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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.

When it comes to business communication, VoIP-CRM integrations are a game-changer. Not only do these solutions improve voice connectivity, they also optimize workflow efficiency. By creating a unified platform, you can empower agents to have quality customer interactions entailing personalized efforts.

To this effect, we’ve recently launched the Zendesk integration for Global Call Forwarding, aimed at helping you streamline communication processes and improve customer support.

In this article, we’ll cover what is the Zendesk-Global Call Forwarding integration along with:

• How VoIP-CRM Integration Works
• 6 Benefits of the Zendesk-Global Call Forwarding Integration

What is the Zendesk-Global Call Forwarding Integration?

The Zendesk-Global Call Forwarding integration merges your Zendesk CRM platform with Global Call Forwarding phone services seamlessly.

Use the GCF softphone within Zendesk and boost your business communication capabilities. Access our cloud telephony solutions directly within your Zendesk interface. In other words, you can add phone calling functionality to your CRM. This means you can make, receive, and log calls through the CRM with the softphone.

From small enterprises to large corporations, particularly international companies—this integration interface is beneficial for all business types.

To activate the Global Call Forwarding integration with Zendesk, our existing customers can get in touch with their account managers. Activation and cancellation of the CRM integration can be done at any time from the account control panel. New users can contact our telephony experts to know more today!

Best part? Setup is a breeze, requiring only a few clicks, no coding or developer assistance needed.

How Does a VoIP CRM Integration Work?

VoIP CRM integrations bridge your voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone systems with customer relationship management (CRM) interface to optimize voice connectivity. This enhances the functionality of both platforms.

How does it work? You need a CRM interface and a VoIP provider offering a compatible integration solution. Once integrated, you can enjoy a variety of new telephony features such as click-to-call, softphone calling, auto data syncs, and more.

With such features, the integration interface lets you optimize sales efforts from any location, with minimal errors. Read more about VoIP CRM integrations in our guide.

6 Benefits of Integrating Global Call Forwarding with Zendesk CRM

6 Benefits of the Zendesk-Global Call Forwarding Integration

1. Access to Global Call Forwarding Softphone within Zendesk CRM
2. Added Global Voice Coverage
3. Improved Customer Management and Support
4. Increased Flexibility
5. Optimized Business Communication
6. Global and Distributed Team Collaboration

Integration of CRM and VoIP is one way to empower your agents to provide quick and timely customer service. With both platforms combined, you can enjoy features like inbound and outbound calling, access voicemail, manage customer data, and more within your CRM.

So let’s take a look at the key benefits of the Global Call Forwarding integration with Zendesk:

1. Access to Global Call Forwarding Softphone within Zendesk CRM

A significant advantage of this integration is that users of Zendesk can access the Global Call Forwarding softphone which comes with our Outbound Calling solution. Use it from within Zendesk or download the app onto your favorite devices and access Zendesk contacts there.

A softphone app lets users make and receive calls over the internet with devices like a computer, smartphone, etc. Use it to connect with local and international customers at the click of a button. As part of our outbound calling solution, you can even use your local phone numbers as outbound caller IDs when calling internationally. It increases the likelihood of calls being answered and improves communication with local customers.

Streamline workflows by automatically syncing call records and contacts between the softphone and the CRM interface.

2. Added Global Voice Coverage

Combine your CRM with global voice coverage with Global Call Forwarding. Get access to international phone numbers—local and toll-free numbers—from more than 160 countries. Enhance your global voice coverage with our high-quality communication services and advanced calling features such as international call forwarding, call routing, voicemail, and more.

Wherever you want to expand, simply add new phone numbers to your phone service and they get automatically integrated with Zendesk.

Check out our country coverage.

3. Improved Customer Management and Support

Thanks to the two-way data syncing, agents can easily review notes and track opportunities by logging calls with associated accounts in the CRM. No need for manual duplicate entries. This means that the latest customer interactions are always up-to-date and available to everyone across different platforms.

Plus, features like call pops allow agents to see customer information before answering calls, making it easier to provide personalized support. All this makes customer and call tracking as well as follow-up easier.

Optimize call handling and agent preparedness so your teams can improve customer management and better communicate with customers.

4. Increased Flexibility

The click-to-call or click-to-dial feature is a VoIP capability that allows users to make outbound calls directly from the CRM interface with ease.

Whether your teams are working from their computers or need to make calls on the go, they can comfortably place calls through the GCF softphone connected to their Zendesk CRM.

