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The blog for Global Call Forwarding has articles on the latest customer service trends, telecommunications technologies, and business news.
Use cloud communications to improve caller experience.
17th January 2022 blog, Customer Service

5 Ways to Improve Caller Experience with Cloud Communications

customer delight banner
11th January 2022 blog, Customer Service

Customer Delight: What is it and How Can it Help Your Business?

Source: DepositPhotos.com - Lic#91467558 ID#27446420
14th December 2021 blog, Call Management

Spice Up Your Business Holiday Voicemail Greetings [9 Templates + Ideas]

Top CPasas Use Cases
13th December 2021 blog

8 CPaaS Use Cases

Best open-source PBX software
6th December 2021 blog

6 Best Open-Source PBX Solutions

How much does an IP PBX cost?
1st December 2021 blog, Call Management

How Much Does an IP-PBX Cost?

how much does softphone cost
26th November 2021 blog

How Much Does a Softphone Cost?

Using SIP trunks with an open source PBX
24th November 2021 blog

Using SIP Trunks with an Open-Source PBX

CCaaS vs CPaas
23rd November 2021 blog

What’s the Difference Between CCaaS and CPaaS?

5 Ways to Improve Caller Experience with Cloud Communications

17th January 2022 blog, Customer Service

When a customer calls your business, they expect to be helped right away. Without a basic phone number, a consistent answering system, an organized routing plan, and more, you could lose potential sales and repeat customers. Using our cloud communication tools, your company will have the speed, mobility, and flexibility to improve caller experience.

How to Create a Positive Caller Experience with Cloud Communication

Callers quickly abandon businesses or publish bad customer reviews when they have a bad customer service interaction. But, a well-designed caller experience produces increased consumer lifetime value (CLV), repeat clientele, and referrals. With cloud communication tools, your company can easily and reliably receive calls from anywhere in the world. Once a call comes in, you are in full control of how it is managed — this can make or break a caller’s experience.

Here are some ways to improve caller experience with our cloud communication tools:

1. Provide an Easy Contact Method

The first step in providing great service is being easy to contact. Consumers generally will switch to a different brand or service if they cannot find a simple and affordable way to call you. This is where toll-free numbers come in handy. Our toll-free numbers offer a free call to consumers in selected countries. You can expand your network with our international toll-free numbers to connect with your global customers. This option forwards long-distance incoming calls to your business’ location and stays free for callers.

2. Stay Consistent

When a client calls in, you want to pick it up within the first three rings. Callers are more likely to hang up or feel frustrated if a call rings too long. Our interactive voice response system (IVR) makes consistency easy by automatically answering inbound calls, even if your company has to manage a high call volume.

After IVR answers, it is capable of completing common tasks and transferring callers to the right department or employee.

Simply put, a cloud IVR can improve caller experience by:

  • reducing your employees’ workload
  • cutting down on average handling time (AHTs)
  • eliminating ignored or missed calls
  • delivering a consistent cloud communication service.

Plus, this call management feature comes included with our virtual number plans. This cloud communication tool guarantees that each inbound call will be answered in a consistent time frame and manner.

3. Be Professional and Friendly

A positive and professional greeting not only tells your consumer they called the right business but also that you’re happy to hear from them. Your opening message establishes the tone for the rest of the call. Voicemail messages are equally important as they leave a lasting impression and sometimes notify callers of the next steps.

Custom messaging such as on-hold messages, music, and sale promotions can drive sales and lower call abandonment rates. Our customized phone greeting feature makes it easy to set up opening messages and voicemails, using cloud IVR from our online control panel. You can upload any personalized recording as a greeting or voicemail.

Improve Caller Experience with Cloud Communications
Source: Stockphoto.com – O# 100062207713 ID#100186088462

4. Manage the Flow of your Inbound Calls

After your opening messages, what happens to the call? A well-thought-out call flow can improve the caller’s experience by letting you control where and how a call is routed to enhance customer experience.

Our call flow designer allows you to design how you manage and route incoming calls. With this tool, you can visualize how calls move through your system.

Here are some advanced call routing options we offer for any business model:

Geographical Routing
Geo-routing allows you to direct inbound calls to the nearest call center based on the caller’s location. This cloud routing tool helps establish a reliable and accessible caller experience by connecting consumers with a representative in their time zone and preferred language.

Round Robin Routing
This routing service distributes incoming calls evenly using your preset order of agents to determine the next rep in line and transfers the call to them. Round Robin strategy can improve caller experience, especially for high call volumes, by reducing hold times.

Follow the Sun Routing
With follow-the-sun routing, your company can provide 24/7 international customer support without depending on a singular support department. Additionally, your agents aren’t overwhelmed by midnight shifts, improving their customer interactions.

Time of Day Routing
Time-based routing diverts inbound calls to a different predetermined destination based on the time of day, such as past business hours or during a holiday. This can improve customer experience by automatically forwarding calls for the most convenient handling.

Sequential Forwarding
Our sequential ringing feature guarantees that every call is addressed. With this strategy, you can add multiple numbers to your sequence and program calls to go down the list or voicemail if they never connect. Having a backup system ensures a smooth caller experience and avoids any frustration from dropped calls.

5. Regularly Train and Give Feedback to your Support Team

You can consistently deliver a positive and successful caller interaction by proactively improving service interactions. Cloud call recording gives you the opportunity to listen back to previous calls. With this cloud communication tool, you can provide your staff members with feedback and personalize training. This allows you to fine-tune your customer service interactions and identify any room for improvement.

