, and ultimately improving service quality.

Here are some of the potential reasons for longer calls:

Call Complexity

In-depth troubleshooting and technical assistance require comprehensive understanding and detailed solutions. Agents need to fully grasp the issue which can result in prolonged conversations as agents work to understand and resolve the problem accurately.

Agent Skills and Qualification

Agents who haven’t received appropriate training on products or call handling could take longer to resolve queries and close calls. Similarly, multiple agent escalations can increase the customer’s time spent while on hold and being transferred. Poor communication or difficulty understanding customer concerns can lead to misunderstandings, requiring additional time to resolve issues.

Inefficient IVR Systems

Complex phone menus may lead to significant time wastage. Customers may get connected to agents who are not equipped enough to address queries.

For instance, a customer calls the internet provider because their internet has been down for hours. But the customer reaches the IVR with a complicated list of options, none of which directly address “internet outage.” So the customer selects the option to reach technical support, where they get connected to an agent who can only offer basic troubleshooting support. Such situations can extend call times.

High Complaint Volume

Handling complaints and customer dissatisfaction requires a lot of care and time. A high volume of complaint calls can therefore add to call times.

Customer Behaviors

Sometimes agents have to offer additional assistance or reassurance to manage talkative customers, provide detailed explanations, or guide them through troubleshooting steps. This type of assistance may need additional call time.

5 Strategies to Optimize and Reduce Average Call Duration?

Long call durations can frustrate callers and damage brand perception. They can also strain agent productivity. Fortunately, there are effective strategies to tackle this challenge, including evaluating current performance, leveraging technology, and more. Here are some call center best practices to optimize average call duration:

1. Evaluate Current Performance

Start by calculating your average call duration and track it over time. You can track this across teams, departments, or on an individual basis. This metric acts as a valuable benchmark, helping you identify areas where call handling processes or agent efficiency might need improvement.

Companies like Global Call Forwarding offer the call detail records (CDRs) which provide core call metrics including call duration. You can easily access and download your business call records through the online control panel.

2. Encourage Training and Refreshers

Based on data from evaluations, businesses can plan regular training for agents. Emphasize active listening skills and empathy in customer support to ensure agents fully grasp customer issues before offering solutions.

Encourage experienced agents to take refresher training to be up-to-date with goals, tools, and best practices. For instance, a refresher course could cover new product features, updated company policies regarding customer interactions, or best practices for handling escalated situations.

Related: How to Design an Escalation Matrix in Your Call Center

3. Re-Allocate Resources

Call duration data is important for making resource allocation decisions. For instance, when you multiply average call duration by the expected number of calls, you get an estimated total time required for call handling. This estimation, in turn, helps in determining the number of agents needed to cover that time.

Additionally, managers can create better, more accurate schedules and shift planning. If a business experiences peak volumes during certain hours, managers can schedule more agents during those times.

4. Leverage Technology

Technology can help greatly with optimizing and reducing call duration. One such way is to integrate VoIP with CRMs or help desk software to centralize communications, improve connectivity, and optimize call handling. For example, Global Call Forwarding offers integrations with Zoho, Zendesk, Salesforce, and other platforms.

When a call comes in, the CRM automatically populates the agent screen with relevant customer information, including past interactions and call history. This eliminates the need for agents to spend time gathering information at the beginning of the call, allowing them to jump right into assisting the customer. This enables agents to resolve issues faster.

5. Monitor and Analyze Call Data

Analyze call data regularly and look for recurring issues that lead to extended call durations. For example, if you notice that certain types of queries consistently take longer to resolve, you can develop specific strategies or provide additional resources to handle those queries more efficiently.

Customer feedback can provide insights into why calls are taking longer and help you address those issues directly. Agent feedback is equally important as it highlights operational challenges and areas where additional support or training might be needed.

How Can GCF Help?

Caller experience often serves as the first direct interaction a customer has with a business. A positive, fruitful call can set the tone for the entire relationship. Therefore, the speed and effectiveness with which customer problems are addressed can directly impact customer satisfaction and overall experience.

Global Call Forwarding provides a host of advanced call management features and products, from call records to CRM integrations, that help you optimize and reduce average call duration. Our cloud communication solutions empower businesses to streamline call handling processes and optimize agent efficiency.

Contact our experts today and learn about how our solutions can help you achieve your communication goals.

A staggering 88% of healthcare appointments are booked by phone, indicating that calling remains the preferred way of scheduling appointments and receiving other assistance. Because of this, healthcare organizations need strong communication technology.

That’s where cloud telephony plays a vital role in this mission. For instance, global voice coverage and remote consultations, facilitated by cloud technology, empower patients to access care and connect with your organization from anywhere.

Virtual phone numbers are another cost-effective and feature-rich cloud solution revolutionizing healthcare communication globally. These are cloud-based phone numbers that use VoIP technology to transmit calls over the internet, eliminating geographical limitations.

In this article, we’ll explore how healthcare organizations can use virtual numbers to:

• Prioritize Patient Experience with Phone Communication
• Provide Global Toll-Free Customer Support
• Centralize Communication
• Forward Calls for Improved Staff Accessibility
• Connect and Research Globally
• Maintain Privacy for Telehealth Consultations
• Enhance Outreach for Public Health Initiatives
• Set Up 24/7 Support Hotlines for Non-Emergency Needs
• Prepare with Disaster Recovery

Cloud Telephony Solutions for Healthcare

The healthcare industry thrives on innovation, constantly seeking ways to bridge the gap between patients and service providers. And healthcare communication technology is one place where advancement is needed.

Traditional phone systems often create gaps in healthcare communication due to:

• Limited accessibility — Traditional systems are bound to physical locations, meaning healthcare and life sciences companies must remain at specific locations to provide care. This can be limiting, especially in large healthcare facilities or for providers who need mobility to check on patients throughout a facility.
• Lack of integration with digital health records — Unlike cloud phone systems that have no-code integrations, it is hard to connect regular phone systems with web-based portals and other digital management systems.
• Scalability issues — Adding international coverage, additional phone lines, locations, and features often comes at a higher cost with traditional systems.
• Limited remote access — With telehealth and remote consultations becoming increasingly common, traditional phone systems fall short. This is because users cannot make and receive calls outside the physical network, limiting remote and flexible access.

These gaps can lead to delays and downtime in patient care, miscommunication among healthcare professionals, and ultimately, a decrease in patient satisfaction.

Here, healthcare organizations may benefit from a more flexible and scalable solution like VoIP phone systems.

What Cloud Telephony Helps With?

Cloud-based phone systems, on the other hand, offer healthcare organizations more flexibility and reliability. They address a myriad of challenges faced by healthcare providers, including the need for global reach, secure telehealth options, and efficient call management.

