When your business is ready to outsource its customer service and business processes, you will need to know where to get cost-effective and high-quality services. While call centers are available in abundance, you need to find a call center outsourcing company that meets your needs and budget. Here is a list of the top 8 countries to outsource call center services to in 2026. We also look at what makes for a good and reliable call center outsourcing company.
Which Countries Make the Best Outsourcing Partners?
The top countries for call center outsourcing:
The Philippines
India
The United States
Brazil
Ukraine
Argentina
Poland
Malaysia
These countries are known, more than others, for call center offshoring and outsourcing. This is due to a variety of factors such as:
Population density
English proficiency and literacy rate
Governmental support and IT infrastructure
Access to advanced technology
Low-cost and multilingual labor.
This post will go over the top countries for call center outsourcing and why these countries rank highly.
What to Look for in a Call Center Outsourcing Company?
When deciding which call center offshoring company your business should partner with, you first need to determine what you need. Do you need only voice support, or do you want to offer multichannel support to your customers? Can your business benefit from automated support such as renewal reminders, holiday greetings, and so on?
Call centers can offer various services such as:
Inbound call support — customer support, technical support, help desk services, chat support, order processing
Outbound voice support — sales, lead generation, market research, appointment setting
IT services — troubleshooting and technical support
Multichannel support — voice, video, email, live chat, text messaging
Most call centers offer a combination of services so that businesses can get the most out of outsourcing their business communications. Once you’ve decided what you need from your call center partner, you can find one that meets your budget and requirements.
But, what makes the following call center outsourcing countries rise above the others?
English language proficiency
Language empathy
Multilingual staff
Low labor costs
Affinity to Western cultures
Customer-focused services
Government incentives for foreign investors
Industry growth rate
Industry revenue rate
Let’s look at the top countries to outsource call center services:
1. The Philippines
The Philippines has rightfully earned its name as the world’s call center capital. This is because it continues to be a top location for call center outsourcing and BPO services. The main reasons why global companies turn to the Philippines for outsourcing are due to cost-effectiveness, operational efficiency, and an educated and diverse workforce.
The Contact Center Association of the Philippines claims that the country’s call center industry will expand and generate up to US$20.4 billion in revenue by 2022.
Top call center outsourcing companies in the Philippines:
Magellan Solutions
OBPO
Global Sky
Convergys Philippines Inc
Telephilippines Inc
24/7 Customer Philippines Inc
IBM Daksh Business Process Services Philippines Inc
Sitel Philippines Corporation
Sutherland Global Services Philippines Inc
2. India
Following the Philippines closely is India, boasting the second largest call center industry. India’s call center workforce not only offers customer service and sales but also excels in software development and information technology. This gives India an edge when it comes to offering IT and BPO solutions. Reasons to choose to outsource your call center needs to India include cost-effectiveness, high-skilled and low-cost labor, and world-class IT infrastructure.
Only recently did the US call center industry start gaining popularity. This is partially due to the governmental focus on gradually bringing more jobs to the US to increase employment. US call centers are currently sought after for IT and tech support services.
Brazil, like India, is also famous for its IT and tech support services. The country’s proximity to the US and Latin America had led to its call centers having an international presence and client base. And big-name companies like IBM and HP have often outsourced their services to local Brazil call centers.
Ukraine too focuses on offering call center services within the tech industry. With more than 1000 agencies providing IT-related services, Ukraine is positioned to offer IT and tech support to different sectors and industries globally.
Argentina has a vast pool of skilled and educated professionals. These individuals specialize in software and mobile development, customer support and CX, cloud computing, and more.
Top call center outsourcing companies in Argentina:
Balat
Sinertec Argentina
Atento
Proximo
CAT Technologies
Nivel Uno
Telmark
7. Poland
Known for its software and programming industry, Poland offers outstanding software development and IT services and other call center outsourcing services.
Call center outsourcing is on the rise in Malaysia as it is slowly being known for its IT and IT-related services. The country’s proximity to other Asian countries and its IT infrastructure makes it a good choice for outsourcing services.
The growth rate for call centers and contact centers continues to rise, with more businesses looking to outsource their sales and customer service. And with advancements in telecommunications and global telephony, it is easier than ever to increase profits and revenue with a contact center.
But this is harder to achieve with outdated and vulnerable technology. With the right legacy contact center modernization, you can transform your contact center into a customer experience center.
What is Legacy Contact Center Transformation?
Legacy contact center transformation or modernization is the process of replacing or modernizing legacy phone systems and contact center technologies with new, modern ones. For most businesses, this might mean switching over to a cloud-based contact center software or using contact center as a service (CCaaS).
When you upgrade or transform your contact center, you set your company and your employees up for success. This is because you use modern technology to improve quality and scalability. And you pay for the contact center tech you need with flexible terms.
Need for Legacy Contact Center Transformation
The primary purpose of a contact center is to offer customer service and sales support to different businesses. As your contact center adds on new clients and companies, you will need advanced technology to support your teams.
For example, you may onboard clients from different countries or who have customers spread across globally. In this circumstance, you will need to provide customer service and sales globally. Legacy systems may support global coverage, but they are not as cost-effective as cloud-based solutions built for virtual and global scalability. The same goes for contact centers that want to offer remote or hybrid work capabilities. Cloud-based solutions are easier to manage than traditional legacy systems.
With legacy systems, you will:
Need to purchase, install, and maintain heavy-duty hardware
Run your contact center on outdated technology
Enter long-term contracts and overpay for basic, essential services
Lack flexibility and scalability to support your remote, flexible, and global teams
With legacy contact center transformation, you open up new avenues of growth and modernization within your business.
Advanced and cloud-based technology Cloud contact center solutions come equipped with modern features and tools to help your teams do their jobs well. Use SIP trunking to make high-quality voice calls and route calls automatically to the correct department or employee based on preset rules. Forward calls internationally without paying high international calling rates.
Local, remote, and global teams You have the opportunity to bring in advanced technology and features to support your local, remote, and global teams. You can offer services in neighboring countries as well as remote locations without increasing your budget. This lets you offer your customers more varied solutions.
Benefits of Contact Center Modernization
So, why do you need to transform your contact center? Here are some key benefits of investing in legacy contact center transformation for your company:
1. Newer systems come with advanced features and improved functionality Use fast and updated technology to offer high-quality service. Gain access to multiple advanced and premium features and functionality to manage your contact center as you want to.
2. Easier to install and maintain A cloud-based contact center is quick to set up and does not require additional hardware or software to run. You can, therefore, get your teams up and running with little to no downtime, whether they work in-office or remotely. Additionally, you do not have to worry about maintaining and updating your contact center tech as the provider takes care of those factors.
3. Enterprise-grade security and reliability Since they are not always updated with modern security measures, legacy systems have security vulnerabilities that leave them prone to cyberattacks. But with new technology and software, you can expect improved security and encryption that will keep your contact center and customer data safe.
4. Unlimited scalability to let your contact center grow efficiently Modern contact center solutions are designed to help your business grow easily without incurring more expenses. This means that you do not need to buy additional services or equipment to add new lines, support larger call volumes, or offer services in different regions. You simply add them to your existing system and not worry about downtime. Adding them to the existing system lets you control all communications in one place through one provider instead of dealing with multiple service providers.
5. Reduce contact center costs By bundling contact center technologies, you can save on hardware and software costs. Additionally, your business can save on the high cost of dealing with cyberattacks and retrieving lost data with increased security.
Cloud contact center providers will also help you expand your reach beyond geographic borders with low-cost local and international toll free numbers and international call forwarding. This means you can scale your business easily without crossing your budget.