Global Call Forwarding also offers a Click-to-Dial feature as a Chrome extension that lets you place calls directly on any Chrome webpage.

5. Optimized Business Communication

By centralizing communications and saving time, agents can create new contacts, track leads and opportunities, and resolve tickets while on call. This ensures that agents are always on the same page as their customers, leading to improved interactions and customer satisfaction.

6. Global and Distributed Team Collaboration

Access to business calling tools and customer data from anywhere enhances remote work capabilities. This means your business can comfortably facilitate global and distributed team collaboration. In this way, you enable teams to stay connected and productive, regardless of geographical location, leading to more efficiency and teamwork.

Get the Zendesk CRM-Global Call Forwarding Integration

Want to add cloud telephony to your CRM? Consider the Zendesk-Global Call Forwarding integration for a top-notch business phone system upgrade. Centralize business communication and access crucial telephony capabilities in a single platform.

Ready to test out the Global Call Forwarding integration with Zendesk? Reach out to our experts today to find out more!

Existing customers can contact your account managers for more assistance.

That customer experience is the driving force behind business success is a given. And therefore, ensuring responsiveness is critical at every stage of the pre-and post-sales processes. In this effort, combining cloud telephony with your CRM through a VoIP integration emerges as a pivotal solution.

Besides facilitating connectivity between VoIP telephony and CRM software, this integration helps in streamlining business operations. How?

By allowing quick and easy calling and synchronizing essential data between the two platforms. This way, such integrations empower agents and managers with valuable and timely customer interaction insights.

We recently launched the Zoho CRM integration for Global Call Forwarding to help you consolidate your key business processes.

Let’s look at advanced call functionalities, the benefits of the single unified platform, and some practical use cases.

• Benefits of the Zoho-GCF integration
• How to Use the Zoho-GCF Integration

What is the GCF-Zoho Integration?

The Zoho integration is a seamless connection between the Zoho CRM and Global Call Forwarding cloud telephony solutions. In other words, you can add cloud telephony functionality to your CRM, letting you consolidate customer interactions and calls.

The Zoho-Global Call Forwarding integration works with our Outbound Calling solution and our softphone, making it easy for your business to make and receive business calls on any device and in any location. This integration comes with many calling features in Zoho like click-to-call, call logging, and data sync.

Global Call Forwarding offers international inbound and outbound virtual phone numbers. And these phone numbers come with sophisticated features, such as international call forwarding and advanced call management.

Once set up, you can utilize the GCF softphone extension within the Zoho CRM environment. By opening the softphone dialer, you can make and receive calls to contacts, leads, and accounts directly from Zoho CRM pages. Similarly, you can access Zoho contacts in the GCF softphone desktop and make calls from your preferred devices.

Benefits of Integrating Global Call Forwarding with Zoho CRM

From enhanced customer management to streamlined team collaboration, there are many advantages of the Zoho-Global Call Forwarding integration. Let’s have a look:

Centralized Business Communication

By combining your phone service and core business applications, you can centralize communication efforts within a single platform. Agents can remain within the Zoho CRM to make and receive calls without switching between applications, improving call handling and overall operational efficiency.

International Calling Capabilities

A significant advantage that Global Call Forwarding customers have is the access to international calling features. When you get outbound calling with us, you can improve connection rates by displaying local caller IDs when making international calls. This enhances credibility and improves call connection rates when dialing customers in different regions.

Advanced Features and Enhanced Call Management

Through the integration, you can get a wide range of advanced calling features offered by Global Call Forwarding, such as call recording, voicemail-to-email, and interactive voice response (IVR). Check out our suite of features that help upgrade global telephony systems, optimize business workflows, and increase productivity.

Improved Customer Relationship Management

The integration gives agents easy access to customer information and their interaction history. They can quickly review this data during calls and personalize interaction, improving customer satisfaction.

Better Team Collaboration

As call data gets automatically synced into a single platform, team members can share call logs, notes, and customer information. Therefore, the integration fosters better team collaboration and promotes teamwork and knowledge sharing.

How to Use the Zoho-Global Call Forwarding Integration?

This powerful integration brings together robust communication tools and comprehensive CRM functionalities. Here are some of the use cases illustrating the versatility and efficacy of this integration in driving business growth in different ways.

1. Add Global Coverage to your CRM

Global Call Forwarding has a wide global voice network and businesses can access this to establish themselves locally without physical presence. Multinational businesses can integrate our international phone numbers into Zoho CRM to expand global reach.