With VoIP, you can cost-effectively scale up or down based on demand, integrate seamlessly with management systems, access call management features, and provide remote access. This will help organizations meet patient needs and deliver the best possible care. And it is particularly significant during health crises, where timely communication can drastically influence outcomes.

Furthermore, new developments in cloud telephony, such as AI insights, call analytics, and advanced integrations with telehealth platforms, will continue to revolutionize patient interactions.

By leveraging cloud-based communication solutions, healthcare organizations can overcome geographical barriers, enhance patient privacy, and streamline communication processes with ease.

How Healthcare Organizations Use Virtual Numbers: 9 Use Cases

Virtual numbers offer a powerful and flexible communication solution for healthcare organizations. And the best part? They come packed with an array of advanced calling features for efficient call management.

Here’s how healthcare companies can leverage virtual numbers to improve patient care, streamline operations, enhance outreach efforts, and more:

1. Prioritize Patient Experience with Phone Communication

Phone conversations continue to be the preferred communication channel when discussing healthcare concerns, followed by video and text. This means healthcare organizations must prioritize accessible phone channels.

Increase healthcare accessibility and customer satisfaction by using virtual numbers in target regions where your customers are located. Virtual numbers offer a reliable, secure, and convenient way to connect with patients, fostering better communication and improving the overall patient experience.

2. Provide Global Toll-Free Customer Support

For global healthcare organizations, providing accessible and affordable customer support is crucial. Long-distance and international calls via traditional phone systems can be expensive, leaving patients hesitant to reach out. Eliminating or reducing the cost of long-distance calls removes a major barrier to communication, encouraging patients to reach out for support or to schedule appointments.

Virtual toll-free numbers offer a game-changing alternative. You can get international toll-free numbers for your target countries. These calls will be cost-free for callers calling within those countries, even if they are ultimately forwarded elsewhere. This means you don’t even need a physical presence in the country or region.

With a global virtual phone number provider like Global Call Forwarding, you can get local and toll-free numbers from more than 160 countries around the world. And our phone numbers come with advanced telephony features like call forwarding and routing features for better call management. View our country coverage.

Renowned healthcare company Novartis used toll-free numbers for various Latin American and Caribbean regions. With these numbers, Novartis could route important customer calls to their regional centers and boost global customer support.

3. Centralize Communication

Medical establishments like labs and clinics operating across different cities and countries can use virtual numbers to centralize business communication. You can do this in a few different ways:

• Purchase local numbers for target regions and have all incoming calls forwarded to one central location.
• Get one nationwide phone number (also known as national numbers) for that target country instead of multiple ones for each location within the country. Calls to this central virtual number can be automatically routed to the appropriate clinic or specialist based on the patient’s needs.

This way, you prioritize making it convenient for patients and medical facilities to reach your business—no matter their or your teams’ location. And since these are local or toll-free numbers, callers won’t have to pay high long-distance fees. When you consolidate communication technology like this, you improve call handling and caller experience.

4. Forward Calls for Improved Staff Accessibility

Call forwarding is also beneficial in improving staff accessibility. You can redirect incoming calls to healthcare providers’ mobile devices and ensure patients and international medical tourists can reach doctors, nurses, home healthcare workers, and other medical professionals wherever located. These professionals too can respond promptly to patient inquiries, emergency situations, etc., regardless of their location.

For example, home healthcare agencies that employ mobile nurses can use virtual numbers to connect patients with nurses. This will enable teams and agencies to coordinate care plans, schedule patient visits, and quickly forward emergency calls directly to nurses’ mobile phone devices. This ensures everyone involved in the care process stays informed and facilitates a collaborative approach.

You can further improve and centralize call handling with IVR for healthcare services. When patients call, the IVR presents them with a menu of options, like scheduling appointments, requesting prescription refills, etc. Based on the caller’s input, the IVR will direct calls to the right destination, without the need for human intervention.

By distributing calls efficiently, you can improve patient satisfaction by allowing them to reach healthcare providers when they need them most.

Related: IVR Templates for Medical Answering Services

5. Connect and Research Globally, Including Hard-to-Reach Areas

Virtual numbers bypass traditional phone limitations, allowing researchers to connect with participants and partners anywhere in the world. Advertise these local numbers on marketing and outreach material to encourage interested participants. This broadens the pool for clinical trials and ensures valuable data isn’t limited by location.

For clinical research organizations operating in diverse geographical regions, virtual numbers can offer extended global coverage, including access to hard-to-reach areas. You can smoothly communicate with research participants to collect data efficiently as well as facilitate collaboration among stakeholders.

6. Maintain Privacy for Telehealth Consultations

Virtual numbers with an outbound calling solution allow healthcare providers to manage their caller ID when calling patients. This feature is particularly useful for private consultations as telemedicine professionals can display a business caller ID, keeping their personal numbers private.

On the other hand, masking the outbound caller ID with your business phone number offers a sense of familiarity to patients receiving the call. This improves the chances of patients answering calls.

Providers like Global Call Forwarding offer a number masking feature that can be used for outbound caller ID management. Read our article on ways to use number masking.

7. Enhance Outreach for Public Health Initiatives

You can leverage toll-free numbers for public health outreach initiatives. Engage with the community on vaccination drives, preventive care campaigns, health education programs, etc. through dedicated 24/7 toll-free hotlines.

Toll-free numbers are free to call, making it easier for the public to connect and work with your organization. This can further help establish your business as a reliable source of healthcare knowledge.

8. Set Up 24/7 Support Hotlines for Non-Emergency Needs

Similarly, you can also set up 24/7 patient support hotlines to:

• Provide non-emergency medical advice,
• Streamline medical tourism processes,
• Answer basic questions, and
• Offer guidance to patients outside of regular office hours.

This reduces unnecessary emergency room visits and improves overall patient care coordination.

9. Prepare with Disaster Recovery

As virtual numbers are cloud-based, they are not tied to a physical location. And with features like call forwarding and routing, calls can be quickly rerouted to alternate locations like remote service centers, mobile devices, employees’ homes, etc in the event of a disaster.

And you can easily scale virtual phone systems up or down as well as add more destinations depending on demand. This provides additional flexibility and capability to handle high call volumes during emergencies.

This ensures that healthcare organizations can maintain communication channels even during emergencies or disruptions at their physical facilities.

How Can GCF Help?

As the healthcare landscape evolves, with tech advancements and shifting patient expectations, the need for innovative communication solutions becomes increasingly clear. Cloud telephony equips your organization with communication tools to improve patient care and access.