Bringing Cloud Communications to your Business

Cloud communications are the future of business communication. With the variety of advanced tools and features, you can not only improve the way your teams interact with customers but also improve office productivity.

Learn more about all our cloud telephony solutions. Call us at 1 (888) 908-6171 or chat with our representatives online today!

Customer Delight: What is it and How Can it Help Your Business?

11th January 2022 blog, Customer Service

It is easier than ever for consumers to switch to different services or rival products. Attracting new clients is also becoming increasingly expensive for businesses. To counter these trends, businesses have adopted a customer delight strategy. Here, we’ll walk through the importance of customer delight and how you can leverage it to improve customer relations.

Advancing your Business through Customer Delight

Delighting your customers is becoming necessary in successful business models. It can influence a client’s choice to stay with your brand or replace you with a competitor. A happy consumer base can increase sales, generate organic publicity, refer your business to others, and much more. This lasting positive impression can sustain your business and guide it towards continued success.

What is Customer Delight?

Simply put, customer delight is exceeding a consumer’s expectations — when a client has a beyond positive experience with the brand, products, support services, etc. When your business surprises or delights a user, you establish a bond and increase the likelihood of consumer loyalty. This is an ongoing process, which no one employee or department handles. Whether you’re in marketing, customer service, IT, or production — you’re all equally responsible for sustaining a company that delights clients.

Customer Satisfaction vs. Customer Delight

At first glance, customer satisfaction and customer delight are the same things. Customer satisfaction is a stepping stone to delight.

So, what’s the difference between customer satisfaction and customer delight? While consumer satisfaction just meets their experience, customer delight aims to exceed.

Let’s break down these two concepts further.

  • Customer Satisfaction – A satisfied client is someone who received average or decent service. The encounter didn’t blow their mind, but it will do. It’s easier for a satisfied user to switch to rival providers or products. This is also referred to as customer abandonment or churn rate. Satisfaction reduces the likelihood of customer retention as it creates a vulnerable state in the consumer’s journey.
  • Customer Delight – A delighted client is someone who received an above-average experience. The consumer’s entire encounter with the brand positively exceeded their expectations. This type of service leaves a lasting, favorable impression on the user and increases the likelihood of consumer loyalty. Overall, it contributes to the customer’s lifetime value and the company’s long-term success.

Calculating Success

It’s important to measure the success of your customer delight strategy to make sure it’s working. Start by creating an index or baseline of current consumer attitude toward your brand. Create your business’ baseline by asking for feedback or sending out client surveys. Once you’ve established a baseline, you can measure progress through a couple of different methods, including:

  • Customer Lifetime Value
  • Retention Rate
  • Net Promoter Score
  • Churn Rate
  • Customer Effort Score, and more.

You can also ask for additional feedback or conduct follow-up surveys. This way, you can determine areas of your strategy that are working or need improvement.

business customer delight

5 Ways Delight Improves Your Business

We’ve already discussed how exceeding customer expectations breeds consumer loyalty. But, what other benefits does this tactic have for your business? Take a look below.

1. Stand Out from the Competition

By creating a personalized and unparalleled customer-first strategy, you separate your business from rival companies. Aiming for delight instead of consumer satisfaction can influence clients to stay with you or switch to your brand.

2. Sustained Growth

An above-average experience attracts clients to your business, products, or services. Striving for customer delight strengthens the possibility of customer retention and loyalty. This process of both attracting and retaining consumers leads to sustained growth and long-term company success.

3. Organic Publicity

A delighted customer is more likely to produce organic publicity for your brand. This happens naturally through consumer word-of-mouth marketing, recommendations, reviews, and more. Delight creates unofficial advocates and promoters for your company.

4. Protects Brand Reputation

Exceeding a customer’s expectations can protect your business’ reputation. In the same way, it can generate positive publicity, it also discourages consumers from writing bad reviews or criticizing you publicly. Even a social media blow can negatively influence your reputation and sales. Strategic customer delight works to prevent negative press. Delighted clients might even defend any negative comments against your company.

5. Cost-Effective

Delighting consumers is actually more cost-effective than customer satisfaction. Retaining clients through customer delight is far more lucrative than attracting new ones. According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring new customers costs anywhere from 5 to 25 times more than retaining current clients. Exceeding customer expectations additionally contributes to increased sales and user spending. In another study by Bain & Company, increasing consumer retention rates by 5 percent caused profits to increase by 25 to 95 percent.

How to Delight Customers?

A successful customer delight strategy doesn’t happen overnight. It is an all-encompassing and ongoing process that takes time to develop. If you’re just getting started with exceeding client expectations, take a look at these popular customer-first strategies:

Collect Consumer Data

Market research is an important part of exceeding customer expectations. You have to know your audience to deliver the best experience possible. Market data enables you to focus and target client needs, wishes, and interests. It also provides insight into possible improvements in your service or products. You can collect consumer data through:

Personalize the Customer’s Experience

Using the data you collected, you can tailor a consumer’s experience to their individual needs and wants. A customized experience comes as a result of one-of-a-kind interactions and consumer-first strategies. You can even use personalization software to design customer-focused web content and personalized emails for each client. Such personalized touches connect your client to your brand and help steer them towards delight and retention.

Empower Your Team

Above-average service begins with customer-facing employees. Proper foundational training helps employees recognize opportunities and deliver an unparalleled customer experience. Additionally, encourage your support team to take ownership of their work and give them the freedom to make decisions. This will lead to a boost in productivity and quicker decision-making – which will all lead to successful interactions.