With access to numbers from over 160 countries, gain a local foothold in key markets, allowing your teams to easily connect with global customers (and vice versa) regardless of location. This way, you can strengthen your brand presence and improve accessibility for customers worldwide.

Check out our global coverage to see if we cover your target markets.

Example: Multinational hotel chains can add multiple international phone numbers to their CRM. This allows travelers to easily connect with reservations and customer service teams regardless of their location.

2. Call from within the Zoho CRM with Click-to-Call

Simplify communication workflows and boost efficiency by making calls directly from Zoho CRM using click-to-call functionality. Timing is crucial in converting interest into sales, especially when customers are buying online. With click-to-call, your sales reps can quickly initiate outbound calls directly from the CRM platform for follow-ups.

Example: An e-commerce business’ sales team can quickly return customer calls or chats, address customer interest and related queries, and guide them to purchasing.

3. Connect Zoho Contacts Directly from GCF Softphone

Additionally, you can find and call your Zoho contacts through the GCF softphone app. This enables agents to initiate calls directly from their preferred devices, wherever the softphone is downloaded.

Get quick access to customer information and have smooth communication, thereby improving engagement and relationship building.

Example: For real estate businesses, agents can use this integration to schedule property viewings, provide updates to clients, and follow up with leads.

4. Tailor Call Flows with Call Forwarding

Optimize call handling by designing custom call flows based on your business communication needs. Global Call Forwarding offers an IVR and call flow builder that lets you tailor and create different call flows for different phone lines.

You can also use this feature alongside your CRM for better customer and call tracking. By assigning different phone numbers to different regions or marketing channels, you can identify where your customers interact most with your business. These calls can all be forwarded to the same phone line for convenience. However, you can leverage call logs and reports to understand your customer base better.

Example: Medical and healthcare organizations use this feature for call tracking and distribution. How? By assigning different phone numbers to specific departments or specialists with access to the CRM platform. Then, forward incoming calls automatically to the appropriate person, and they can receive these calls within the CRM. In this manner, the business ensures efficient call handling, reduced wait times, and better patient experience.

5. Sync Call Detail Records Automatically Between Systems

Enhance data accuracy and reduce manual record-keeping by automatically syncing call detail records between Zoho CRM and Global Call Forwarding. This bidirectional synchronization ensures that all call activities and interactions are captured and updated across both systems.

Example: In an investment firm, capture and update interactions and call activities with clients in both systems. Then, advisors can use this comprehensive view of client engagements to deliver personalized financial advice and services based on accurate and up-to-date information.

6. Keep Track of Customer Interactions and Agent Performance with Detailed Call Logs, etc.

The Zoho-Global Call Forwarding integration comes with a call logging feature where agents and reps can input detailed notes based on customer interactions within the Zoho CRM. Since data between both platforms will automatically sync, agents can eliminate the need to manually log activities in Zoho. Share these call logs and notes with your teams or use them to analyze trends and customer behavior patterns. Furthermore, managers can review call logs to determine agents’ performance and effectiveness.

Example: Software companies can gain deeper insights into customer interactions and behavior by reviewing call logs. With this information, the company can identify areas of improvement and tailor its product offerings and support services.

7. Leverage Call Analytics and Reports

Harness the power of call analytics and reporting tools to gain valuable insights into call performance, trends, and metrics. Our call reports offer information on call origination, destination number, duration, call volume over set periods, and so on. Combine that with our call recording feature and you can even listen in on calls that took too long, were cut short, or featured a high-value prospect. Use this data to make informed business decisions.

Example: Management and consulting firms can access and review analytics detailed metrics to identify communication trends, measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and evaluate client satisfaction levels.

Get the Global Call Forwarding Integration

Do you use Zoho CRM for your business? Integrate our VoIP service with your CRM and enjoy the perks of centralized and consolidated communication. Plus, the setup is quick and easy, requiring no coding or developer intervention, making it accessible to all users.

Ready to streamline your communication? Contact our experts now to find out all about Global Call Forwarding integrations.

Existing customers can reach out to your account managers for more assistance. We’re here to help!

Related: Learn about the Best Zoho Integrations

The role of technology as a transformative force of business growth cannot be overstated. And cloud telephony has emerged as a key solution that helps businesses stay resilient and competitive, owing to its flexibility, scalability, etc. From small startups to large enterprises, organizations are leveraging cloud telephony to streamline operations, boost efficiency, and maintain continuity.