Embrace the future of healthcare communication with cloud telephony. Global Call Forwarding has been helping healthcare organizations worldwide with our virtual numbers and call handling features. Reach out to us and find out how your business can benefit from virtual numbers.

Speak to our experts today, contact us now!

Are you in the travel and hospitality business, striving to enhance global support? Imagine offering round-the-clock assistance to your global clientele, leveraging the latest in cloud telephony.

Travel companies face the critical challenge of providing exceptional, uninterrupted customer service to a global audience. But how do you maintain high-quality support across various regions and time zones effectively and cost-efficiently?

By building a global phone service that efficiently routes calls from traveling customers to the right agent at the right time. From understanding diverse customer expectations to offering multilingual IVR support to optimizing outbound calling efforts, the possibilities for enhancing global customer satisfaction are endless.

In this article, we’ll go over the different ways travel companies can offer 24/7 global customer support using cloud telephony solutions, including:

• Getting international phone numbers
• Leveraging advanced routing features
• Organizing custom call flows
• Using global support strategies
• Optimizing outbound calling campaigns, and more.

Cloud Phone Solutions for Travel

The travel industry encompasses diverse businesses, including travel agencies, hotels, transport services, ecotourism ventures, and more. But the common denominator is the need for exceptional, responsive, and, at times, global customer support.

One way to achieve this is by offering round-the-clock customer support. Doing so meets the needs of travelers from different regions across time zones. Cloud telephony solutions can help set up a state-of-the-art 24/7 global support system for travel companies.

What Cloud Telephony Helps With?

Cloud telephony allows you to connect with customers across different regions and time zones virtually. And call management features like international call forwarding and routing lets traveling customers reach you, regardless of your or their physical location.

You can also set up multilingual support options so that when travelers call your business, the automated IVR system greets them and provides language options to choose the language in which they need support. Based on their selection, the call routes to the most appropriate agent or department.

Certain advanced IVR systems can also provide self-service options for travelers. This can include options for common inquiries, such as booking status or account and flight information, allowing callers to resolve their queries without agent assistance.

How to Offer 24/7 Global Support as a Travel and Hospitality Company

There are several ways in which travel companies leverage VoIP to offer 24/7 support to their global customers. Here are some of our recommendations:

1. Find a Global Telephony Provider

First and foremost, you’ll need a global telephony provider that can cover the target regions where your customers reside or travel to. This phone service provider must be able to offer all the solutions you need—from global phone coverage to call management features—to centralize communication across multiple locations and platforms.

Doing so will help you streamline operations and provide consistent customer experiences worldwide. And by consolidating communication services onto a single platform, you can manage customer interactions more smoothly.

From international numbers to high-quality voice calling, your global telephony service provider can equip you with solutions to enter the global stage.

2. Get International Phone Numbers

Extend your voice coverage and establish a local presence in target countries with in-country international phone numbers. This includes using local and toll-free options that are accessible and cost-effective for traveling customers. These virtual numbers enable you to enter different countries without a physical presence. By making it easy for customers to reach your business, you show your dedication to helping them.

For instance, a US-based tour agency can get virtual numbers for popular tourist destinations like Singapore or Japan. By offering toll-free number options, travelers visiting these countries can easily reach the agency for assistance without incurring charges.

EaseMyTrip, a global travel service provider, used Global Call Forwarding to consolidate global telephony with local numbers from 6 countries. By doing so, they were able to offer uninterrupted support for international clients while accessing real-time call data and management settings through the control panel.

3. Leverage Advanced Routing

Once your global phone numbers are set up, you can use advanced routing features to provide 24/7 support. Most cloud phone service providers offer different types of routing features and strategies. We recommend businesses use time-of-day routing and geo-routing to provide global support.

With time-based routing, you route calls according to the time of the day or day of the week. If a customer calls outside of your regular business hours, you can send the call to another location, such as a team in a different time zone or backup call center.

With location-based routing, you can direct customer inquiries based on the caller’s geographical location or their caller ID. So, a Spain customer calling for assistance is automatically routed to the European service center. Agents there are available during local business hours and speak the customer’s language. This ensures that customers receive localized support from agents who understand their needs, enhancing the overall customer experience.

By pairing these routing strategies, your business can adopt a follow-the-sun support model, becoming available to customers 24/7.

Crystal Cruises found that many customer inquiries were reaching their US-based reservation office after hours due to time zone differences. This led to missed calls, delayed responses, and lost sales opportunities. They used virtual phone numbers to forward calls to a local support center in Cyprus, ensuring that customers could receive prompt assistance during Gulf Standard Time.

4. Create Custom Call Flows

Now, when you’re juggling multiple phone numbers and countries, call handling can get tricky. To ensure efficiency, you’ll need to create tailored call flows for different regions and requests to cover core touchpoints in the customer journey. That’s where IVR and auto attendant systems come in handy. You can use these tools to redirect inquiries to the appropriate departments, such as bookings, check-ins, or complaints.

For instance, at the booking assistance level, customers may have questions about available destinations, pricing, package deals, or special accommodations. Once you have identified the various possible inquiries, you can design a multi-level IVR system that guides callers through various options. Something like: “Press 1 for Destinations,” “Press 2 for Pricing and Packages,” etc. Each option leads to a different branch of the call flow, directing the caller to the appropriate and available agent.

This way, a call flow builder and multi-level IVR systems can create personalized communication systems to assist customers, regardless of the time of the day.

5. Use Global Support Strategies

24/7 global support strategies range from using VoIP features to distributing workforce. Here are strategies to consider:

• Establish a network of global and regional contact centers or leverage remote agents in different time zones to provide round-the-clock support.
• Train agents to understand, distinguish, and respect cultural differences when working with global customers.
• Ensure smooth handoffs across different regional teams with proper documentation within a CRM or help desk software.
• Use IVR to automate responses to common FAQs and redirect or provide self-service options for callers. For instance, directing travelers to the best websites for booking flights can empower them to find quick solutions on their own. This lets your caller independently get the help they need swiftly.
• Utilize multilingual IVR systems to cater to callers who speak different languages. Provide prompts and menu options in multiple languages, allowing callers to select their preferred language for assistance and then route them to teams located in those regions.
• Use translation features like voicemail translation and call recording translation to increase comprehension and accessibility, leading to efficient follow-up and resolution. Check out our guide on how to translate voicemail in your preferred language.

Learn more in our guide to global customer support strategies.

6. Prepare for High Call Volumes

Anticipate peak travel seasons and prepare for high call volumes using automated routing tools for self-service and escalation. With these tools, you can:

• Reduce wait times
• Distribute workload efficiently among agents and teams
• Enable customers to resolve simple inquiries on their own
• Free up your support staff to handle more complex issues and handle every call with care
• Set up backup support options during high call periods, and so on.