Up Your Customer Service Game

Strengthen your customer support by being accessible to all your consumers. Make it as easy and painless as possible by providing follow-the-sun customer service. With the right tools such as our cloud communication tools, your business can be globally available with no added fees for your clients.

The Bottom Line

If your customer has a problem, fix it quickly and painlessly. Delivering a smooth service experience is more likely to improve customer loyalty and delight. Once you establish an effective service, you can start adding the little touches to seal the deal. Don’t strive for the bare minimum; keep evolving and progressing the customer’s experience.

Learn more about how Global Call Forwarding’s communication features can help your business generate delight. Reach out to us today to learn more — Call us at 1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online!

Spice Up Your Business Holiday Voicemail Greetings [9 Templates + Ideas]

14th December 2021 blog, Call Management

When is the last time you changed your voicemail? Or, the last time you got creative with it? With the holiday season drawing near, customized holiday voicemail greetings can give your business that extra dash of holiday cheer that customers will appreciate all season long.

Holiday Voicemail Greetings

Use the holiday season as an excuse to personalize your professional voicemail greetings. Whether you use the season to portray your fun personality, inform customers of holiday hours, or route calls to an open office, there are many options that suit your every business need.

The Perks of Sprucing up your Call Management this Holiday Season

Sprucing up your professional voicemail greeting does more than you think to engage customers, drive sales, and strengthen your brand’s personality. Here are some benefits:

Emphasize your Brand’s Identity
You can customize your messages to reinforce your brand’s identity. A strong brand personality entices consumers and can even convert them into loyal customers. With a custom holiday voicemail greeting, it’s easy to stand out from the competition.

Grow Customer Engagement
Unique holiday voicemail greetings allow your business to foster consumer engagement. Whether you’re encouraging customers to call back during normal business hours or promoting holiday offerings, consumers will appreciate your holly jolly messaging.

Holiday Routing
What if your business can’t take a holiday? For example, businesses that deal with emergencies or matters that demand immediate attention must always be available. If your business can’t solely rely on voicemail, consider holiday call routing. With this feature, your business can route inbound calls based on a holiday or selected time period. Holiday call routing ensures your customers receive the support they need, even if your team is out of the office.

Related: 6 Ways to Prepare Your Business for the Holidays

What to Include in your Voicemail

So, you’ve decided to customize your holiday voicemail greetings. But, what should you include in your message? Holiday greetings for businesses enable you to get creative and have fun while being professional. Spruce up your professional voicemail greetings with some puns, holiday wishes, or festive expressions. But, don’t forget to keep your message professional and concise. Here are the essential components of a good holiday message:

1. A Polite Welcome or Recognition: You want to start by acknowledging the caller. This could be as simple as a “Hello” or “Thank you for calling [business name].”

2. Who They’ve Reached: If you don’t introduce your business in your initial greeting, make sure to include it now. If you want, you can also add your name. The point is – people want to know who they are calling.

3. Briefly Explain Why You Missed The Call: This is where you can start to get creative. Throw in a pun or holiday expression. Overall, keep it simple while still letting the customer or your teams know why you are away.

4. When You’ll Return or Your Holiday Hours: Notify your customers on when you’ll return or get back to them. You can avoid specific dates; a rough estimate is fine. Or, simply inform consumers to call back during your updated holiday hours.

5. Give the Caller Another Contact Person or Method: If appropriate for your business, provide an emergency contact or backup communication method like email. This just gives the caller another option if their matter is urgent.

6. Call to Action: Finally, leave the caller with an objective. This could be anything from “Leave a message” to “Please call back during our updated business hours [state business hours].”

7. Don’t Feel Like Recording a New Message?: If recording messages isn’t your thing, but you still want that holiday cheer, consider implementing transfer or hold music. Give your customers a reason to happily stay on hold with classic holiday music, jazz, or even the office carolers.

voice messages
Source: DepositPhotos.com – Lic#415849070 ID#27446420

Holiday Voicemail Templates and Suggestions

Whatever tone you’re going for this season, we’ve got you covered with these holiday voicemail greeting templates:

Professional And to the Poinsettia

“ Hello, you’ve reached the office of [your name] at [company name]. I am out of the office until [estimated time frame]. Our updated holiday hours are [say hours or where they can find them]. Please leave your contact information at the tone and I will return your call. Happy Holidays.”

Hi, this is [your name or business name]. We cannot come to the phone right now as we are home for the holidays. We will be back in the office on [estimated time frame]. Please call back then, thank you.

“Thank you for calling [your name or business name]. Our offices are operating on our holiday hours [say hours or where they can find them]. We will get back to you during these hours. In the meantime, please leave your name and number. Season’s Greetings!

Hopeful and Bright

“Hello, you’ve reached [your name or business name]. We are currently away on holiday vacation. We will back on [estimated time frame] and return your call then. Warmest wishes during this Holiday Season.”

“We are happy to hear from you at [business name]. We will be closed for the upcoming holiday until [estimated time frame] and will get back to you then. Please leave your message after the beep. Hope the holidays bring you many reasons to smile!”

“Greetings! Thanks for calling [your name or business name]. Please be aware that our office hours have changed due to the upcoming holiday. Our current hours are [state hours or where they can find them.] We will get back to you as soon as possible. Please leave your contact information after this message. May your holiday be festive and the laughter be contagious.”