6. Access to integrations In the name of efficiency, modern phone system solutions let you integrate your business communication system with other business tools so that your users can access all important information in one place. This enables them to be more productive and efficient and leads your contact center to drive desired results.
7. Set your staff up for success Your teams can use various features to create a custom phone system that works best for your needs. Modern contact center solutions help them do their jobs without any hiccups or issues. Through this, you can support your local, remote, and international team with the right technology and resources.
How to Transition from a Legacy Contact Center
According to a recent report, nearly all IT buyers and decision-makers plan to modernize IT infrastructure to increase operational efficiency. However, IT teams face increased pressure to strike the perfect balance between supporting key services, aligning with the budget, and setting up a foundation that is forever-scalable. And so, a lot goes into deciding how to modernize your legacy infrastructure.
To transform your contact center into one that supports your employees and customers effectively, you first need to develop a plan of action. This entails how you will modernize your system, what provider you choose, and when you will begin the process.
1. Consider Important Factors
Before you set out to transform your legacy contact center, you first need to consider a few key factors:
1. Workload and IT architecture — What is your current communication infrastructure? What areas can benefit from modernization? Audit existing technologies, software, hardware, location of teams, and so on. This will help you determine each department’s value and functionality and how you can use modernization to improve ROI.
2. Operational changes — Next, look at your existing workflow. Where can you optimize processes and productivity? What new technology do you need to achieve these changes? Get feedback from your teams and employees to determine how you can use modernization to help them become more efficient.
3. Finances — Then, evaluate your budget. How much can you spend on this upgrade? You will notice that upgrading your contact center will prove cost-effective in the long run, when compared to using legacy systems. But it is a good idea to keep track of what needs to be updated and what takes priority within the budget.
4. Security and reliability — Next, what security measures do you want your communication infrastructure to have? How does your new provider protect from data loss and cyberattacks? Discuss with your internal IT team to understand what to expect from your new contact center technology.
5. Prepare for possible downtime — Finally, you will need to plan for possible costly downtime and impacts on business continuity. You can discuss a timeline of the upgrade with your IT team and contact center provider to get an idea of how long the process will take and how you can prepare for any disasters and upgrade smoothly.
2. Choose a Cloud Contact Center Provider
The next step is to research and find a cloud contact center provider to help you achieve your modernization goals. Use your audit to identify the changes, features, and technology you need from your new contact center.
Then shop around to see what most providers offer. Compare different providers based on:
Features and services they offer,
Extent of global reach,
Pricing options and flexibility,
Contact center migration process,
Responsive customer service and technical support,
Customer reviews and testimonials.
Then, analyze each provider and decide on one that fits your needs and budget.
3. Weigh Your Options
Next, consider how you will conduct the digital transformation. Will you switch over entirely or in parts? This again warrants a conversation with your provider and internal IT team; together, you will have to determine the best solution for your setup.
1. Complete Replacement Migrate in a single move. All solutions, telephony, and agents are moved over to the new system at the same time.
Pro tip: Use this solution if your current systems need an urgent upgrade or you want to consolidate multiple vendors into one platform.
2. Phased Migration Migrate one solution at a time. You may first migrate telephony (inbound and outbound voice), then digital services (email and live chat), and then self-service (knowledge base and automation), or in an order that works for you.
3. Phased Telephony Switch in parts. Some agents continue to use the legacy system and solutions while others switch over to the new setup. Then, once the others have successfully switched over, the rest of the agents can switch over too.
Pro tip: Use phased migration if you are not ready to switch over completely and don’t want to risk costly downtime or losing data.
4. Begin Your Contact Center Migration
Once you’ve settled on a provider and a migration plan, you can start the process of transforming your contact center. Prepare your employees by informing them of upcoming changes and training that may be required. Create guides and tutorials that will help them onboard quickly. Let them know what the disaster and backup plan entails and who to reach out to if something fails.
Transforming Legacy Systems with Global Call Forwarding
Global Call Forwarding is a cloud-based global telephony provider that provides businesses with phone system solutions. We can help you get cloud contact center solutions and create a phone system that is flexible, scalable, and efficient. Want to learn more? Speak with our telecom experts today, or chat with us online!
With any business move, you want to plan and prepare effectively so that you can make the right decision. Similarly, before you set out to offer 24/7 global customer support, you need to consider a few factors from deciding your customer support infrastructure to finding a global telephony provider.
Here is a detailed guide for businesses preparing to expand internationally and offer global customer support.
Gearing Up to Offer 24/7 Global Customer Support
In this guide to offering global customer support, we will cover the basics of providing global customer support:
Does Your Business Need to Offer Global Customer Support?
Benefits of 24/7 Customer Service
How Can Your Business Offer 24/7 Support?
9 Things You Need to Do Before Providing Global Customer Support
Does Your Business Need to Offer Global Customer Support?
The short answer is — it depends on your company and business goals. Does your company plan to expand internationally? Do you have customers in multiple countries spread across the globe? Do you want to offer more responsive and 24/7 customer support?
Global customer support is a way of offering 24/7 customer service by positioning your support teams globally. This way, you can access a broader customer base, establish a local presence in target markets, and increase international sales.
Benefits of 24/7 Customer Service
So, why should your business consider offering global customer support and technical support?
Add new markets and regions to your business’ customer base
Meet rising customer expectations
Balance the workload across multiple support teams
Retain more customers by offering responsive support
Increase revenue and sales
How Can Your Business Offer 24/7 Support?
There are a few different ways your business can offer global 24/7 customer support:
Phone support — Routing inbound calls to customer support agents wherever they are located.
Email and ticketing software — One of the most popular 24/7 support options to help customers report an issue and receive automated responses till a customer support agent is available for assistance.
Live chat and chatbots — Offer troubleshooting support via chat, answer simple requests, and collect customer data.
Self-service support — Offer Knowledge Base and support articles, FAQs, and tutorials that answer common questions and resolve issues without live interaction.
Automated support — Includes AI chatbots, interactive voice response (IVR systems), email automation, and so on.
However, what you offer depends on your resources and budget. You may find phone service providers or customer service solutions that offer a bundle of these services together for discounted rates. Consider your options before making a decision.
Source: Stockphoto.com O#100220945164
9 Things You Need to Do Before Providing Global Customer Support
There are a couple of things you need to watch for before you set out to offer 24/7 global customer support — from finding new technology to using automation to streamline business processes.
Here are 9 factors to consider if you want to offer 24/7 global support:
1. Decide How Your Business Will Offer Global Global Support
The first thing you need to consider while preparing your business for global support is to decide how you will offer service and assistance internationally. Depending on your resources and budget, you can find a global customer support solution that allows you to reach a wider audience and increase international sales.
The most common setup for international customer support is offering global voice support accompanied by email, live chat, and self-service support. But you can configure your setup to meet your business needs and goals. Here are some ways you can offer support:
Phone calls with in-house customer service agents with advanced routing
Outsourcing customer support calls to call centers and contact centers
Live chat and chatbots
Email support and ticketing
Video support and conferencing
Social media management
Self-service support
2. Choosing a Global Telephony Provider
Next, you need to find a global telephony provider who can support voice and business communication requirements. Determine the different factors your business needs to offer global customer support efficiently. Then, look for a provider with solutions that help your employees accomplish these goals. Some features and services to look for in a global telephony provider include:
Voice coverage in target countries and regions.
Cloud phone numbers such as local and toll free numbers from countries worldwide.
Support for other communication channels such as email, voicemail, text messaging, fax, etc.
API to integrate into your existing system.
Softphones to let users make and receive calls from any location or device.
24/7 technical and customer support.
These aside, you can get access to other premium services and tools. Review what different providers have to offer so you can find the right fit for your business.