Design an escalation matrix within your IVR and ACD systems for callers who require further assistance. This makes sure high-priority inquiries are attended in a timely manner.

7. Optimize Outbound Calling

Outbound calls with recognizable caller ID, such as your local business number, are more likely to be answered. This is because travelers may be wary of answering calls from unknown or unfamiliar numbers due to concerns about potential scams or unsolicited marketing calls.

By using and displaying local phone numbers, you can streamline the follow-up process, making it easier for your agents to engage with missed connections. Local numbers will also encourage more return calls (callbacks) from customers.

8. Integrate with CRM

Adding cloud telephony to CRM systems allows your support agents to access comprehensive customer profiles. They can:

• Access real-time booking information and purchase history,
• Assist with reservations and queries, and
• Review customer preferences and interactions.

With this information, your agents can personalize the support experience without needing to catch up on the call. They can address customers by name and anticipate their needs based on past interactions. Plus they can add notes and make and receive calls directly from the CRM interface. This reduces the need for customers to repeat information, enter data manually, or toggle multiple platforms.

VoIP CRM integration systems provide valuable insights into customer behavior, trends, and preferences. You can analyze call data, customer interactions, and booking patterns to identify opportunities for improvement and refine marketing strategies.

How Can GCF Help?

Cloud telephony solutions can greatly help in offering 24/7 global support. Pair these with your customer support strategies, and you can improve customer experiences across the board.

Global Call Forwarding has been helping businesses across industries worldwide with top-notch cloud telephony solutions. We can help you design a global support system with our advanced calling solutions.

Want to see how we can help your travel business? Call us or chat with us online today!

If you do business with the Middle East often, you’ll have noticed that certain communication services (like VoIP) and apps (like WhatsApp, Skype, etc) are restricted across GCC regions.

This presents obstacles for businesses looking to expand their operations in this region in an affordable and scalable way. After all, without legal and reliable phone services, how do you communicate with local customers?

As a provider of international phone numbers, we have extensive experience dealing with these restrictions and have solutions to offer interested customers.

Calling Restrictions in the Middle East: Quick Overview

The Middle East presents a unique landscape for telecommunications, particularly regarding the use and regulation of VoIP services and apps using VoIP. These restrictions are in place for a variety of reasons:

• improve national security and cyber security
• direct investments and revenue toward local telecom operators
• an increasing amount of fraudulent activities from people outside the Gulf countries targeting this region, and
• strict regulatory requirements.

This means that international VoIP services or features often face stringent regulations across many Middle Eastern countries.

What are the consequences of these restrictions?

• Businesses are at the mercy of expensive local operators for reliable calling.
• Users may not be able to use VPNs to bypass restrictions since many GCC countries have strict laws against it.
• Cheaper local alternatives may suffer from poor connection and call quality issues.

Businesses can experience caller ID restrictions when calling countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, etc.

For example, UAE telecom authorities block incoming calls from outside the country using a UAE local number format. This restriction comes from the UAE telecom authorities and affects the whole industry.

International Calling Options for the Middle East

Using local phone numbers and in-country caller IDs is the best way to improve call pickup rates. Prospects and customers are likelier to answer calls with familiar in-country prefixes and local area codes.

With that said, what are some options available to businesses trying to make calls into this region without physically expanding their operations there?

Here are some solutions for calling the Middle East:

1) In our experience, using a Bahrain phone number is the best option. Bahrain phone numbers don’t have any known restrictions and are, therefore, easier to obtain. Bahrain is a GCC country with favorable relations throughout the region.

Since you can display your Bahrain phone number as your outbound caller ID, GCC locals will recognize this as a call from within the region. People in the Middle East tend to be very receptive to incoming calls from a Bahraini caller ID.

A Bahrain caller ID is the best way to make calls to other GCC countries while boosting call connection and pickup rates.

2) The other option is to use another neighboring country or close trading partner. To make calls within the region, use another local phone number in the Middle East. For example, use UAE caller ID to call Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, or use a Saudi caller ID to call the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, etc.

Locals tend to be more receptive to answering calls that show a caller ID from a neighboring country than those that show a caller ID from India, Singapore, the USA, South Africa, etc.

3) The final option is to modify the outbound caller ID slightly. For example, use and display a +1971 UAE phone number instead of +971 for calls within the UAE.

This option can work, as the caller ID appears slightly similar to a local phone number, but it is less preferred because if somebody misses your call, they will not be able to dial you back.

How Can Global Call Forwarding Help?

As a reliable, long-standing provider of Middle East phone services, we can help businesses set up cloud calling options for this region. We’ve been helping global businesses connect and reliably communicate with customers in this region since 1996.

We support many small and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises throughout the region and help businesses outside the Middle East do business there. Additionally, we have exhibited at GITEX several times and have close ties to local businesses in the Middle East.

Consult our telecom experts for more information about phone solutions to support your business expansion and outbound calls to the Middle East. Call us today or chat with us online! We’re here to help.

Having multiple phone service carriers catering to various global communication needs sounds like a good idea, right? But it is a complex landscape, especially for organizations operating across diverse regions serving an international clientele.

And the challenges can impede operational efficiency and detract from the organization’s ability to focus on core business activities. Out of 1,300 CEOs surveyed around the world, a staggering 77% stated that focusing on making operations more efficient is their main way to increase revenue.

So, if you run a multinational business, how do you communicate efficiently and cost-effectively without losing out on call quality?

In this article, we’ll go over:

• Challenges with using multi-carrier phone services
• Consolidation as a better alternative

Using Multi-Carrier Phone Services: 4 Key Challenges

Finding business phone carriers to cover all the areas you need can be tough. Plus, managing costs and dealing with all the paperwork can be a headache. On top of that, keeping track of all the data from different sources is a real challenge.

Let’s take a look at the common problems that arise with using multiple different phone service carriers for business communication:

1. Finding Carriers for Hard-to-Reach Areas

Locating carriers that cover all target regions—remote and emerging markets—can prove to be daunting. This happens because most traditional carriers focus on urban areas with higher population densities, leaving remote regions underserved. Also, providing services in these far-off areas can cost more because there’s not much competition, and setting up infrastructure is expensive.

Lusia Tsymbrovska, Carrier Relations Manager, shares that “on top of this, multiple carriers means working with multiple points of contact especially when suppliers have different contacts for sales, tech support, billing, etc.” This can mean longer response times for carriers in remote regions.

So, when you do find a carrier, chances are you’ll be paying higher than local costs to simply access the region. And this cost rises further if there isn’t enough telecom competition—that could encourage carriers to lower their rates—in the region.