Funny (More Like Pun-ny) and Festive

“Season’s Greetings! You’ve reached [your name or business name]. Our office is currently closed until [estimated time frame]. It would be a tree-mendous help if you leaf your name and number at the tone. So we don’t fir-get to back to you as soon as we can. Thank you.”

“Thank you for calling [your name or business name]. As it snow happens, we are currently out of the office until [estimated time frame]. You snow the drill – please leave your contact info after the beep and we will Fa-la-la-la-follow up during our regular business hours [say business hours or where they can find them]. We wish you a happy holiday season!

Hello, thanks for contacting [your name or business name]. Unfortunately, we candy cane’t come to the phone right now as we are jingle bell rocking around town. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message so we can challah back at you on [estimated time frame/date]. Happy Holidays!

Wrapping Up!

Whatever approach you take for your holiday voicemail greetings, your consumers will appreciate the extra effort. There’s no time like the present to spread some holiday cheer through your professional voicemail greeting.

Want to learn more about custom phone greetings and call routing from Global Call Forwarding? Talk with our representatives today or contact your account manager. Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online!

We wish you a wonderful holiday season!

8 CPaaS Use Cases

13th December 2021 blog

Looking for a way to bring in new communication tools and functionalities to your existing business system? When you identify problems or gaps in your business communication system, you might need to bring in additional features and tools. That’s where CPaaS comes in.

Let’s look at 8 CPaaS use cases, so you can explore the different ways your business can use CPaaS to improve its communication system.

What is CPaaS?

CPaaS or Communications Platform as a Service is an industry category of tools that helps companies add communication features and tools to their existing phone system and applications. Your business can bring additional functionality to its internal business setup via a communication API. This is a great opportunity to combine desired communication tools and features and create a customized business phone solution.

Related: What’s the Difference Between CCaaS and CPaaS?

CPaaS as an API

CPaaS, at its core, works as an Application Programming Interface (API) to let you integrate different tools and features into existing systems. By connecting the API to your system, you can access new features and tools within one cohesive platform instead of juggling multiple providers and services.

For example, Global Call Forwarding offers a phone and communication API that gives our customers an interface to access our network and control different aspects of our services. In some cases, you can go in and purchase numbers or create custom call management rules with our API. At your end, you will need a developer to successfully integrate our API within your system.

What is CPaaS Used for?

CPaaS is a set of communication tools meant to help you solve business and communication problems. In general, most CPaaS use cases include:

  • Voice call handling
  • Call management
  • Advanced routing (IVR / ACD)
  • Call records and history
  • Number/call masking
  • Call recording
  • Notifications and alerts
  • Status updates
  • Reminders and confirmations, and so on.

8 CPaaS Use Cases

While there are many ways you can use CPaaS solutions, let’s look at these 8 common CPaaS use cases:

  1. Inbound and Outbound Voice Call Handling
  2. Phone Number Management
  3. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
  4. Trigger Callbacks
  5. Sync Call Detail Records
  6. Sync Call Recordings
  7. Call Masking (Number Masking)
  8. Notifications and Alerts

1. Inbound and Outbound Voice Call Handling

Managing inbound and outbound calls is crucial to assisting customers and prospects in completing their purchases or resolving an issue. Call management generally involves call routing, callback triggers, reviewing records, and using IVR to distribute incoming calls. How you handle your call volume determines how easy it is for customers to make purchases and get support.

2. Phone Number Management

You can also get CPaaS solutions to manage your business phone numbers. For example, with the Global Call Forwarding API, you can:

a) View available numbers
View a list of all countries and cities for which numbers are currently available within the Global Call Forwarding network, including the country ID and the country code.

b) Order numbers
Purchase or add a Global Call Forwarding service line (number) on the Standard Plan through the API.

3. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

An automated voice response system like an IVR answers the call, determines the purpose of the call, and assists the caller with predefined rules set by you. These rules are usually routing rules to assist callers in reaching the right department and getting responsive support.

Set up an IVR system to route callers or help them navigate your phone system on their own with self-service options.

4. Trigger Callbacks

Trigger callbacks when communicating with customers in remote or rural regions, where affordable calling and internet connectivity is hard to come by. Global Call Forwarding offers this service in our Toll Free FlexDial solution.

CPaaS use case #1

5. Sync Call Detail Records

You can sync call detail records for a specific account, service line, or date range with your business systems. When you do this, you can view call detail records (CDRs) to understand your call flow, where customers are calling from, and other relevant customer interaction KPIs.

6. Sync Call Recordings

You can also sync call recordings with your system. When you use a cloud call recording service, you can record inbound and outbound calls and then review or store recordings within your system for future reference.

7. Call Masking (Number Masking)

Here, you can mask your caller ID and phone number by displaying a different number instead, such as a toll-free or local number from that region. Call masking lets you override your outgoing caller ID so that it does not feature an international or private number, which may deter customers from answering.

CPaaS use case #2

8. Notifications and Alerts

Lastly, you can also get notifications and alerts of a specific event within an account, such as a call or voicemail. In advanced CPaaS solutions, you can even send notifications and alerts to your customers for appointment reminders, status updates, and so on.

What CPaaS Solution Do You Need?

With these CPaaS use cases demonstrating how a business can use CPaaS, the next step is to identify what business communication you need to solve. Do you need to route calls more effectively? Do you want to have control over your business phone numbers? Will notifications and alerts optimize your processes? And so on.

