Cloud Telephony

With the wide adoption of cloud computing and technology, companies have enjoyed greater versatility and efficiency by incorporating the cloud into their functionality.

In this article, we will take a look at:

• What is cloud telephony and how does it work?
• Business examples of cloud phone systems in use
• Benefits of cloud telephony
• How to choose the right cloud phone system provider

Definition of Cloud Telephony

What is cloud telephony? Cloud telephony is a cloud-based phone system that works through your internet connection.

It is a type of unified communications as a service UCaaS that brings all your business communication needs in one place. It lets businesses move their phone service to the cloud with the help of cloud PBX to make the process seamless while providing high-quality voice service.

Other names for cloud telephony include cloud calling, cloud communications, and cloud phone systems. A cloud telephony system consists of:

• VoIP phone service — to transmit calls with high quality
• Cloud or virtual phone numbers — from various countries globally
• Softphones — to convert any device into a business phone
• Outbound calling — to make outgoing calls with specific caller IDs

When you choose cloud telephony for your business, you can say goodbye to poor call quality and latency issues, as well as logistical problems such as long-distance fees, service network blockages, network restrictions, and more.

Related: Cloud Communication Stats: 2024

How Does it Work?

Cloud telephony uses VoIP to transmit calls via the internet. It is not attached to one specific location, making it easy for users to make and receive calls from any location and through any device. By doing so, your business can expand beyond its immediate geographic boundaries and enter new markets cost-effectively.

But what does this look like within your business? You can integrate cloud telephony within your existing system. This means you do not have to purchase new equipment or hardware. In fact, you can even use a softphone on your computer or tablet instead of using desk phones.

The best part about using a cloud phone system is that you can control the service from any location through an online control panel. Here, you will have access to all features and full control over your phone numbers. You can add new numbers or users, make changes, add new rules, and more.

Example of Using Cloud Communications for Business

Suppose you run a business located in the US but want to expand your operations to Singapore. Traditionally, you would decide to set up a local office in Singapore. This could take weeks of preparation: filling out paperwork, hiring local agents to handle licensing and legal matters, investing capital in the country, leasing property, hiring staff, and more.

Alternatively, you can buy Singapore virtual phone numbers with an outbound calling service. This lets you call local customers and businesses with a local caller ID, even when calling from the US. And when you are ready to set up a local office, you can easily expand your cloud telephony system to cover the Singapore office as well. Or, you can operate solely on digital channels.

Benefits of Using a Cloud Telephony Service

What is cloud-based telephony used for? Different types of businesses—SMBs, startups, large enterprises, and individuals —benefit from when using cloud telephony for their business phone service:

Here are 5 reasons why your business should get a cloud telephony service:

1. Quick and Easy Implementation
2. Taking Your Business to the Cloud
3. Expand Globally in a Cost-Effective Way
4. Access to Advanced Call Management Features
5. Flexibility for Your Business

1. Quick and Easy Implementation

Since cloud phone systems don’t need additional on-site hardware, you can get it running pretty quickly without technical support or installation. Your cloud telephony provider will take care of most of the implementation, leaving your employees to continue working without any downtime.

2. Taking Your Business to the Cloud

We’ve seen a rise in cloud-based apps and software such as project management systems, HR software, headless CMS, CRMs, phone service, and more. These apps and solutions let us conduct business from any location and device—a boon during the pandemic as most people had to quickly switch to working from home.

And so, your business will miss out if it does not adopt cloud-based business solutions. It is also important to note that cloud-based solutions are often more reliable and secure, making them a good fit for businesses.

3. Expand Globally in a Cost-Effective Way

Cloud communications allow your small-to-medium-sized business to grow globally. You do not have to be physically present in a country to sell products and offer customer service. Simply buy a local or toll free number for that country specifically and route calls to your office located elsewhere. You can do the same with other countries and regions within your expansion plan. Scale your business at your own pace with flexible and advanced phone solutions.