Related: Why Choose Global Call Forwarding?

2. Time-Consuming Organizational Issues

“The more carriers you have, the more people and work hours you need to manage from invoicing to tech interconnection to communication etc.,” shares Tsymbrovska. Dealing with different carriers gradually adds more administrative work and costs:

• Handling communication with each carrier contact
• Managing various contracts and billing processes with different terms and conditions
• Sorting through invoices from different carriers, resolving differences, ensuring accuracy, and so on.

Depending on how many carriers you’re working with, you may need to contract with a telecom expense management company.

3. Inconsistent Call and Call Data Tracking

The absence of unified systems across carriers–or integration functionality–means that call detail records are fragmented. We’re talking about data that shows call origination, duration, caller’s location, outcome information, etc.

This can make it difficult to track and analyze call traffic effectively. It could potentially lead to errors in data captured which in turn, could result in forecasting errorts and delays in resolving issues, impacting customer experience.

4. Managing and Reducing Costs

There are a few different levels of costs to consider when using multi-carrier phone services:

Setup fees: Each carrier could have setup or hidden fees for their service.

Administrative time: Time spent managing contracts, keeping track of call rates, usage, and fees, and double-checking invoices. Without attention to detail, you may end up paying exorbitant fees for services you’re not even using.

Different countries: Consolidating services can give you more competitive and discounted rates for phone services than individual carriers.

Downtime costs: When juggling multiple carriers, it can be difficult to track down where the issue is when a system or service shuts down. And if the carrier doesn’t have responsive support, then your business will face downtime.

Set up and infrastructure: Here’s where things get more complicated since there are many different communications architectures:

• Traditional PBX vs IP-PBX – On-premise PBX means your business is in charge of setup and maintenance (up to $5-$15K); this needs a professional team and additional hardware. Cloud PBX is hosted by the provider (from $10-$100/month/user), reducing your financial and administrative burden.
• Working with multiple local, traditional carriers – Connecting local phone services through traditional networks (PSTN) to your business’ PBX. In this situation, you are in charge of managing contracts and your PBX (if on-premise). This is the most expensive and time-consuming solution.
• Working with multiple VoIP carriers – Connecting VoIP carriers to your internal phone network and infrastructure through the internet. Since VoIP calls travel over the internet, they cost less than traditional phone service carriers. You will still manage contracts and a PBX system (if on-premise).
• Consolidating with one VoIP provider – Connecting the VoIP service to your existing devices. Provider worries about handling PBX servers and local carrier contracts. No IT professionals are needed, though network, systems, and infrastructure experts help. This is your least expensive solution.

7 Benefits of Consolidating Phone Services

By embracing a unified approach to voice communication, businesses can unlock numerous advantages that streamline operations and enhance connectivity.

1. One Point of Contact

By consolidating telecom providers, you simplify communication channels, having only one point of contact for all your global voice service needs. This reduces complexity, streamlines issue resolution, and ensures clearer lines of accountability. This also means that even in remote regions, where accessing multiple providers might be challenging, you can rely on a single global service provider for all communication needs.

Tsymbrovska explains: “Using one carrier gives businesses more leverage. The more phone lines you have with one supplier, the more likely the supplier will be able to provide some workarounds and exceptions, in case of need.”

For instance, Global Call Forwarding offers voice coverage in over 160 countries. So you can easily get toll-free or local numbers for your target regions spread across the world (including remote and hard-to-reach regions) through one cloud phone service.

Additionally, for areas where toll-free access is limited, you can leverage our Toll-Free FlexDial service. This is a toll-free phone number accessible from anywhere worldwide, especially remote and hard-to-reach locations.

2. Quick and Easy Setup

Every new carrier means a new setup process; this can take time, setup fees, and IT experience, in some cases. With one global carrier, however, you don’t need to keep adjusting internal systems and do extensive setup each time you add a new phone line or coverage. And if your global telephony carrier has quick activation times, you can get up and running with your new phone number within days, without any downtime on other services.

3. Less Organizational Work

With fewer providers to manage, your organizational workload decreases significantly. And when you consolidate with one global provider, they handle carrier relations on your behalf. This means less time spent on administrative tasks such as managing invoices, contracts, and compliance requirements, allowing your team to focus on more strategic initiatives.

4. Eliminate Multi-Vendor Number Mapping Frustration

Managing multiple local and international phone numbers and SIP accounts from different countries and providers can quickly become a hassle.

By centralizing phone numbers under one provider, you eliminate the frustration of dealing with multi-vendor number mapping and tracking. You work within one dashboard that connects all your phone lines. This simplifies call routing and ensures seamless communication without the hassle of coordinating between different vendors.

5. More Focus on Quality Assurance

Around 90% of buyers think customer experience is just as important as the products or services a business offers. Quality assurance is all about making sure customer interactions meet or beat expectations.

By simplifying processes, you can dedicate more time to focus on fine-tuning your phone system and improving quality assurance. One way to do this is by unifying reporting and monitoring tools. A single phone service provider will be able to provide better insights into call performance, enabling you to identify and address issues promptly and improve overall call quality.

6. Better Control of VoIP and Communication Costs

You can get a VoIP number plan for as low as $7.95 per month. And business softphones, typically bundled with VoIP service, offer an additional cost-saving benefit, with prices ranging from $10–$30 per month.

Furthermore, opting for VoIP offers several advantages in managing communication expenses:

• Simplified billing structures
• Potential volume discounts for larger usage, and
• Predictable cloud telephony costs contribute to better control over expenditures.

Additionally, consolidating with a single VoIP carrier eliminates the complexities of managing multiple setups, contracts, and fees associated with traditional carriers.

This streamlined approach not only simplifies operations but also leads to significant savings in both time and money in the long run.

7. Ensure Business Continuity

By streamlining your phone services with a single provider, you significantly enhance your organization’s ability to maintain continuous voice communication, even in the face of unforeseen challenges.

With a consolidated infrastructure, you can implement robust backup and redundancy measures more easily, ensuring uninterrupted communication even during emergencies or unforeseen events. Additionally, a centralized system allows for rapid response and adjustment to any issues that may arise, from technical difficulties to routing needs.

8. Easy Scaling and Expansion to New Markets

Migrating to cloud technologies like VoIP provides a significant advantage in terms of scalability. It lets you add users, international phone numbers, and extensions as needed. This flexibility contrasts with traditional phone systems, which often require extensive infrastructure updates and the installation of additional lines to accommodate growth.

Moreover, with access to wide global coverage, you can establish a local presence in different markets without physical offices. By utilizing virtual numbers with local area codes from a reliable provider, you can attract local customers and enhance your market reach.