Once you identify the issue, you can look for solutions to improve your business communication and overall efficiency. Want to learn more about CPaaS? Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online!

6 Best Open-Source PBX Solutions

6th December 2021 blog

Looking to upgrade your legacy phone system and customize it to fit your exact needs? With an open-source PBX solution, you can design a communication system made for your business. Here’s a list of the 6 best open-source PBX solutions, so you know where to start looking.

Choosing the Right Open-Source PBX Solution

Open-source PBX is a free phone system available to the public under a General Public License (GPL). Your IT team can use this software, pair it with the desired phone service, and create a custom private telephone exchange.

With this flexible and highly customizable option, businesses can combine SIP trunking with open-source PBX software to convert their computers into business phones and phone systems.

cloud pbx

Open-Source PBX Solutions: Top Features to Look for

While each provider offers its own suite of PBX features, here is what most open-source PBX solutions offer:

  • Call forwarding
  • Advanced call routing
  • Call waiting and transfer
  • Call management
  • Interactive voice response (IVR) / Auto-attendant
  • Automatic call distribution (ACD)
  • Direct inward dialing (DID numbers)
  • Phone number management
  • Voice messages (welcome, greeting, hold, voicemail, etc)
  • Voicemail
  • Phone extensions
  • Call recording
open source pbx code
Source: DepositPhotos.com – Lic#80434210 ID#27446420

6 Best Open-Source PBX Solutions

Here we list the 6 best open-source PBX solutions with information about their PBX software and features, so you can make an informed decision when finding a PBX provider:

  1. Asterisk
  2. SIP Foundry
  3. FreePBX
  4. 3CX
  5. FreeSWITCH
  6. OpenPBX by Voicetronix

1. Asterisk

Asterisk is considered the OG for open-source VoIP and PBX solutions, and it is the gold standard that other PBX solutions aim to achieve in their products. Due to its popularity and reputation, Asterisk is the leading open-source telephony platform that comes equipped with advanced features and services.

Asterisk’s PBX software comes packed with standard PBX features such as IVR, ACD, conference calling, and voicemail. With this software, you can convert any computer into a business communication server.

Asterisk also provides live classes, online training, and a manual to help make training and onboarding easier.

2. SIPFoundry (sipXecs)

SIPFoundry is one of Asterisk’s top competitors and offers many of the solutions that Asterisk does. Like Asterisk, SIPFoundry offers voice, video, conferencing, and messaging, all in one place. They also offer a mobile client for convenience.

While the tool is free, SIPFoundry offers paid professional assistance to businesses and developers to help them create a solution that works best for them. A dedicated support team like this can assist businesses in building their unique phone system.

3. FreePBX

With FreePBX Distro, you can quickly install and configure your Asterisk-based open-source PBX system. The FreePBX software comes with features and integrations and is compatible with most commercially available hardware. And the software is tested and maintained by Sangoma’s Quality Assurance to ensure high quality and security.

They provide instructions and their own FreePBX wiki for guidance and support. Additionally, they run a community of blogs, forums, and events so that developers and users can get help when needed.

4. 3CX

3CX is another open-source PBX software based on the SIP standard. This solution lets users use extensions to make calls via PSTN lines and VoIP services. 3CX offers a GUI that is easy to understand and install on Windows-based machines. They also provide iOS and Android mobile clients and Windows and MAC softphones to increase phone system flexibility. Additionally, with their WebRTC adoption, your teams can use this software for web conferencing as well.

5. FreeSWITCH

Originally based on the Asterisk platform, FreeSWITCH’s open-source PBX platform offers cross-platform support, scalability, and flexibility. FreeSWITCH uses freely available software libraries to operate and manage necessary functions for your PBX. Additionally, it supports SIP, H.323, and WebRTC as well as provides voice and calling features to help your business build its own UC suite.

6. OpenPBX by Voicetronix

Voicetronix, a telecom company, offers both communication hardware and open-source PBX software (OpenPBX) that comes equipped with an extensive suite of features. This do-it-yourself PBX application has a web-based user interface and GUI that makes for quick and easy configuration. It also has basic CRM built within the platform, so your business does not need an additional CRM solution.

Get PBX Solutions from Global Call Forwarding

While Global Call Forwarding offers a cloud PBX solution, we also provide VoIP and SIP trunking services that you can bring into your open-source PBX system. We have helped many customers and businesses switch to a cloud phone system by providing the right phone service that integrates with their existing business phone setup. Want to learn more? Speak with our experts today at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online!

How Much Does an IP-PBX Cost?

1st December 2021 blog, Call Management

The state of your business communication determines how customers interact with your business. Therefore, it is important to find the right PBX provider to improve connectivity and reliability. With countless PBX systems and providers out there, it is crucial to understand the factors influencing your IP-PBX cost and how to determine what type of PBX system your business needs.

Getting IP-PBX for Your Business

In this article, we will review:

  • IP-PBX features
  • Factors contributing to cloud PBX pricing
  • Different types of IP-PBX systems, and
  • IP-PBX cost breakdown.