3. Choosing Between On-Premise Support vs. Call Center Outsourcing
At this point, you will also need to decide whether you want to run this on-premise with cloud call center technology or outsource to an omnichannel call center.
On-Premise Cloud Call Center Software
Cloud call center software comes equipped with various features and tools that help you offer global customer support from your headquarters, satellite offices, and remote agents. Your business can adopt a follow the sun support model by routing calls to employees in different regions.
In other words, with cloud-based software, you can hire employees in multiple locations and connect them to your centralized hub. You do not need additional services for these employees. Simply route calls to different locations during different hours. This gives you more flexibility and control over your customer support.
Additionally, since most providers offer different pricing options, you can choose one that works well within your budget. This way, you can cut down on outsourcing calls by managing everything with in-house and remote teams.
Call Center Outsourcing
Call center offshoring companies specialize in customer support and have access to the technology to offer quality service. So, if you don’t want the hassle of running your own call center, you can outsource to centers offering global and multichannel support. This can prove beneficial to your business if you do not have the infrastructure to support global teams.
Call center software costs + additional premium services ($15-$100 per month)
Any equipment, if needed, such as desk phones, headsets, etc.
Staffing and training costs ($15-$25 per hr)
Call center outsourcing costs ($25-100 per hour per agent)
Additional services such as creating a knowledge base and online support center for customers and agents.
Shop around to see where you might be able to cut down costs. For example, you can have your company’s in-house content team work on the knowledge base and support center. Or, you can use a provider that offers multiple services and equipment under one discounted price and that covers a large global network. Speak with different providers to understand what options you have available to accommodate your business needs and decide accordingly.
5. Position Teams in New Markets
Once you have the plan and technology to support your global customer service, you can start placing teams in new regions and markets. You can do this cost-effectively by opening up small satellite offices or hiring remote agents. Then, you can integrate these users into your centralized hub.
It is important to create a process for how exactly your business will offer global customer support. Think about:
What call routing strategies you will use and how calls will be routed,
What other communication channels will these teams have access to,
How will agents report to their managers,
What skills and experience do you need your agents to have,
What customer relationship management (CRM) software will you use to record customer interactions and information, and so on.
6. Set Up Call Forwarding and Advanced Routing
Next, set up call routing and forwarding rules. Cloud-based phone service providers will offer advanced call routing that allows your business to route calls based on different predetermined and custom rules. You can set and adjust these rules to match your customer support infrastructure. Here are some common call routing strategies:
Time-based routing— Routes calls to specific locations or lines based on the time the call comes in.
Geographic call routing or georouting — Routes calls to specific locations or numbers based on the caller’s location.
Skill-based routing — Forwards calls to the right department or agent based on certain skills such as language or departmental knowledge.
Sequential forwarding — Routes calls down a predetermined list of users.
7. Hire Employees with the Necessary Skills
Hire the right employees to represent your company. This means paying attention to different cultures, customs, and languages for the regions you offer services. You want to find agents who can speak multiple languages, are culturally sensitive, and practice international phone etiquette. Whether you hire locally or outsource to a BPO, you want to ensure they represent your company and brand appropriately. Conducting training sessions and refreshing company values and missions is a good way to ensure everyone is on the same page.
8. Build a Self-Service Support Center Accessible Online
Next, you should also prepare a knowledge base or support center online to make it easy for customers and agents to get help and support. This can be filled with FAQs, how-to guides, tutorials and webinars, articles, troubleshooting help, and more.
It is a good idea to have one that your customers can access through your website and another available internally for your agents. This way, customers can get help for quick and straightforward problems while agents have access to support information for more complex issues.
9. Create Efficient Processes with Automation
Lastly, you may want to consider using automation and AI tools to automate your processes and make your teams more efficient. You could use an interactive voice response system (IVR) or auto-attendant to route calls based on your predetermined rules automatically. You could also set automated responses to trigger when customers send emails, submit query forms, submit a ticket, and so on. Another common use of AI is to have a chatbot assist web visitors in getting answers, submitting tickets, etc.
How Can Global Call Forwarding Help?
Global Call Forwarding is a global telephony provider that offers various cloud communication solutions — from international phone numbers to advanced call routing. You can customize your business communication system to create one that is compatible with your global customer service. Call us to learn more about our services or chat with us online! We can help you reach your customers no matter where they are!
A time comes in every business’ lifecycle when it needs to expand to new markets and regions in an attempt to keep growing. However, such a move can be overwhelming and cost-heavy, especially if not planned out strategically.
Here we will go over the different types of international expansion strategies with examples. Comparing these different strategies and entry modes can help you decide how to plan your business’ global expansion.
Expanding Internationally: How to Enter the Global Market
Before we get started, why should your business even consider entering the global space? And are the benefits of expanding internationally worth the costs and risks? The short answer is, it depends. It depends on the kind of business you operate and how you execute your international expansion strategy.
When done strategically, there are many benefits to expanding internationally, including:
Access to new markets and a diverse customer base
Increased ROI and profits
Access to local and skilled talent and workforce
Global business recognition and reputation
Establish regional offices
Stay ahead of the competition
Access to foreign investment opportunities.
And since you open new revenue streams, you can expect the ROI and profits to offset the costs spent in entering new markets. But for everything to fall in place according to plan, you first need a solid international expansion plan.
Global Markets Post-COVID-19
Expanding globally after COVID-19 can seem a bit challenging. But with the right plan and resources, you can enter a new market smoothly and cost-effectively and add a new customer base to your business profile.
The key to successfully expanding your business is to:
Create a clear global expansion plan.
Choose the right international expansion strategy.
Identify the best entry mode for the new market.
Let’s look at each of these factors in detail.
How to Create an International Expansion Plan: 5 Key Steps
Before we compare the different types of international expansion strategies and entry modes, let’s look at the critical steps involved in creating a global expansion plan. This will give you context about what your business needs so you can identify the right strategies for international growth.
1) Pick the Right Markets to Enter
The first thought generally is to expand to a big, metropolitan area. However, certain businesses and industries do better in less developed and developing regions. Depending on your business type and stage of growth, identify the right markets and regions for your business to expand. And local market research can help with this.
Then, you need to analyze how well your product or service will do in this new region. Is there a demand or market for your products or services? What is the quality of that demand? What demographics or portion of the population can afford to buy your products? How many competitors will you face? What is the demand for these competitors, and what resources do they have available? How does that stack up against your organization?
3) Understand Country and Governmental Regulations
Every country has its own foreign investment regulations. And so, before you start setting the groundwork for your expansion plan, you first need to familiarize yourself with these regulations. You can do so by visiting the country’s primary website or their trade website. For example, the United States has an International Trade Administration website where you can get information for US and international businesses. You can also learn more about these regulations on the country’s embassy websites.
4) Finalize on Entry Mode(s)
Next, you decide what entry mode is best suited for your business. Below we define and compare the different entry modes you can choose from.
You might even consider keeping a light footprint. That is, holding off on infrastructure and heavy investments till your foreign operations have grown and matured. You may decide to hire a few local employees and use cloud-based communication solutions to manage your operations. Have these employees identify untapped opportunities, conduct market research, and test the market gradually. This will help you save costs in the long run and ensure higher ROI.
5) Prepare Marketing and Expansion Plan
Once you have identified your markets and entry modes, you can start making a global expansion and marketing plan. This will outline your moves, budget, advertising campaigns, overhead requirements, and so on.
Learn more about global expansion best practices and planning strategies in our free global expansion guide.
Types of International Expansion Strategies
Here are the different strategies to expand internationally. But which one of these international expansion strategies is suitable for you depends on your business’s specific needs and goals. So educate yourself on the options available and make a decision accordingly.