In fact, Global Call Forwarding has been helping businesses across the globe expand into new markets virtually. To know more about our global coverage, check out our pricing page.

Consolidation is the Way to Go

The challenges associated with managing multi-carrier phone services can impede operational efficiency and detract from core business activities. However, by consolidating phone services, businesses can streamline operations, enhance connectivity, and boost productivity.

You can simplify communication infrastructure with a more reliable provider offering an extensive global voice network. Global Call Forwarding has been helping businesses across the globe unify and centralize their global communications. Whether you want to migrate from traditional telephony to VoIP or find one home for all your cloud phone service needs, we’ve got you covered.

Chat with our experts today to know more about what we offer that can help you grow your business!

Related: Global Call Forwarding vs Legacy Telecom Carriers

In business, where every interaction counts, the role of reliable communication cannot be overstated. At the heart of customer trust lies positive customer experiences, and your business phone service serves as a fundamental tool in this endeavor.

With that said, where does your business stand when it comes to phone support?

Are dropped calls leading to frustrated customers? Are your sales agents struggling to call international customers?

This is where cloud telephony providers like Global Call Forwarding come in.

Having provided small businesses and multinational enterprises with global telephony for more than 27 years, we know a little something about the importance of reliable voice calling.

Let’s get into it!

Why is Good, Reliable Voice Calling Important for Businesses?

A robust voice communication system remains a cornerstone of effective customer service and business operations. From addressing customer inquiries promptly to gaining a competitive advantage, reliable voice calling is indispensable for maintaining operational efficiency and driving customer experience.

What makes a business phone service reliable?

And what does a dependable phone service look like? We asked our experts:

• Consistent, high voice quality: “People can call your business in mission-critical situations without poor call quality or calls dropping. Your sales and support agents can also dial out without glitches and have conversations with crystal clear quality.” – Luke Genoyer, Business Development.

• Global coverage: “Being able to reliably cover target global markets, including hard-to-reach regions, where your customers reside.” – Meryl D’Sa-Wilson, Marketing.

• Customer-focused care: “As you build customer trust, you will create a solution for the customer where they understand how useful and reliable the service is. They can see that they are in good hands and can trust our network to handle their business phone system needs.” – Miguel Isabal, Senior Sales Manager.

• High availability infrastructure and redundancy: “Reliable providers often have redundancy measures in place, such as backup servers or data centers, to ensure continuity of service even in case of hardware failures or network issues.” – Greg Porras, IT.

• Network security: “At GCF, we offer fully encrypted calls for clients using Secure WebRTC with Transport Layer Security (TLS). We also maintain strict firewall rules and monitor traffic regularly.” – Greg Porras

• Responsive support: “It means ensuring a business can communicate with their customers without any technical or connection issues. This includes low downtime, little-to-no quality issues like (jitter, network latency, etc), responsive 24/7 support, help guides, and so on.” – Alain, Tech Support

Here are some specific ways in which your business can benefit from voice coverage reliability:

1. Responsive and Faster Call Handling

When you have reliable phone service in place, your customers can expect prompt and responsive care. Cloud phone services optimize call routing and management, ensuring incoming calls are directed to the most appropriate agent or department.

For example, a customer calling with a billing inquiry is routed directly to the billing department using IVR strategies. This reduces wait times and improves efficiency. This way, you can provide callers a faster, smoother, and more seamless experience.

Additionally, cloud calling features like call routing, CRM integration, and real-time collaboration enable agents to understand and address customer issues promptly. This can lead to efficient issue resolution and satisfied customers.

2. Improved Call Quality

Compared to traditional and legacy phone systems, VoIP ensures high-quality voice calls with minimal disruptions or delays. And a reliable VoIP provider emphasizes good call quality with minimal latency, jitter, and packet loss. By leveraging your provider’s established and redundant voice network, your business can rely on high call quality.

For example, Greg shares that “Global Call Forwarding provides servers in both the Western and Eastern hemisphere so no matter where the call originates or terminates, call quality should remain good.”

Enhanced call quality leads to clearer communication, reducing misunderstandings and improving customer satisfaction.

3. Ability to Monitor Calls

Call monitoring happens on two fronts:

• Phone service provider monitoring call quality on their network and
• End-users (business) monitoring call records for their phone lines.

Any VoIP provider worth its salt will routinely test and monitor the quality of calls running on their network. This is to catch any potential issues and resolve them quickly.

On the other hand, these providers will also offer features like call logging or call detail records to help businesses keep tabs on their call traffic. Supervisors can use these records to study call volume trends, listen to recordings, review transcripts, or identify recurring issues. By analyzing call records and identifying common pain points, businesses can proactively address underlying issues and implement solutions.

When both the provider and business closely watch call traffic, managers can improve how the business communicates with its customers.

4. Business Continuity

Uninterrupted communication is vital for maintaining business continuity. Downtime or disruptions in voice calling services can result in lost productivity, missed opportunities, and negative impacts on revenue. Businesses with reliable voice networks and infrastructure are better equipped to handle unexpected challenges and maintain operations seamlessly.

Luke explains that “this involves a robust cloud or hybrid infrastructure with the provider using multiple tier 1 carriers to deliver calls and failover routes in place.”

On the business end, you can use features like failover forwarding and redundant routing. With managed voice continuity, these features can automatically kick in when your primary communication channel is unavailable.

5. Integrated Communication Channels

Some cloud telephony providers like Global Call Forwarding further expand their offerings with CRM and help desk integrations. This is so that you can combine a reliable phone service with your other core business applications.

By integrating voice calls with CRMs, businesses can gain a more comprehensive understanding of their customers. Agents have access to caller information and history during calls, allowing them to tailor their interactions based on customer preferences and previous interactions. This leads to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

For instance, the Global Call Forwarding softphone connects with popular CRM platforms like Zoho, Salesforce, Zendesk, and more. With this integration, every time you make or receive a call through our network, it’s automatically recorded in the CRM system. And by easily viewing comprehensive customer interactions through the CRM, you equip agents with information they need to have targeted conversations.

6. Scalability and Flexibility

As your business grows, so do your communication needs. And a provider with an extensive global coverage means you can rely on expanding to new regions and markets with the same phone service and same quality.

No more dealing with multiple carriers and contracts! Let your provider handle all the nitty-gritty.

With a highly scalable service, you can easily add or remove users, add new phone lines, and adjust call routing rules to meet evolving demands without disrupting business operations.

7. Enhance Customer Experience and Trust

71% of consumers expect personalized interactions from businesses. Reliable voice calling enables businesses to provide prompt assistance, leading to an improved overall experience.