IP-PBX Features

While providers offer different PBX features and services, most will offer a basic suite of features along with their IP-PBX service. When looking for a new provider, it helps to determine beforehand what features and tools your teams need to do their jobs well. The top IP-PBX features include:

  • On-premise / Cloud PBX system
  • Inbound and outbound voice calling
  • Local, toll-free, international phone numbers
  • VoIP functionality
  • Advanced IVR / Auto-attendant
  • Voicemail, email, fax
  • Call reporting and records

Factors Contributing to IP-PBX Cost

Let’s dive into the top factors influencing your cloud PBX pricing:

  1. Type of PBX system: on-premise or cloud PBX system
  2. Open-source PBX
  3. Hardware and equipment costs, if applicable
  4. Installation and maintenance costs, if applicable
  5. VoIP phone service cost
  6. Training and onboarding

1. On-Premise vs Cloud PBX System

Your IP-PBX cost is largely based on the type of IP-PBX system you want: on-premise or cloud-based.

An on-premise PBX system is built, hosted, and maintained on-premise (in-office) by your IT team. You can use open-source PBX (more on this below), a free software, to build your on-premise system. Then, bring in the necessary hardware, talent (IT professionals), and a business VoIP solution to make the PBX system functional. This means that your business pays upfront for equipment and installation but is wholly responsible for maintaining and updating it, which can prove costly in the long run.

On the other hand, hosted PBX is a PBX system located in the cloud instead of a typical hardware PBX system. In this case, the system is hosted, maintained, and updated by your provider, typically an off-site data center. You pay a monthly fee to use the system via a public or private Internet connection, and you are only responsible for desk phones and a VoIP service connected to your cloud PBX system.

Here’s an IP-PBX cost breakdown for on-premise and cloud PBX systems:

On-Premise PBX Pricing Breakdown Cloud PBX Pricing Breakdown
PBX license No license required
PBX equipment and hardware (appliances, PBX servers, interface cards, and phones) Hardware and equipment (desk phones and/or softphones)
Installation and maintenance fees Little to no installation and maintenance fees
In-house IT team required In-house IT team not required
Little training and onboarding Little training and onboarding
VoIP / PBX service (monthly fee) VoIP / PBX service (monthly fee)

cloud vs hardware PBX

2. Open-Source PBX

Your business may choose to use open source PBX to save on PBX system costs. Open-source PBX is a phone system available to the public for free under a General Public License (GNU). This type of PBX is made up of a Linux operating system and PBX software. As such, you can use this software to convert a computer or laptop into a business phone system.

You can run open-source PBX software online or on-site. The software is customizable and easy to download. You only need hardware (computers and phones) and a VoIP service to complete it. Open-source PBX software comes equipped with typical PBX features like voicemail, IVR / ACD, advanced call routing, and more.

Even though open source PBX is free, you will need a team of administrators and developers with a strong programming and telecom background to customize it for your business communication needs. They also need to understand the fundamentals of VoIP and legacy telephony.

So the costs of operating PBX with an open-source PBX software include:

  • Hardware and installation costs
  • VoIP service
  • Skilled talent
  • Training and onboarding

3. Hardware and Equipment Costs

Here’s a breakdown of hardware and equipment costs associated with a PBX system:

  • On-premise PBX equipment — $5,000-10,000
  • PBX license — $3000
  • Computers — $300-3,000
  • Hard drive space — VoIP servers run 80 GB to 160 GB SATA HDs.
  • Phones:
    • IP phones and handsets — $100-400 per phone
    • Softphones (usually come with VoIP service) — $10-30/month of service

You will pay for all of this with an on-premise system. However, for a hosted PBX system, you will only pay for the phones, installation, and VoIP service (prices below).

4. Installation and Maintenance Costs

Here’s the general price range for PBX system installation and maintenance:

  • On-premise PBX installation, recurring licensing, maintenance, and upgrades — $12,000
  • Cloud PBX — $0-1000

5. VoIP Phone Service Cost

For a PBX system to work effectively, you need to pair it with a phone service. Here’s a breakdown of costs factored in hosted PBX services:

  • LAN — $1,000
  • Hosted VoIP phone service — $10-500/user/month
  • SIP trunking service — $35-100/user/month

6. Training and Onboarding

This varies based on the type of system you get; some are easier to use than others. Based on the complexity of your system, you may or may not need additional training and onboarding.

How Much Does an IP-PBX Cost?

The best way to estimate the price of an IP-PBX system is to calculate on a “per-seat” basis, where “per-seat” is the number of phones or extensions needed. The larger the company, the lower the cost per seat. So, a PBX system for a 400 seat business will be much less than a 60 seat business.

Historically, IP-PBX costs range from $500-1,000 per seat. This range depends on the type of PBX system you use: on-premise, cloud, or open-source.

Hosted PBX costs range from $10-100 per user per month, depending on the services and geographies.

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

Global Call Forwarding: IP-PBX Cost

Global Call Forwarding offers VoIP and international SIP trunking. You can easily plug our service into your existing PBX system (3CX, Cisco, etc.) or combine it with your open-source PBX set-up (Asterisk, FreePBX, etc). This means that you don’t usually have to pay for equipment (computers or phones) since your business might already have those in place, and you will only pay for the phone service. For instance, you can easily plug SIP trunks into an existing PBX system.

Your IP-PBX cost with Global Call Forwarding:

  • PBX system:
    • Free open source PBX — $0
    • Existing on-premise PBX (no extra equipment needed) — $0-100
  • Monthly phone service (VoIP or SIP trunking):
    • Global Call Forwarding VoIP service — starts at $7.95/month
    • Global Call Forwarding SIP trunking service — starts at $32.95/month
  • Phones
    • Existing desk phones — $0-400
    • GCF softphone (can be used on computers, laptops) comes with our Outbound Calling service — starts at $25/month
    • Installation and setup fees — $0

Get IP-PBX from Global Call Forwarding

Want to learn more about cloud PBX solutions offered by Global Call Forwarding? Chat with our experts online or call us at +1 (561) 908-6171. We’d love to help you find the right business communication solution to improve caller experience and productivity.