1. Multidomestic Strategy
A multidomestic strategy focuses more on catering to locals within the new market. It is known as the strategy that sacrifices efficiency to improve the responsiveness of local requirements. Rather than forcing its parent country’s requirements and preferences onto the new market, it customizes its offerings and services to better meet the needs of the locals in the new market. As such, marketing and advertising efforts are geared towards the locals instead of taking a universal approach. A great deal of local research is required to execute a multidomestic strategy successfully.
Advantages of multidomestic strategies
Diverse customer base
Increased local responsiveness
Disadvantages of multidomestic strategies
Uncertainty because of tailored and customized strategies spread across various countries
Hard to achieve economies of scale that would help reduce costs
Examples of multidomestic strategy
MTV customizing programming on its channels in different countries
Heinz removing garlic and onion in its Indian ketchup recipe
KFC selling tempura crispy strips in Japan and pastries with chicken in France
McDonald’s offering multiple vegetarian options in India such as McSpicy Paneer, McAloo, and Green Chilli Aloo Naan
2. Global Expansion Strategy
A global expansion strategy is the opposite of a multidomestic strategy. The global expansion strategy is centralized—that is, the primary office controls it. This strategy maximizes global efficiency, so products and services are standardized and not tailored for local markets. The business units in each country are considered interdependent and respond to the primary office.
Advantages of a global expansion strategy
Low risk for the firm
Emphasizes economies of scale
More opportunities to utilize innovations developed at a corporate level
Effective for firms whose product is mainly hidden from the user’s view and where differences in local preferences is not an issue or requirement
Disadvantages of a global expansion strategy
Trouble gaining a high market share in local markets
Coordinating strategies and operations may prove challenging to manage
Resources need to be shared and coordinating across boundaries and countries
Examples of a global expansion strategy
Intel
Microsoft offers the same product globally but with local languages
Procter & Gamble (P&G) creates global brands whenever possible
3. Transnational Strategy
A transnational strategy combines the multidomestic and global international expansion strategy to create an international expansion strategy that caters to both global efficiency and local needs and responsiveness. Therefore, the two main characteristics of a transnational strategy are:
High global integration
High local responsiveness
To this end, balance and flexibility are key to executing a successful transnational strategy. And companies that do so perform better than competitors using a multidomestic or global expansion strategy.
Advantages of a transnational strategy
High efficiency and low costs
Wider reach
Diverse market
Disadvantages of a transnational strategy
Difficult to centralize and manage international offices
Potential risk of alienating local customers
Examples of a transnational strategy
McDonald’s offers custom menu items globally but has a cohesive global identity
Unilever sells different brands in different regions but still maintains a singular corporate identity
4. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
FDI is when an organization enters an international market by investing in that country. Of all the international expansion strategies, this one is a good idea when demand and size of the market justify the investment. Some things to keep in mind when considering FDI:
Your business can benefit from low-cost labor and cheap materials.
You can avoid import duties when you manufacture locally.
There may be import restrictions and limits for certain products.
Provides financing and technology to developing countries
Access to subsidies, tax breaks, and other concessions from the government
Disadvantages of FDIs
High investment required
High risk, related to change in policies against foreign companies
Investors may have fewer moral attachments
Potential unethical access to local markets
Examples of Foreign Direct Investment
Mergers & acquisitions
Horizontal FDI, where a firm replicates its entire organization in different countries
Joint ventures
Research & development
Facilities
Sales and customer support
Manufacturing and logistics
Retail and services
Administration
Greenfield investments
Common International Expansion Entry Modes
There are a few different ways to enter a new global market. And each of these international expansion strategies comes with benefits and potential issues. Here we will look at the various international expansion entry modes that your business can choose from when deciding how to enter a new market:
Entry Mode
Definition
Advantages
Disadvantages
Examples
Direct Exporting
When a manufacturer or company sells directly to a consumer in another country.
Fast entry
Low risk
Low control
Low local knowledge
Potential negative environmental impact
Apple
ExxonMobil
Ford Motor
Chevron
Johnson and Johnson
Licensing
Limited, legal business relationship where a party (licensee) is given rights to use a brand’s (licensor) trademarks. The licensee pays the licensor a royalty fee to use trademarks of the brand.
Fast entry
Low cost
Low risk
Less control
Licensee may become a competitor
Legal and regulatory environment must be sound
Microsoft
Disney
Calvin Klein
Franchising
Agreement between franchisor and franchisee. Franchisor owns the business and sells the rights to their brand to a franchisee who opens a separate branch under the brand’s name.
Fast entry
Low cost
Low risk
Less control
Legal and regulatory environment must be sound
McDonald’s
Burger King
Taco Bell
Marriott International
Partnering & Strategic Alliance or Joint Ventures
Strategic alliances with a local partner.
Or joint ventures where two or more parties make a business agreement to pool their resources together.
Shared costs
Reduced risk
Seen as a regional entity
Shared resources
Access to a broader customer base
Higher cost than exporting, licensing, or franchising
Integration problems between two corporate cultures
Alliances
Spotify and Uber
Starbucks & Target
Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Disney
Joint Ventures
Uber and Volvo
Sony and Ericson
Microsoft and General Electric
BMW and Brilliance Auto Group
Mergers & Acquisition (M&A)
Consolidation of two businesses to increase market share and profits. M&As are complex processes and need preparation and analysis.
Fast entry
Established operations
High cost
Integration issues with home office
AOL and Time Warner merger
Verizon and Vodafone acquisition
Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell merger
Greenfield Ventures
Launching a new, wholly-owned subsidiary in a foreign country by building its facilities from the start. This way, a business enters a new market without the help of other companies already there.
Gain local market knowledge
Seen as a local entity that employs locals
Maximum control
Slow entry due to setup time
High cost
High risk due to unknowns
Coca-Cola
McDonald’s
Starbucks
How Can Global Call Forwarding Help Your International Expansions Efforts?
Global Call Forwarding has helped thousands of businesses enter new markets and regions cost-effectively. Whether you plan to open regional offices or want to conduct operations virtually, our cloud communication solutions can ensure that your business communicates with team members and customers efficiently. Our high-availability network and partnerships with local, regional providers enable us to offer our customers cloud phone numbers (local and toll free) from more than 160 countries worldwide. And our phone numbers come equipped with advanced call management features such as call routing, automated voice response, softphones, and more.
We can support your international expansion strategies and help you enter new markets with a light footprint and low overhead costs. And as your business grows, you can add more service lines and features to our highly scalable solution.
Expanding internationally is a big step, and we are here to make the process less stressful when it comes to business communication. Want to learn more about how we can help you set up more points of contact in different countries and regions? Speak with our representatives today or chat with us online!
Automation is everywhere and we cannot escape it. This is because we have been able to use automation tools to make our lives easier and improve accuracy and efficiency. It’s no wonder that companies have been using automation technology to streamline their business processes and improve productivity. And that includes customer service as well.
Here’s an in-depth guide about customer service automation tools, features, and best practices to help you boost your customer support teams and increase customer satisfaction.
What is Customer Service Automation?
Customer service automation uses technology and automation to streamline customer service processes, reduce human involvement, and speed up resolutions. Jugal Anchalia, CEO of Breakout, defines it as the process of “automating the interaction between customers and the company for support-related queries with minimum or no human involvement.”
By automating customer support, you can make it easy for customers to get help and assistance without overburdening your employees.
With automation, you can cut down on time spent on mundane, repetitive, and simple tasks. This way, your employees and agents can focus on more significant, more complex tasks requiring their undivided attention.