In this article, we’ll examine cloud telephony and seven ways to save money with it.

What is Cloud Telephony?

Cloud telephony revolutionizes communication by using internet protocols, secure applications, and business integrations to facilitate seamless phone calls from anywhere. Unlike traditional phone systems, which rely on fixed phone lines, cloud telephony operates virtually, with its infrastructure, services, and data hosted in remote or cloud data centers. This means you can make and receive calls from any location with internet access.

How Does Cloud Telephony Work?

It relies on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to send calls over the Internet. VoIP converts analog voice signals into digital packets, which are then transmitted over an Internet connection. This allows you to make and receive calls cost-effectively across geographic boundaries, letting your business scale effortlessly.

Cloud telephony uses VoIP as an underlying technology, adding value and features to optimize business calling processes. All you need is an IP-enabled phone or softphone that can be used on computers, laptops, and smartphones.

7 Ways to Save Money with Cloud Telephony

By bringing cloud telephony into business communication, you can leverage this technology to upgrade the way your business connects with customers—while keeping costs down. Here are 7 ways in which cloud telephony reduces communication bills:

1. Scale Cost-Effectively

Cloud telephony allows you to scale your business communication solutions according to your needs. By simply using cloud phone solutions with your existing hardware and devices, you can easily avoid hefty upfront investments in hardware.

For instance, a small startup can begin with just a few virtual phone lines and easily add more as the customer base grows. This saves unnecessary expenses on unused capacity.

2. Eliminate Maintenance and Upkeep

And because you use existing equipment like computers and desk phones, there’s no need to worry about purchasing or maintaining expensive on-premises hardware. This means savings on repair, upkeep, and replacement costs. Your telephony provider handles the heavy lifting while you focus on running your business.

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

3. Encourage Flexibility and Reduce Overhead Costs

Since cloud telephony doesn’t limit you to specific locations, your staff or agents can work from anywhere with an internet connection, reducing the need for a large physical workspace. By enabling remote work with cloud telephony, you can save on office space and related overheads. This could mean significant savings on rent, utilities, and office supplies. You can also outsource customer-facing positions to other countries and save on staffing costs.

4. Pay Only for What You Use

Most service providers offer monthly pricing models, meaning you only pay for the month. Most providers won’t need long-term contracts or impose cancellation fees, but double-checking is always good.

This makes adjusting for call volume and staff fluctuations (up or down) or season changes easy. For instance, a company conducting a seasonal marketing campaign can temporarily increase its call center software capacity without committing to a long-term contract. This saves money during slower periods.

5. Grow Globally with Local Costs

Establish a global presence without the need for physical offices in every location. Using virtual phone numbers with local area codes allows you to project a local presence to customers while saving on the expenses of maintaining multiple brick-and-mortar locations. Get different local phone numbers for target countries and forward incoming calls to your main office, remote employees, or to your PBX.

6. Improve Call Handling to Reduce Churn

By leveraging features such as call recording and IVR and analyzing call activity and custom reports, etc., you can improve call handling. This way, you can provide better customer service and reduce churn. Satisfied customers are more likely to remain loyal, saving you the costs of acquiring new customers to replace those lost to churn.

7. Maintain Business Continuity

Most VoIP systems have redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities, ensuring business continuity during outages or disasters. This can save your business from the financial losses associated with downtime and lost productivity.

Planning ahead with a disaster recovery plan is more cost-effective than rebuilding your business and its reputation.

Save Communication Costs with Global Call Forwarding

While unlocking the benefits of cloud telephony, you can stay at the forefront of technological innovation. Global Call Forwarding helps global businesses optimize communication processes and reduce costs with our state-of-the-art cloud telephony features.

Let us help you leverage cloud telephony’s capabilities. Call or chat with our experts online to upgrade your business communication system today!

The process of contact center agent elevation, also known as escalation, is one of the quickest ways to address customer expectations and queries. As customers want quick and tailored solutions, having a well-prepared escalation system is key.

Proactively managing escalations shows a commitment to customers. This leads to good word-of-mouth, repeat business, and overall growth. And so, adept escalation management is vital for long-term success and expansion by consistently meeting and surpassing customer expectations.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• What is Contact Center Agent Elevation?
• Impact of Frequent Escalations
• Common Causes of Agent Elevations
• Tips to Track and Minimize Escalations

Escalation in Contact Centers

Contact center escalation is the process of identifying and resolving complex customer issues efficiently by elevating these issues to agents better prepared to help. So, this typically involves moving inquiries or issues from one agent to another (or a manager) based on the type and complexity of the issue. This process offers reassurance to customers that their concerns are being addressed seriously, fostering trust and loyalty.