How Much Does a Softphone Cost?

26th November 2021 blog

As cloud communication grows in popularity and reliability, many businesses are switching over to VoIP to take their communications to the next level. But as your business considers VoIP, it is important to review how much your service will cost you.

In this article, we will review:

  • How much does a softphone cost, and
  • How to determine the right softphone provider for your business

The Costs of Using Softphones for Business Calls

Softphones are a cloud phone service feature that lets users make business calls from any location and device. This makes softphones a good tool for distributed teams to maintain business continuity and for global businesses to call internationally cost-effectively.

What is a Softphone?

A softphone — also known as web phone or web-dialer — is a web-based phone application that allows users to make and receive business calls. The softphone software is a dial pad and uses your VoIP phone service to act as a phone. This is a cloud telephony feature offered by VoIP phone service providers.

Users can download the softphone on their desktop or smartphone or access it via web browser extensions. They then enter their VoIP or SIP credentials given by the cloud phone service provider. Once logged in, they can place calls in-network and to customers by connecting to the internet.

How Much Does a Softphone Cost?

There are different types of softphones offered by service providers; some free, some paid. To choose the right softphone provider, you will need to determine the features and tools essential for your business communication system.

Free softphones come in handy for one-off calls and quick service. If your business needs to make a quick call but does not need a regular service, then a free softphone may be your cost-effective solution. Note that while these softphones are free, they may lack in capability and features, and therefore, are not always recommended for business use.

Paid softphones will give you the real VoIP experience along with a full suite of features and tools. With these softphones, you can make and receive voice and video calls, manage calls with advanced routing, integrate with your CRM, and connect from any location and device. On average, a softphone costs about $50-70. However, your softphone cost depends on where you get it and for what purpose.

Softphones from VoIP providers come equipped with features and tools to boost your business communication. Some VoIP providers offer softphones for free with their service or a particular product. For example, you can get the Global Call Forwarding softphone when you sign up for our Outbound Calling service.

Global Call Forwarding Softphone Cost

As mentioned, you can get the Global Call Forwarding softphone with any of our Outbound Calling plans, starting at $25/month.

So, with a Basic outbound plan ($25/month) and a Basic inbound plan ($7.95/month), the GCF softphone costs $35.95/month.

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

Choosing the Right Softphone Provider

While you might be tempted to pick the first softphone provider that turns up on your search, it is a good idea to consider different providers before making your decision. To find the right softphone, you must:

1. Determine what your teams need

Review your internal and external communication infrastructure and consider different services and features that can help you optimize communication. In other words, how can you make it easier and cost-effective for employees to call local and global customers? What do you need to route calls effectively across different offices? How can you reduce call abandonment?

2. Research and review different providers

Next, look at the top VoIP and softphone providers to understand what they offer businesses like yours. What do you need to do or buy in order to use their softphone? Review and compare their features, prices, and customer testimonials.

3. Understand features offered

Next, what features do they offer as part of their service and within the softphone? How can these features help your business overcome its communication challenges? Can this service support your local, remote, and global teams?

4. Buy a softphone and start making calls

Once you have reviewed different providers, plans, and features, you can see which fits your requirements and budget best. Then, you can buy or subscribe to the service. Show your team how to download and use the softphone, and start placing business calls.

Get the GCF Softphone

Global Call Forwarding offers our in-house softphone along with our Outbound Calling plan. You can use the GCF softphone to connect your local, remote, and global teams through one centralized hub. Make outbound calls with your business phone numbers, transfer calls within teams, and stay connected from anywhere in the world.

Using SIP Trunks with an Open-Source PBX

24th November 2021 blog

When building your business communication ecosystem, it is important to consider different options to find one that fits your needs. And while there are many pre-made communication and contact center solutions, your business may need something closer to home and tailor-made for your precise needs. That’s where open-source PBX and VoIP solutions like SIP trunking come in handy.

Open-Source PBX for Business Communication

In short, open-source PBX is a free phone system available to the public. It’s usually made up of Linux OS and PBX software, which allows users to program it to meet their needs and convert computers and laptops into a business phone system.

Benefits of Open-Source PBX

Businesses with a strong in-house IT team of developers and programmers might find open-source PBX more to their liking. This is because you can tailor and customize the PBX software to fit your business needs and connect your local, remote, and distributed teams with one central hub.

There are many benefits to using open-source PBX to upgrade your business communication system. These include:

  • Substantial cost-savings
  • Easier to install and manage
  • Highly customizable
  • Phone and call management
  • Can add different communication features and tools
  • Adding cloud functionality to your communication
  • Compatible with SIP phones, IP phones, and other devices

Top Open-Source PBX Solutions to Consider

If you want to customize your business communication and have an excellent team of in-house developers and programmers, then open-source PBX can expand and enhance your communication system. Top open-source PBX solutions include:

  • Asterisk
  • SIP Foundry
  • FreePBX
  • 3CX
  • Elastix
  • FreeSWITCH
  • OpenPBX by Voicetronix

To learn more about these providers, check out our comparison of open-source PBX solutions.

SIP trunks and open source PBX used together.

What is SIP Trunking?

SIP trunking is a telephony solution that transmits voice communication (voice calls) from one endpoint to another. Global SIP trunks hold up to 30 SIP channels, which enable simultaneous two-way connections through a VoIP provider.