Customer service expectations have changed since 2020, with customers expecting quick resolutions along with personalized and unparalleled care. And if your business is behind on meeting these expectations, you may miss out on valuable customers. Customer service automation can help you offer this kind of personalized and quick service without adding additional tasks and processes.
Oliver Andrews, the owner of OA Design Services, argues that “[w]ith automation, companies have access to many more opportunities than they ever had before. Improved efficiencies allow organizations to quickly ramp up their customer service, giving them new and improved opportunities to impress every customer. New automated tools give organizations the support to excel in customer service, making every customer experience a great one that buyers can only praise.”
So, why should your business consider automating customer service? And what benefits can you hope to achieve? Here are some advantages of automating your customer service:
1. Reduces customer service costs — According to a McKinsey report, companies using automation and other technology to improve customer service have saved up to 40% on costs.
2. Allows your business to offer 24/7 customer support — Use chatbots, live chat, and smart routing technology to adopt a Follow the Sun customer service model and be available to your customers 24/7.
3. Frees up employees for more complex issues and customer needs — Give employees the time they need to deal with high-profile and complicated cases to provide optimum customer service.
4. Encourages collaboration within teams — Make file-, document-, and information-sharing easy, therefore, helping teams work with each other effectively.
5. Helps collect customer feedback — Collect customer feedback through surveys triggered at different stages and touchpoints.
6. Increases speed and efficiency — Reduce time spent on mundane tasks and processes and increase efficiency.
7. Reduces human error — Make less room for mistakes by creating pre-determined templates and rules.
8. Helps centralize business communication — Connect all stakeholders through one platform where they can share and exchange information, documents, and more.
9. Supports users of all types — Make your business accessible to users who prefer to communicate via phone, email, chatbots, IVR systems, and so on.
Cons of Automating Customer Service
While businesses are increasingly adopting customer service automation solutions, some are still holding back. But why? Here are some reasons why people may be skeptical of automating services:
1. Reduces human intervention — Some fear that lack of or reduced human involvement may deter customers away or fail in de-escalating customer frustrations.
2. Resolves simple issues only — Automation can only support the resolution of simple issues and not complex issues.
3. Relies on modern technology and technical resources — To automate services means to rely even more on technology and more systems, and not every business is equipped financially to deal with these changes.
Popular Customer Service Automation Tools & Features
Here are some popular tools and features that small businesses and large enterprises use to automate customer service.
Smart and Advanced Call Routing
Smart or intelligent call routing lets you route or forward calls with automation and predetermined rules. This way, when calls come in, callers are automatically routed to the correct destination, department, or employee without the need of a receptionist or operator. Some call routing strategies include:
Simultaneous ringing (ringing on multiple phones with one number)
Sequential forwarding
The primary purpose of intelligent call routing is to route calls effectively, reduce missed calls, and improve the caller experience.
IVR Systems
Using cloud IVR as an automation tool has become increasingly popular with businesses of all sizes. An IVR system is an automated voice response system that answers the call, identifies the caller’s purpose, and assists the caller. The IVR system may assist the caller by transferring them to the correct department or by helping with pre-recorded messages. Advanced IVR systems can even help callers complete actions such as activating an account, providing balance information, making appointments, etc.
Traditional and cloud-based phone service providers offer IVR along with other virtual communication tools. Global Call Forwarding’s IVR service is highly customizable, and you can quickly change or update the system through our online control panel.
Email Automation
Automated email workflows play an essential role in inbound marketing and customer service. Email responses can be triggered automatically when a customer interacts with your business. These responses offer support, troubleshooting help, or confirmation. And they can help provide comfort to your customers. Popular email automation tools and software include:
More and more businesses are using live chat and chatbots to provide 24/7 customer support. Conversational marketing automation uses targeted messaging and intelligent bots to engage with web visitors in language they understand and relate to. Using chatbots with conversational marketing makes chatbot interactions less robotic and more human. Popular chatbot automation tools and software include:
Another way to implement automation for customer service is to create self-service options and tools that customers and web visitors can use to resolve their queries on their own. For example, Willie Greer, founder of The Product Analyst, uses an FAQ sheet to help users search and find answers to their questions. Others may develop a support center with all necessary guides or simply create how-to content on their blogs. Common self-service options include:
Building FAQ pages or adding FAQs at the end of product pages to answer common customer questions.
Creating a Support Center or Knowledge Base where customers can go to find more information, features overviews, and troubleshooting guides to resolve their queries.
Providing customers with resources such as whitepapers, ebooks, how-to guides, etc., to help them help themselves.
Embedding these resources within chat, email, the account dashboard, and other communication channels.
Customer Feedback Tools
Why collect customer feedback? Customer feedback lets you know how your business performs and whether customers are satisfied with your products and services. Without customer feedback, you won’t know where your business needs to improve to gain new customers and retain existing ones. Different types of feedback and survey tools include the following:
Voice of the customer tools
– Qualaroo
– Qualtrics
– Wootric
Many web visitors expect live chat as a customer service channel when they visit a website and have queries. Live chat is used for a variety of purposes: customer service, lead qualification, submitting tickets, and more. Use live chat to understand what your customers need from you.
And by adding a chatbot, you can provide support even during off-hours. This way, customers and prospects can get assistance whenever they need and you can learn more about what your web visitors look for when they arrive at your website.
Whether it is via the chatbot, automated email, or the IVR system, you want to spend time creating good scripts and responses. People can be apprehensive about dealing with robots instead of a human person. And so, using conversational scripts can reduce friction and make users more comfortable.
3. Offer 24/7 Customer Service
Customer service automation options like smart call routing, international call forwarding, ticketing software, automated email, live chat and chatbots, and IVR systems provide 24/7, round-the-clock customer support. Make your business more accessible by learning where your customers are and what tools they prefer using to reach your business.
4. Offer Self-Service Options
Next, prepare self-service tools that customers can use to resolve their issues on their own. Work with your sales and marketing teams to identify common customer questions and issues regarding your products and services. Then, create a Support Center or Knowledge Base that incorporates how-to guides, glossary and definitions, troubleshooting help, and FAQs. You may even consider adding information about the current market or industry trends that may interest your customers.
These self-service tools not only help resolve common customer issues but also present your business as a reliable service.
5. Integrate Within Your CRM and Phone System
Integrate automation tools within your business systems to centralize business processes and keep everything in one place. Check with service providers how you might integrate these tools within your existing CRM and business phone system. By doing this, you can track all customers and interactions via one platform and trigger actions based on these interactions.
For example, Adam Garcia, founder of The Stock Dork, uses Agile CRM for sales enablement, marketing automation, and customer service. Using a service like this helps them set “standards for support teams and customers.” Tanner Arnold, CEO of Revelation Machinery, says that they use Zendesk to help teams track problem tickets and customer interactions, collect customer reviews, and more.
6. Update and Send Out Important Announcements
You can also use these tools to send out company and product updates and announcements to your customers and leads. Some ways to use automation for announcements:
Announce or introduce new products
Inform customers about defects or product issues
Share company news and milestones, and so on
Customers will appreciate knowing that you’re working on resolving an issue when they call for support. And they may also appreciate knowing what else your company is working on that may benefit them. Automating announcements like this can increase engagement and retention.
7. Collect Customer Feedback at Various Touchpoints
You can also collect customer feedback through automated surveys. Have these surveys trigger at various touchpoints or stages of use. And you can learn how customers are using your service and what areas can be improved.
You might even be able to use customer feedback to understand what customer service automation tools your business needs. Abby Ha, Head of Marketing & Business Development at WellPCB suggests talking to customers to identify ways to improve customer service via automation solutions.