Frequent elevations may also indicate gaps in training, process, and communication within support that require improvements.

What is Contact Center Agent Elevation?

Contact center agent elevation plays a crucial role in customer support, ensuring swift and appropriate resolutions to inquiries or issues.

This process often entails moving customer interactions, chats, or phone calls, to experts or higher-ranking agents when specialized knowledge or intervention is needed. This structured approach involves tiered levels of agent support, each possessing varying degrees of expertise and responsibility.

Picture a customer calling tech support of their broadband provider due to recurring internet disruptions. Initially, a first-level agent handles the call. They are trained in basic troubleshooting and can suggest simple fixes, such as restarting the router.

If the problem persists and seems more intricate, the interaction is elevated to a supervisor or an agent with specialized knowledge in networking and technical configurations. This expert can delve deeper into the problem, analyze network logs, and offer advanced solutions made just for the customer’s specific tech issues.

In this way, agent elevation ensures a seamless transition from general support to a specialist. This streamlined process significantly enhances customer experience.

The goal of contact center agent elevation is to provide tailored and effective solutions. Doing so showcases the importance of a well-organized support structure in handling diverse customer needs.

However, a reliance on frequent escalations may also indicate a weakness in the system. While escalation is crucial for comprehensive support, there is a delicate balance that must be maintained. A high frequency of escalations may point to underlying challenges within the system, potentially resulting in longer wait times for customers and lower satisfaction rates.

Impact of Frequent Elevations

Contact center agent elevation operates with a customer-centric approach. This means it focuses more on getting the customer the right, accurate solution as efficiently as possible, even if that means bringing in an expert.

However, frequent elevations can also have a detrimental effect on the overall customer experience. This is because elevations require more effort from the customers to have their issues resolved. They need to explain things again, wait longer for a solution, and provide more details. This leads to extra work, potential back-and-forth with different people, and as a result, angry customers. Plus, your agents will stay stuck on the same call for longer durations, reducing your teams’ responsiveness.

Your business can avoid this by having certain automated processes or resources in place such as:

• Knowledge base or support documentation
• Automated IVR systems that record issue details before sending calls to agents
• Efficient ticketing software that records customer issues so customers don’t have to repeat themselves, and so on.

With that said, let’s look at the positive and negative impacts of frequent agent elevations. Note that understanding these effects is crucial for optimizing the overall efficiency and satisfaction within a contact center.

Related: Contact Center Integrations

Common Causes of Agent Elevations

Identifying and addressing instances of elevations promptly is crucial for maintaining high-quality customer service. Let’s delve into the common reasons for contact center agent elevations.

1. Complex Issues

When customers present challenging problems that demand specialized skills or knowledge beyond the frontline agent’s capacity, escalations become necessary.

For instance, a customer is seeking guidance on a highly technical product customization beyond a frontline agent’s expertise. Elevating the inquiry ensures it reaches a specialized team or a senior representative with the necessary technical know-how and expertise. This way, the customer gets the specific and detailed help they need.

2. Communication Challenges

Miscommunication within a contact center can lead to a cascade of issues, resulting in escalations. These may arise for different reasons:

• Agents or customers providing inaccurate information
• Misunderstandings between agents during case transfers
• Language barriers with diverse customer bases
• Lack of clarity in company policies or procedures
• Failure to set proper expectations regarding resolution processes and timelines, and so on.

3. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Adherence

Contact centers often operate under SLAs that define the time frame for resolving customer inquiries or issues. When an agent is unable to meet these SLA requirements, the issue is escalated to expedite resolution and align with predefined service standards.

4. Other Causes Prompting Elevations

• Tool Limitations: If the tools or resources an agent has for solving a problem aren’t enough, they might need to escalate the issue.

• Refund or Financial Matters: Issues involving refunds or financial transactions often warrant careful handling and may require escalation.

• Training Purposes: Some escalations may occur for the purpose of agent training, providing a learning opportunity for enhancing skills and knowledge.

• Authorization Requirements: Issues requiring specific permissions or approvals may necessitate escalation to the appropriate authority.