Connecting SIP to your PBX system lets you bring cloud communication functionality to your phone system as well as other voice and call features.

Using SIP Trunks with Open-Source PBX

SIP trunks can be connected to an IP-PBX system or an open-source PBX software that connects incoming calls with extensions with an organization or company. And so, if your business has direct inward dialing (DID) or a bunch of DID numbers assigned to different employees and departments, you can forward incoming calls to your open-source PBX system, and then route them as needed.

Since SIP trunks can handle multiple calls at the same time, you can turn your PBX into a full-fledged business communication system by including other necessary features and tools.

Key takeaway: An open-source PBX and SIP trunking combination lets you build communication that works for your business. With such a customizable solution, you are not stuck in rigid systems with features and services that you do not fully use. Instead, you have a system designed to maximize employee productivity and efficiency while also improving customer experience.

SIP Trunks and Open-Source PBX with Global Call Forwarding

Global Call Forwarding offers a VoIP and SIP trunking service that can be easily integrated into your existing PBX system — including your open-source solution. To bring our SIP trunks into your system, you will first need to buy SIP trunks.

Then, you will enter your SIP credentials into the PBX system to configure the SIP trunks. You can even configure call routing and forwarding rules for advanced call management.

Our SIP trunking service is compatible with paid and open-source PBX solutions from Genesys, 3CX, FreePBX, Asterisk, Cisco, and more.

Example: How to Set Up a 3cx Phone With SIP Trunking

Finding the Right SIP Trunking Provider

Just like there are multiple PBX providers, you will also come across many SIP providers in your research. However, to choose the right provider, you first need to determine what you need from the service and how much you can spend on this legacy phone system upgrade.

Speak with our representatives to learn more about our SIP trunking service and how we can complement your PBX system. Chat with us online or call us at +1 (561) 908-6171.

What’s the Difference Between CCaaS and CPaaS?

23rd November 2021 blog

When designing your business communication system, you will come across a variety of solutions. This can make choosing the right solution difficult, especially when they are not defined clearly.

Here, we explain the differences between CCaaS and CPaaS, two cloud-based communication solutions, so that you can make the right choice for your business.

Understanding CCaaS and CPaaS

Communication technology continues to evolve with new advancements, and this evolution has led to terms like UC, UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS. What all these have in common is that they make business communication across borders much more manageable, reliable, and cost-effective.

Let’s look closely at CCaaS and CPaaS, their similarities, differences, features, and benefits.

Related: Business Communication Stats: 2022

Similarities Between CCaaS and CPaaS

Although CCaaS and CPaaS serve different purposes and functions, there are a few similarities between the two services, such as:

  • Cloud-based communication services
  • Quick installation
  • No hardware required
  • Low-cost phone system
  • Brings automation and integrations to your phone system
  • Access to advanced reporting and analytics
  • Increases employee productivity
  • Scalable and flexible solution

What is CCaaS? Definition, Features, and Benefits

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is a cloud-based method for business and customer communication. A CCaaS platform consolidates multiple voice and calling features and tools in one platform to improve customer and caller experience.

CCaaS Features

  • Inbound and outbound calling
  • Call queuing
  • Call monitoring
  • Advanced call routing and IVR
  • Low-code/no-code
  • Automatic call distribution
  • Call recording
  • Call analytics

CCaaS Benefits

  • Quick startup with a plug-and-play setup
  • Cost-effective as CCaaS is significantly less than investing in a legacy phone system
  • Variety of voice and call features
  • Advanced analytics and reporting to track performance.

What is CPaaS? Definition, Features, and Benefits

Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) is a cloud solution that enables businesses to add real-time communication features to their own business applications. In other words, CPaaS lets businesses add their communication features and functionality — through an API — to their existing business setup. This way, you can integrate essential business applications within your other system, leaving you with a custom communication stack.

CPaaS Features

    • Phone number management
    • Call management
    • Outbound voice calls
    • Inbound call routing
    • WebRTC-based calling
  • On-demand SIP trunking
  • Number masking

CPaaS Benefits

  • Real-time communication
  • Customization
  • Easy integration
  • Affordable and scalable

Related: Common CPaaS Use Cases

CCaaS vs CPaaS: 6 Main Differences

Here’s an overview of the differences between CCaaS and CPaaS and how they support business communication systems:

CCaaS CPaaS
1. Focus Focuses on communication with customers Focuses on all types of business communication (internal and external)
2. Purpose Enhances business continuity via channels preferred by customers Ensures smooth connectivity inside and outside the business
3. Benefit Useful for customer-centric businesses or contact centers Useful for building a bridge among employees, customers, and the company
4. Flexibility Complete software that makes customer handling fast and convenient Offers businesses flexibility to bring in different communication tools based on their needs
5. Compatibility CCaaS is used as a whole; cannot be fragmented CPaaS works as a building block combined with other services and channels
6. Customizable CCaaS is a custom-made option for businesses wanting to set up their own contact center, but does not offer room for changes in its coding. CPaaS allows you to customize the communication channels according to their needs and customer demands.

CCaaS vs CPaaS: Which is Right for Your Business?

So, which communication solution does your business need? This depends on what you want to accomplish with an upgraded phone system. It’s a good idea to research and contact different cloud phone service providers to understand what they have to offer and how they can help you migrate your communications to the cloud.

Learn more about the cloud telephony solutions offered by Global Call Forwarding by speaking with our experts. Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online today!