8. Prepare Your Agents
Customer service automation solutions help take care of mundane and repetitive processes and issues. This means that agents are freed up to handle difficult and complex cases. However, if they haven’t been prepared or trained well for these cases, there may be a gap in customer service quality.
Will Cannon, CEO of Signaturely, suggests preparing agents to take on these complex tasks with the right resources. He says that “[It] can make agents’ jobs more difficult if they aren’t given the right resources and experience. Be sure your agents are involved in both the preparation and implementation of new automation programs so that you can be more aware of the unexpected obstacles that the process transition can bring.”
Think Your Business is Ready for Customer Service Automation?
Global Call Forwarding offers various customer service automation features such as intelligent call routing, international call forwarding, and IVR systems. Speak with our representatives today to learn more about our services and how we can help you provide better customer support. Call us at +1 (561) 908-6171 or chat with us online!
Looking to transition to cloud communications? Cloud contact center solutions are designed to help businesses with effective call management, call monitoring and analytics, global expansion, and more.
Understand what a cloud contact center solution is, how it works, and how it can benefit your business.
How Do Cloud Contact Centers Work?
First, what is a cloud contact center?
What is a Cloud Contact Center? A cloud contact center is a comprehensive set of cloud-based tools and services for business communication. These tools can be used by contact centers and service teams in medium-large organizations that need multiple communication channels, advanced call management, remote communication management, reports and analytics.
They are also known as cloud-based contact centers, virtual call centers, and cloud call centers.
A cloud contact center offers various cloud-based solutions for phone service that offer more control over business communications. With these solutions, you can manage your calls and agents, conduct performance analysis by tracking data and metrics, and improve overall customer satisfaction.
These contact centers work over the cloud; that is, they need an internet connection. This allows businesses to access and use cloud contact center features from any location, enabling remote work and global expansion.
Choosing Between Cloud-Based Contact Centers and Traditional Contact Centers
Which is more suitable for your business call center software? To make a decision, you first need to understand what each type entails and the service and costs of each. Let’s look at the difference between a cloud-based contact center and on-premise software:
Cloud Contact Center
Traditional Contact Center (On-Premise)
Low monthly costs; no set-up or installation fees
Low-medium monthly costs; high set-up and installation fees
Provider is in charge of system updates and maintenance
Your in-house teams are in charge of system updates and maintenance
No professional IT experience needed
Professional IT team needed to run the system
Uses VoIP tech; Needs a broadband connection
May use VoIP tech
Scale as needed
Limited scalability
Recommended for small, medium, and large businesses
Recommended for large businesses
Cloud Contact Center: Top Features
Cloud-based contact centers come with various features, tools, and services designed for call management and customer support. You can customize and personalize these features to meet your business’ exact needs. Here are the top features of a cloud-based contact center:
Access to Cloud Phone Numbers
Choose from a large inventory of cloud phone numbers available from around the world. These numbers give callers (your customers) a chance to call for free or local calling rates, even if they are located in different countries. This is because of international call forwarding (more on that below).
Global Call Forwarding offers virtual phone numbers from more than 160 countries around the world. You can get:
Toll-free numbers
International toll-free numbers (ITFS numbers)
Local phone numbers
Mobile numbers (for certain countries).
Buy cloud phone numbers for your contact center and offer global customer support over the phone. Customers from other countries can call your business without worrying about paying high long-distance calling fees.
International Call Forwarding
An international call forwarding service lets businesses forward or re-route incoming international calls to any location in the world. For example, your company is headquartered in New York, but you have a large client base in Mexico. Your Mexican customers can call your Mexico toll-free number, and you can have these calls forwarded to headquarters in the US. This way, customers get to contact you for free, and you get the call where your customer support teams are located. And no one pays international calling rates!
Advanced Call Routing
An advanced call routing feature offers you multiple ways and strategies to forward inbound calls. You can set rules beforehand to manage incoming calls during specific times or heavy traffic periods. You can have calls routed to different locations, offices, and employees. Or have calls ring on multiple devices simultaneously or run through a set sequence. There is a lot to play around with—the key is to identify what routing strategy works best for your business. Here are some key call routing strategies:
Use a cloud call center recording software to record incoming and outgoing calls. No additional recording software or equipment is needed. You can save these recordings on your computer or in the cloud for future reference. There are many benefits of recording business calls; these include:
Easy record-keeping
Monitoring quality assurance
Studying customer preferences and behaviors
Protecting from liabilities and misunderstandings
Recording important transactions
Conducting employee or agent performance analysis
Adhering to compliance requirements in specific industries and sectors, and so on.
Cloud IVR System
An interactive voice response system or IVR lets you introduce automation within your customer service efforts. The automated voice system answers incoming calls, identifies the purpose of the call, and proceeds to assist the caller. It may provide the caller with a menu of options, pre-recorded messages packed with helpful information, or transfer the caller to the correct department or agent.
You can get a highly customizable IVR system — like the one at Global Call Forwarding — to manage and route calls effectively. Set up rules for routing and forwarding. Add custom greetings and messages to highlight company updates, new hours, new products, service issues, etc.
Outbound Calling
Customers are less likely to answer out-of-state or international calls with caller IDs they don’t recognize. You can use an outbound calling service to increase global coverage and make your customers comfortable answering your call. This is a turnkey solution to help businesses make long-distance and international calls with custom caller IDs.
Softphone Apps
A softphone — also known as a contact center dialer — is an app you can download on your phone or desktop and use as a dialer. You can make and receive business calls with your business phone number instead of your personal number. Softphones are designed to help you make calls, update contact history, access voicemail, transfer calls to other employees, and more, all from the comfort of your devices.
Check out our GCF softphone and how it can help your employees connect from any location and maintain business continuity.
Automated Callback Options
Automated callback options make it easy for your business to connect with customers who cannot easily reach you. These may be customers in remote locations or web visitors who would benefit from your business calling them instead of waiting in long call queues.
Global Call Forwarding offers two types of automated callback services — CallMe Click and CallMe Trigger — to help you connect with your international customers. Customers either submit a short form on your website (CallMe Click) or call a trigger number (CallMe Trigger) to receive an immediate callback from your business.
With our high-availability network and global coverage, you can convert more prospects and web visitors into customers. Reduce friction and improve customer experience by making your business more accessible to interested customers.
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 ID#100033099327
5 Benefits of Cloud Contact Centers
There are reasons why companies (small and large) are moving their communications to the cloud — from reducing costs to getting access to better and more advanced services. So, how can your business benefit from a cloud contact center solution?
1. Improved Call Management
With various cloud communication tools, you can design and control the way incoming calls come into your business. You can route calls in a way that works best for your needs. During high traffic periods, you can set up call forwarding rules as backups if your main office is busy.
Or, you may route calls to specific locations and regions to meet your customers’ preferences (language, time zone, culture, etc). Try out different routing strategies to find one that supports your business’ call needs.
2. Increased Global Coverage
Virtual phone numbers make it easy to connect with global customers for low calling rates. By getting access to cloud phone numbers from more than 160 countries worldwide, you can take your business to new markets and increase your global coverage. And your business does not need to be in these regions to do business in them.
Additionally, when you use local and toll-free numbers, you allow customers to call your business for free or local calling rates, even if your business is located internationally. All of this makes your business more reachable to global customers and increases your international sales.
3. Workforce Flexibility
By using cloud contact center solutions, your business can open up to remote working and telecommuting options. You don’t need to stick to hiring and working within your geographical boundaries. Look for and hire talent in other countries and keep remote teams connected efficiently with virtual communication tools.