And with intelligent call routing features like time-based or location-based routing, agents can address inquiries efficiently, resulting in higher satisfaction levels—no matter where your teams or customers are located.

Quality voice service indirectly affects key metrics such as customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), customer effort scores (CES), and Net Promoter Score (NPS), among others. Clear call quality minimizes misunderstandings, thereby increasing CSAT ratings. Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend the business, which influences NPS. Additionally, these two aspects reduce the efforts customers need to expend, which is likely to improve CES.

Whether it’s resolving an inquiry promptly or providing responsive support, businesses that prioritize reliable phone services lay the groundwork for lasting relationships built on trust and satisfaction.

8. Gain Competitive Advantage

Finally, a reliable voice phone service enables businesses to thrive in competitive environments. Providing excellent customer service and communication experiences can differentiate a business from its competitors.

Businesses that invest in reliable voice calling systems gain a competitive edge by delivering superior service, building strong relationships with customers, and outperforming rivals who may offer less reliable communication options.

Improve Voice Calling with Global Call Forwarding

Voice calling remains to be the preferred mode of customer communication. So through high-quality interactions, you can foster lasting relationships and gain a competitive advantage in today’s market.

Investing in reliable voice calling systems and business call center software is imperative for businesses aiming to excel in customer communication and service delivery.

Global Call Forwarding can help you up your communication game with state-of-the-art contact center solutions. We’ve been assisting global businesses for over two decades.

Call us or chat with our experts online to upgrade your business communication system today!

Are you making business phone calls to people in other countries, but nobody answers?

Well, over 80% of people are “extremely unlikely” to answer a call from an “unknown number.”

As a business, you’ll want to take steps to encourage people on the other end of the phone to answer your calls. This article discusses tools, tips, and strategies businesses can use to improve call connect and pickup rates.

What Are Call Connection Rates?

Call connection rate is the percentage of calls that successfully connect and are answered by the dialed party.

For example, suppose you make 100 calls in a day, and 50 of those calls are answered. Your call connection rate for that day is 50%.

Call connection rates are also known as pickup rates or answer rates.

Strategies for Improving Call Connection Rates

Through our years of experience advising businesses on international telecommunications best practices, we’ve created a comprehensive list of strategies and tips to improve outbound call pickup rates.

Quick Summary:

• Use a local in-country caller ID.
• Follow good outbound calling etiquette (call at acceptable times, don’t call multiple times in a row, prioritize warm over cold calling).
• Ensure your phone number is not marked as spam, and audit how your caller ID appears across countries and networks.
• Use a multi-channel strategy.
• Leverage outbound calling technologies.

Let’s dig into these strategies in more depth:

Use a Local Caller ID

People are less likely to answer calls from unfamiliar foreign phone numbers. For example, a business prospect in the United States is unlikely to answer calls from a Mexico phone number.

The best way to improve call pickup rates is to use a local in-country caller ID. For example, businesses calling from Mexico to the United States should show a local US caller ID.

See how Directum Translations used a US caller ID to improve call connection rates from Mexico to the US.

If you cannot use a local caller ID due to in-country network restrictions or budgeting constraints, the next best option would be to use the caller ID from a neighboring country or close trading partner.

For example, if you’re calling GCC countries, you could show a Bahrain caller ID. Similarly, someone could effectively use an Australian caller ID to call New Zealand.

Prospects and customers are more receptive to familiar caller IDs.

Call at Acceptable Times

If your business calls different countries and regions worldwide, your agents should understand time zones and refrain from calling during unacceptable working hours.

For example, suppose your call center is located in South Africa. Your representatives should only be calling prospects and leads in the Americas during the afternoon or later.

People are unlikely to answer calls before 8:30 AM and after 7:30 PM—and if they happen to answer, they might get angry with you! The last thing you want when trying to do business is an angry person on the other end of the phone.

Use a time zone chart like WTB as a reference.

Don’t Call Prospects Multiple Times in a Row

This tip falls in line with calling at acceptable times. Your agents should never call people multiple times in a few minutes. If someone doesn’t answer your first call attempt and sends you to voicemail, do not try to call them back right away. They probably rejected your call for a reason.

If someone doesn’t answer, leave a clear and concise voicemail and try again a few hours later. If you don’t want to wait a few hours, you should wait at least 30 minutes before calling back.

Contact People Who Have Expressed Interest in your Company

Many continue to debate whether cold calling is still effective. At its worst, it can harm your business’s reputation or waste time since conversion rates are generally low. For this reason, we recommend warm calling over cold calling.

A simple way to improve call pickup rates is to call people who have expressed a prior interest in your company, also known as warm calling.

Some indicators that a prospect might be interested in your company are if:

• They filled out a contact form on your website,
• Abandoned a shopping cart,
• Visited your website,
• Subscribed to your newsletter,
• Purchased from you in the past, etc.

Calling these people will generally have higher connection rates than calling people who have never heard of your company.

Use a Multi-Channel Outbound Strategy

Similar to the above tip, a multi-channel strategy will improve your call pickup rates. For example, you might combine outbound calls with emails, supplemental materials like brochures, messages on social media, etc.

Multi-channel outreach builds a sense of familiarity with your call targets and improves their chances of answering them, as they might be expecting a call from you.

Ensure that your Phone Numbers are not Marked as Spam

Spam calls are becoming rampant. Due to increased telemarketing fraud and unwanted calls, carriers have even started marking phone numbers as “Fraud Risk,” “Spam Risk,” or “Scam Likely.”

You can determine whether your number is marked as spam through NoMoRobo or TrueCaller. If your phone numbers are being marked as spam, call pickup rates will likely plummet since nobody wants to answer a call from a suspected scammer.

We’ve prepared some tips to prevent phone numbers from being marked as spam, which you can read here.

Audit How Phone Numbers Appear Across Countries and Networks

In addition to monitoring spam databases, another tip for improving call connect rates is to monitor how your phone numbers appear across countries and in-country networks.

Through our experience attending trade shows and speaking with vendors, we have learned that caller ID verification solutions like NumberTrust and TruContact are becoming increasingly popular. These tools enable businesses to check how their outbound caller ID appears across different networks.

Optimize your Dialing – Consider CRM Integrations

We recommend that businesses avoid voice spamming technologies like auto-dialers. Spamming is one of the fastest ways to get your calls marked as spam and to turn off potential clients. As mentioned, your call connection rates will be better if your number is not marked as spam.

However, your agents should be optimizing their dials by using CRM integrations. Telephony and CRM integrations enable agents to dial numbers more quickly, gain context from prior customer conversations, and maintain a log of past customer attempts.

Combining efforts with tact will make your prospects more likely to answer your calls.

How Can GCF Help?