• Customer Requests: Special requests that go beyond an agent’s immediate scope may need higher-level approval or support. For example, if a customer explicitly asks to engage with a supervisor, the system ensures the agent can quickly arrange that. This quick response is vital to meet customer needs and make sure they’re happy with the service.

How to Track and Minimize Escalations: 10 Tips to be Proactive

One of the best ways to mitigate the impact of escalations is to track and prevent them. A proactive approach includes adequate training for agents, regular assessment of policies, knowledge base, and more.

Here are 10 strategies you can use to track and minimize escalations:

1. Thorough Agent Training

Implement a robust feedback system to gather insights from both customers and agents, allowing for continuous improvement. Foster a culture of empowerment among agents, encouraging them to take ownership of customer issues and escalate only when necessary.

2. Monitor Interactions Actively

Regularly review recorded calls between agents and customers to identify recurring problems or areas where additional training is required. This provides valuable insights into customer pain points, allowing you to address issues at their root and prevent them from escalating in the future. Use call recording to analyze strengths and weaknesses, ultimately ensuring that calls measure up to predetermined benchmarks

3. Create and Utilize Knowledge Base

Develop a comprehensive knowledge base that agents can access swiftly during customer interactions. Populate it with troubleshooting guides, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and step-by-step solutions to common issues. This equips agents to resolve problems independently, minimizing the need for escalation.

4. Streamline Workflows

Analyze your support processes to identify any redundant or inefficient workflows that may contribute to unnecessary escalations. Additionally, monitor escalation trends to pinpoint specific patterns. This proactive assessment enables you to streamline processes, eliminating bottlenecks and reducing the likelihood of issues escalating.

5. Regularly Review and Change Policies

Regular reviews help identify policies that may be inefficient or outdated. By challenging these policies, you can uncover areas where improvements are needed to improve operations and product or system knowledge. For instance, warranty policies that are ambiguous or difficult to understand may lead to customer frustration. A review process can ensure that warranty terms are clear, fair, and aligned with industry standards, reducing escalations related to product defects. It is equally important to analyze the escalation event to prevent future occurrences.

6. Optimize the Escalation Matrix

Build an escalation matrix that focuses on efficiency during critical moments; this can be part of your call center disaster recovery plan. Prepare beforehand and outline who is involved, how the hierarchy will follow, and what technology will be used for seamless transfers. This ensures that escalations, when necessary, are handled swiftly and with precision.

Check our resource on how to design an escalation matrix for tips on improving your customer support system and making it more efficient.

7. Collaborate with Sales and Product Teams

Foster close collaboration between support, sales, and product teams to facilitate quicker and more accurate solutions. Ensure they actively share customer feedback and insights, enabling the product team to make informed adjustments.

Sales can then set realistic expectations based on the product’s capabilities and updates, reducing the chances of customer dissatisfaction and subsequent escalations. Regular interdepartmental meetings can facilitate this continuous loop of communication. This alignment ensures a holistic approach to addressing customer concerns.

8. Proactively De-escalate Situations

Train agents to identify early signs of dissatisfaction and de-escalate situations before they intensify. Focus on implementing a calm and empathetic approach, actively listening to concerns, and providing immediate, clear solutions. Timely intervention can prevent the need for further escalation, such as speaking to higher management.

9. Implement Robust Feedback System

Establish a system for collecting feedback from customers and agents. Encourage continuous input from both customers and staff to identify service gaps and potential pain points early. Use structured forms, surveys, or direct dialogue channels to gather actionable feedback. Ensure the system is easy to use and accessible, prompting timely and honest feedback. This valuable data can highlight areas for improvement, enabling continuous improvement of support processes.

10. Stay Ahead of Industry Trends

Research indicates that 62% of customers anticipate businesses to foresee their needs. It’s important to keep abreast of industry development and customer expectations like this as this will help your support teams to create and adapt strategies to proactively stay ahead of potential issues, minimizing the likelihood of escalations.

Related: Customer Service Expectations for 2024

Advanced Telephony Solutions for Proactive Agent Elevation Management

Advanced call management solutions can help greatly in receiving, tracking, and minimizing contact center elevations. For instance, a good call routing system can direct calls based on criteria like an agent’s skills, expertise, and workload. This ensures complex issues reach qualified agents, reducing the need for higher-level support escalations.

Global Call Forwarding offers a myriad of contact center solutions that have helped businesses worldwide to automate and optimize their business communications. For 27 years now, our modern call solutions have helped businesses scale up successfully.

Talk to our expert today to learn more about what we offer that can help you grow your business!