4. Scalability and Growth Support
The best part about cloud contact center solutions is that you can grow your business at your own pace. As you grow, you can add or remove additional lines and services to meet your needs. Get new numbers for new markets. Adjust call forwarding and routing rules to align with your customer support goals. Pay only for what you need and when you need it.
4. Uninterrupted Business Continuity
When you experience a power or internet outage or your office is affected by a disaster, a cloud phone system can prove useful. You can route calls to another office location, remote employees, or to your smartphone instead. This way, business can continue without interruption.
5. Low Costs for High Quality
Finally, by switching to the cloud, your company can cut down tremendously on communication-related costs. This is because you don’t need additional or special equipment to run a cloud contact center software. And since you can enter new countries and regions virtually, you do not need to open multiple office locations.
Another advantage is that you can access multiple communication tools within this one software. So, you do not need to subscribe to multiple services for your business communication needs.
Need Cloud-Based Phone Solutions?
Get cloud contact center solutions for your business today! Speak with our experts to understand how our features and services can support your communication needs. Call us at 1 (888) 908 6171 or chat with us online!
Want to offer your customers support and sales in the time and location most convenient for them? You can use geo-routing to route incoming calls to the closest location or based on the caller ID. This way, you can match the call with the nearest customer support center in the closest time zone and region.
What is Geographic Call Routing?
Geographic call routing — also known as geo-routing, caller ID routing, and location-based routing — is an advanced call routing feature. Call routing is a cloud phone service feature that answers calls and routes callers to specific phone lines, extensions, or locations based on pre-set rules. With geographic call routing, these calls are routed based on the caller’s phone number and area code. And you can route calls to:
Business’ closest location
Centralized call center
Company hub
Satellite offices
Remote agents located in specific regions
Locations needing more business, and so on.
How Does Geographic Call Routing Work?
There are a few different ways you can set up geo-routing for your business. You can route calls based on location by either:
Automatically routing calls based on the country code and caller ID, or
Asking callers to select their location from a preset menu.
You will need to use a cloud IVR (an automated voice response system) or auto-attendant to manage incoming calls. You can then set rules for the system to follow and route calls accordingly.
Based on how advanced your IVR is, you can set it to recognize the country code of incoming calls and then route calls to a predetermined location where your employees or agents can answer the phone and assist customers.
Alternatively, you can set up the IVR system to ask callers to type in a number that corresponds to their location and have the IVR route the call to the nearest office location or service center.
Basically, with geographic call routing, you get to choose which areas or regions route calls to which locations, satellite offices, or call centers.
Who Can Benefit from Geo-Routing?
Geographic routing is ideal for companies with multiple locations or a large global customer base. It helps connect customers to agents or employees in their time zone, region, and language. This helps further improve caller experience as callers get assistance matching their time and preferences.
How to Set Up Geo-Routing?
Global Call Forwarding offers various advanced call routing options such as time-based routing, geo-routing, skill-based routing, simultaneous ringing, and sequential forwarding. These features come included with our cloud phone number plans, and so you do not need to purchase additional services.
You can get and set up geographic routing for your business with Global Call Forwarding in a few steps:
Get cloud phone numbers for target countries and regions.
Log in to your control panel.
Choose a phone service line and click on Settings.
Select Call Forwarding.
Then, click on the IVR and Manage IVR Applications. This will take you to our IVR Manager.
Click on Create New Application.
Then, under Advanced Actions, choose Caller ID Routing.
Set up a new rule to route calls based on caller ID.
5 Benefits of Geographic Call Routing
But why should your business consider routing calls geographically? Advanced call routing features such as geo-routing have many benefits, from improving caller experience to offering advanced call management solutions. Here is why your business should consider getting geographic call routing for your business communication system:
1. Simplified Call Process
Since callers are automatically routed to the right location or agent, they do not need to be manually routed or transferred. In other words, no talking to the wrong people and getting bounced around. geo-routing reduces the number of interactions by letting the caller reach the right destination on the first try. This also means reduced hold times and less waiting for your customers.
2. One Number for Multiple Locations
Geographic call routing is a good solution for businesses with customers and locations in different parts of the world. Instead of using multiple phone numbers for each region, you can simply use one number and forward incoming calls to the most appropriate locations.
3. Offer 24/7 Global Customer Support
By routing calls based on the caller’s location, you can extend customer support hours by adopting a follow the sun support model. Such an approach lets you route calls from one location to another during different times of the day and based on the caller’s location.
As such, you can route calls coming in from one region to your customer support team in that region or time zone instead of your primary support center. This way, you offer support outside regular business hours, and your reps won’t need to work overtime to manage after-hours calls.
This allows your business to offer customer support globally by letting incoming calls route to the closest customer service or sales teams instead of your headquarters.
4. Local Call Reports
You can also use geographic call routing to get localized call reports. Track international phone calls to get a better idea of where your calls are coming from and where your customers are located. This will help you determine what marketing and sales efforts are working according to plan and which regions need more nurturing.
5. Increased Customer Satisfaction
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, geo-routing helps your business offer excellent customer support and increase customer satisfaction. It does so by reducing wait and hold times, allowing callers to connect at convenient times, and ensuring callers reach the right agent quickly. After all, no one wants to be waiting on the phone for hours.
Ready to Get Geographic Call Routing for Your Business?
At the core of any business, you want to do everything you can to improve customer experience. The easier you make experiences for callers, the more likely they will become recurring customers. And routing calls based on the caller’s location can reduce wait times and make your business more customer-friendly.
Try out geographic call routing for your business today with Global Call Forwarding. Sign up online or speak with our representatives to learn more about how this service fits your business.
What does a global telephony provider offer and does your business need one? Here is a quick guide to global telephony and how you can use a global telephony provider to enter new markets, grow your global customer base, and increase international sales.
Everything You Need to Know About Global Telephony
A global telephony provider offers various cloud communications services that help businesses connect with global customers worldwide. From generating points of contact with phone numbers to offering cost-effective and high-quality voice service, your business can enter the global stage and increase international sales without increasing overhead costs.
For example, you can test new markets and gradually expand to them virtually, without opening physical offices in these locations. Use global telephony solutions to take your business global and make it easy for international customers to connect with you — whether for sales or customer support.
Global telephony providers use voice over IP or VoIP technology to enable communication over the internet. By doing so, users can make and receive calls from an internet connection. This offers flexibility in terms of where the user uses the service and what devices they wish to use.
VoIP is known for ensuring high voice quality with low interruptions and downtime. This makes a VoIP phone service provider a valuable asset to any business wanting a robust communication system.
Features of a Global Telephony Provider
So, what does a global telephony provider offer you that a regular phone service provider doesn’t? A bunch of easy-to-use and advanced features and services like:
Cloud phone numbers — Use local and international business numbers from countries around the world.
International call forwarding — Forward calls from one location to another to maintain connectivity beyond geographical boundaries.
Advanced call routing — Route calls to specific locations, lines, employees, call centers, or voicemail inbox based on pre-set rules.
Time-based routing — Route calls based on the time the call comes in.
Geographic routing — Route calls based on the location of the caller.
Outbound calling — Make outbound calls from any device using custom caller IDs.
Flexible voice options — Connect with customers in remote locations.
Softphones and web dialers — Make and receive calls from any location or device using a web-based app or browser extension.
Integrations and API — Integrate with other apps and services your business uses.
These features and services support a global communication system. Your business can expand its services and offer global support without bearing the brunt and high costs of international trade.
Want to know what services Global Call Forwarding offers? Check out our services or chat with a representative now!
Benefits of Using a Global Telephony Provider
So, why should your business use a telephony provider, and what can your business achieve by using a global communication system? By using a global telephony provider, your business can:
Make and receive high-quality local and international calls.