Effective and reliable communication is key to global business success. At Global Call Forwarding, we understand the challenges of international calling. Our cloud telephony service is designed to provide secure and high-quality voice calling.

With our outbound calling and Local 2-Way Voice solutions, you can increase the chances of business calls being answered, no matter where your business or customers are located.

Want to learn more about how we can help your business? Connect with our global communication specialists; call us or chat with us online!

Refining customer experience can boost sales revenue by 2–7% and profitability by 1–2%. This suggests that investing in customer-focused improvements can directly impact the bottom line.

What if we told you there’s a communication solution that not only improves customer and caller experience, but also optimizes workflow? Take a look at our VoIP CRM integrations. This solution seamlessly connects your business phone system with your CRM interface to help agents deliver superior sales and customer experiences.

We recently launched our Salesforce integration with Global Call Forwarding. With this solution, we want to help global businesses deliver a more personalized and effective customer experience on a single unified platform.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• How Do VoIP-CRM Integrations Work?
• 8 Reasons to Use Salesforce-Global Call Forwarding Integration

What is the Salesforce-Global Call Forwarding Integration?

The Salesforce integration with Global Call Forwarding is a powerful solution designed to streamline communication processes in a unified platform. It works with our softphone and Outbound calling solution, allowing you to make and receive calls within the Salesforce CRM.

This integration interface will empower your agents with unparalleled convenience and efficiency. How?

It consolidates customer data and call logs, adding Global Call Forwarding telephony capabilities to the Salesforce CRM. With access to a comprehensive view of customer communication, they can resolve issues swiftly and more efficiently.

This integration also adds to outbound call management. It saves agents’ valuable time by providing quick access to communication tools within the CRM.

How Does the VoIP-CRM Integration Work?

A VoIP-CRM integration is an amalgamation of both voice and CRM technologies, which allows businesses to unify their communication channels and customer data. That way, your agents can communicate better and in a more personalized way with each customer.

Here are some VoIP-CRM integration functionalities:

Auto Data Synchronization: Import customer contact information and other relevant call data from the CRM into the VoIP system and vice versa. Sync of data happens automatically, instead of having to be done manually.

Click-to-Call: Initiate calls from the CRM interface by simply clicking on a contact’s phone number. The VoIP system automatically connects to the dialer or softphone and places the call, eliminating the need to manually dial numbers.

In fact, Global Call Forwarding also offers a click-to-dial extension for Chrome web page users. It recognizes numbers on a web page and allows you to make a call through the GCF softphone with a simple click.

Caller Pops: Identify the caller’s phone number and automatically search the CRM database for a matching contact record. If a match is found, the caller’s information, including previous interactions and notes, is displayed to the agent.

Call Logging: Automatically logs call details, such as call duration, time, date, and outcome in the CRM system. This ensures that all call-related information is accurately recorded. Managers can reference this data to monitor performance.

8 Reasons to Use Global Call Forwarding Integration with Salesforce CRM

So, how can your business benefit from a VoIP CRM tool like the Salesforce-Global Call Forwarding integration? Here are a few reasons to use this powerhouse combination:

1. Expand with Global Voice Coverage

Global Call Forwarding has a voice coverage in over 160 countries globally. With our advanced global network, you can expand your business reach even without a physical presence. Get international phone numbers and outbound calling with local caller IDs.

Leverage our global voice coverage to effectively connect with customers and prospects worldwide. For example, a multinational corporation can use Salesforce-Global Call Forwarding integration to manage customer interactions across different regions and seamlessly route calls to local or regional offices based on caller location, language preferences, or time zones.

Using familiar phone numbers and caller IDs will also encourage customers to pick up the call, improving chances of customer and prospect engagement.

2. Use the Global Call Forwarding Softphone within Salesforce CRM

Businesses can avail the GCF softphone to make and receive calls from within Salesforce CRM. This will further streamline communication processes and productivity by unifying these platforms.

Your sales reps can make outbound calls to leads or prospects directly from Salesforce using our softphone. Organize your sales efforts with call details automatically logged in the CRM for tracking and follow-up purposes.

3. Get 360-Degree Customer View

The integration provides agents with a complete view of customer interactions, including calls, emails, and support tickets, all in one centralized platform. For example, say you use the Global Call Forwarding softphone from within Salesforce. Then, when a customer calls in, the agent can instantly access their purchase history, preferences, and any previous interactions stored in Salesforce. This enables agents to provide personalized assistance and address customer inquiries more effectively.

4. Implement Customized Call Routing

By leveraging our global telephony and Salesforce CRM integration, you can implement intelligent call routing strategies based on various criteria such as caller location, account type, or support tier.

You could, say, route high-value customers to dedicated account managers and technical inquiries to specialized support teams. This ensures that calls are handled by the most qualified agents, leading to faster resolution times and improved customer satisfaction.

5. Improve Lead Management

Incoming calls are automatically logged, and you can take this a step forward by adding notes on lead qualification, opportunities, obstacles, etc., in Salesforce. For instance, when a new prospect calls, the call details are logged directly into Salesforce. Treating this as a potential lead, agents can follow up promptly and track the progress of leads through the sales pipeline. This way, your sales teams can work more efficiently.

6. Offer Personalized Customer Experiences

The Salesforce-Global Call Forwarding integration enables agents to deliver personalized customer experiences. For example, if a customer has recently inquired about a product, the agent can reference the product during the call and offer relevant recommendations or support. This personalized customer-centric approach strengthens customer relationships and increases brand loyalty.

7. Get Real-time Reporting and Analytics

Call logging facilitates real-time visibility into sales call metrics and performance data directly from Salesforce CRM. So, managers can track call volume, agent performance, and average talk times to identify trends and areas for improvement. This data-driven approach will help you design and optimize agent elevation.

8. Work with Global Workforce

Additionally, this integration will allow your teams to access customer data and place receive calls from anywhere in the world. Combine this with advanced routing features like international forwarding, call routing, ring groups, ringing strategies, and so on. This means you can hire from and work with a global talent pool.

Remote sales teams, for instance, can use the integration to manage customer relationships across different time zones and geographies, ensuring consistent communication and support services for customers worldwide.

Get the Salesforce-Global Call Forwarding Integration

Want to up your call center efficiency? A VoIP CRM integration is one way to go about it. There are several perks to using a unified platform to manage customer interaction data and calls.

Let us help you choose the right telephony integration for your business. Global Call Forwarding has been helping businesses worldwide with our state-of-the-art global telephony solutions. Get our Salesforce voice integration and make your business communication system even more efficient.

Reach out to our experts today to know more. Existing customers can contact your account managers for more assistance or set up the integration through the Salesforce AppExchange.