Make it easy (and sometimes free) for global customers to call and connect with your business.
Access a suite of advanced business communication features.
Offer 24/7 sales and support.
Access new markets and target audiences.
Manage remote and global teams efficiently.
Establish and maintain a global network and presence.
When you’re ready to upgrade your legacy phone system, here’s what you should keep in mind when choosing a VoIP service or global telephony provider:
1. Research Different Providers
Start by familiarizing yourself with different providers and the features and benefits they offer. Some important questions to consider when analyzing whether a provider is suitable for your needs:
Do they offer services for your target countries and regions?
How are these services priced?
Are they a CPaaS cloud-based service provider?
Is their communication system built on a private infrastructure?
What security do they offer?
Is there a discount for bundling up or purchasing wholesale numbers?
Do they offer an API to integrate within your existing system?
Is the provider a licensed carrier?
Is their network highly available with multiple connections? Have they partnered with local and regional providers?
Another important factor to pay attention to is their communication infrastructure. You want a provider that has a facilities-based infrastructure that supports cloud communication and global coverage. A regular PSTN provider won’t be able to do this. On the other hand, global telephony providers with facilities-based infrastructure can support real-time cloud communications at scale with high quality and global coverage.
2. Review Costs and Plans
Compare the different plans and prices each of the providers offer:
Do they offer a free trial or freemium?
Is the trial long enough for you to determine the quality of service?
It is also a good idea to check for hidden fees and long-term commitments:
Do you have to pay any set-up or installation fees?
What is their cancellation or refund policy?
Remember: You do not want to be caught in a long-term contract with a low-quality provider.
3. Review Customer Testimonials
Next, you want to read through customer stories and reviews to see how the provider’s service has been used. Reviews are a great place to gauge the quality of service but also to understand the personality of the brand itself. Here are some things to consider when looking at customer reviews and testimonials:
Do they serve customers in your field or industry?
What problems has their service solved?
What have customers been able to achieve with this provider’s service?
How do they resolve issues or negative customer reviews?
You should also ask about the state of their customer service teams:
Do they offer 24/7 support?
Do they have dedicated account managers who are easy to contact?
What customer support channels do they offer: phone, email, chat, online support center?
Take Your Telephony Global with Global Call Forwarding
Choosing a provider that meets your needs and budget can be tricky—especially if you do not know what to look for. However, with the right information and approach, you can find one that will help you achieve your global expansion goals.
Global Call Forwarding is a leading provider of local and international toll free numbers that come with an array of advanced call management features. We have been in business for over 25 years, offering high-quality solutions to our customers. When you sign up with us, you get a dedicated account manager to manage your business communication system along with 24/7 responsive customer and technical support.
With Global Call Forwarding, you can upgrade your legacy phone system and scale your business as and when you need. Want to learn more about our business phone solutions? Chat with our experts or call us today at 1-888-908-6171.
A majority of top marketing teams will use attribution modeling and tracking to measure the effectiveness of their various marketing campaigns in 2024, according to Pyxl.
Attribution can help you understand the means by which customers come to know and buy your products and services. There are many different approaches to attribution modeling that modern businesses use today.
What is Call Tracking?
Call tracking is one of the most commonly used forms of attribution modeling that marketers are using in 2024. It is the process of determining how callers found your business.
Call metrics are used to analyze what channels generate the most customer calls so that you can optimize your marketing efforts and improve ROI.
What is Global Call Tracking?
Many businesses today serve a global clientele.
The global economy is huge and it offers businesses a lot of potential to grow and expand. Although the top fifteen countries make up 75% of global GDP, tremendous potential exists for your business throughout the rest of the world.
International call tracking can enable your business to have unique phone numbers for different countries that are being targeted in your global marketing campaigns. Your marketing team can then track the results of various global campaigns through call tracking metrics.
Common Ways to Use Global Call Tracking
Compare the performance of multi-country campaigns side-by-side.
Assign unique in-country phone numbers to different traffic sources (social media, adwords, email, landing pages, etc).
Measure the results of your advertisements across a number of countries.
There’s a lot you can measure with call metrics such as where your calls are coming from and what times are most popular. You can even further delve into the content of conversations with our cloud call recording service.
But in order for your marketing team to benefit the most from global call metrics and really dig into the granular data, you’ll want to export your call detail records (CDRs) into a spreadsheet and apply filters.
These next steps and calculation of metrics will require some basic Excel knowledge.
1. The Number of Calls Per Country
Have you wondered which countries or regions are generating the most phone calls? You can easily determine this through global call tracking.
Once you’ve exported your CDRs, you should then filter by service line. You can type in the country code under column D and choose the right phone number. Refer to this list of international call prefixes.
You can do a sum of the lines to see how many calls came in from each country.
Analysis: You’ll want to look further into those countries that are generating lots of calls so you can understand which marketing efforts are more successful.
2. Call Volume by Time of the Day
It’s helpful to see when most of your calls are coming in. This helps you adjust bidding strategies at various times of the day and ensure enough staff is on hand to support high call volumes throughout the day.
You can see the total number of minutes in column I. Break the column down further by filtering the date and time columns.
Analysis: Long-duration calls are likely a sign of good quality conversations while short-duration calls may indicate low-quality sales calls.
3. Call Source & Campaign Performance
This is what call tracking is all about — on a global scale.
Look at your various campaigns to evaluate which campaigns are generating the highest number of successful calls. For example, you can assign one call tracking number to social media campaigns and another number to paid search.
In the coming months, you’ll be able to enter unique names and tags for each phone number.
Analysis: Allocate more of your budgets towards high-performing campaigns.
4. Call Duration
It’s important to know how long your calls last. As a general rule, sales conversations last longer than x amount of minutes. Through global call metrics, you’ll be able to see which calls have a sufficient duration. And if you notice a dip in call duration, you can bring it up in meetings and brainstorm ways to improve caller experience.
Analysis: You don’t want to spend money on channels that do not source high-quality conversations.
5. Caller ID
Is there a certain area code where most of your calls are coming in from? Are these first time callers to your business? You’ll want to measure this through global call tracking. It is important, however, to connect our data with your other tools like your CRM and / or marketing software to really make the most sense of the metrics.
Analysis: Invest more in cities where you have lots of callers.
6. Landing Page Performance
Landing page performance can give you insights into the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. You’ll also want to talk to sales managers as much as possible and ask about lead quality and next steps in your buyers’ journeys so that you can create quality landing pages that convert.
Analysis: Invest more in landing pages that are performing well. For the low-performing landing pages, try to see how they can be improved.
How to Calculate Global Marketing ROI
Once you have all the data and it’s synced with your other business tools, how are you going to present your findings to upper management? That’s an important question that many marketers face.
Upper management is often concerned with revenue and profitability, though some marketing teams use other metrics to measure success. At a basic level, you’ll want to keep close track of costs and conversions in your calculation of ROI.
ROI = (final value of investment – initial value of investment) / cost of investment x 100%
Conversions can be new customer acquisition, qualified leads, etc. But you’ll want to clarify this definition internally and then measure conversions.
In order to calculate overall costs, download invoices into excel and you’ll see costs by country. You can add this up or simply view costs by country.
How to Sync Global Call Metrics with Your Business Tools
At some point, you’ll probably want to sync your call tracking data with your other systems and tools. This will help you recognize more patterns in the data and make better use of metrics. You can do this through our API.
Why You Need Global Call Tracking
Want to get more insights into where your customers are and what leads them to connect with your business?
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Global call tracking can help you measure the effectiveness of your international marketing campaigns. This will help you increase profitability and slash costs.
Talk to our sales team to learn more or get a free demo today to see how we can help.
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