4. Access to Advanced Call Management Features

What makes a cloud communication system worth it is the array of features, services, and add-ons you get to use. Different providers will offer you different feature sets. When choosing a provider, it helps to determine what you need from your cloud telephony system.

For instance: Do you need to automate call routing? Do you need to record all or some calls for customer research purposes? Do you need to override your caller ID when calling internationally?

Here are the top features and services you can get:

• Cloud phone numbers (local and toll free numbers)
• International call forwarding
• Cloud IVR
• Advanced call routing (follow the sun routing and geo-routing)
• Outbound calling
• Cloud contact center solutions
• SIP trunking
• Call recording
• Call masking

View a list of features offered by Global Call Forwarding.

5. Flexibility for Your Business

Switching to the cloud opens up a lot of avenues for a business. Traditionally, entering a new market meant opening a brick-and-mortar store or local office. However, depending on your business model, you might find it cost-effective to run everything virtually. That is, instead of developing a physical presence, you can manage operations from your headquarters, located in another country. And cloud telephony makes it possible to do this.

You can sell your products and services online and ship them internationally. And for customer service, you can direct calls from this new market to your headquarters or a remote agent. This reduces the need to create an expensive and resource-intensive branch office to interact with customers.

How to Choose a Cloud Telephony Provider?

Choosing a global telephony provider for your business’ cloud communications can be tricky. There are many providers out there claiming to offer high-quality service for low rates. But you need to find one that you can rely on and works within your budget.

Here are 7 tips to consider when choosing a cloud telephony provider:

1. Proven Reliability and Reputation
2. Service Quality and Certifications
3. Cost of the Service
4. Features and Integrations
5. Contract Lock-In and Migration Support
6. Customer Support and Account Management
7. Customer Reviews and Testimonials

1. Proven Reliability and Reputation

The first thing you want to know about your provider is their reliability. Consider these:

• How long have they been doing business?
• What are customers saying about their service?
• What certifications and awards do they have?
• Are their employees experts in the industry?
• Do they have a proven track record of providing high-quality service?

Dig deep with your research and compare providers to see which one is more reliable.

2. Service Quality and Certifications

High uptime, low downtime, and excellent voice quality are required for any successful cloud phone system. Your cloud phone service provider should provide redundancy and failover forwarding so that you can maintain business continuity, even during a crisis.

Also, look closely at their service level agreement (SLA). This should outline their service objectives, exceptions and exclusions, remediation policies, and so on. To get the most out of your service, you want to choose a provider that promises 99.99% uptime with multiple layers of redundancy.

You may also want to look at their security and industry compliance. Ideally, your new provider will have some of these certifications in place:

• HIPAA Compliance: For healthcare service providers.
• ISO/IEC 20071: Global standard for security threat responses.
• PCI Compliance: Handle credit card payments securely.
• SOC 2 Compliance: Incident response plans to protect privacy and data.
• Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP): Enterprise-grade security in every call.

3. Cost of the Service

Next, you want to understand what your service entails and what is included in your bill. In other words, what exactly are you paying for? You want to pick a provider who has transparent pricing with no hidden fees. Look for pricing specifics like:

• Type of pricing: Per month / per user per month / per line per month
• Number of users on the plan
• Monthly vs annual pricing and discounts
• Technology and equipment requirements
• Flexibility and scalability: Is it easy to change or adjust your plan?
• Costs for inbound and outbound calls: For different number types
• Additional per minute rate
• Cost of additional features, add-ons, and integrations
• Other fees: installation or setup fees, mandatory taxes, service fees, cancellation fees, etc.

We offer full transparency on our pricing page, so you know what is and isn’t included in your phone service plan.

4. Features and Integrations

The main reason for choosing a new provider is to have a better business communication system. And so, it is essential that this new provider offers your features and add-ons that help you achieve your goals. Review their features and integrations to see if they make a good fit for your needs.

5. Contract Lock-In and Migration Support

If, for whatever reason, this provider does not satisfy your needs, you do not want to be locked into a long-term contract and struggle to cancel or face any complications when migrating to cloud communications. Review the contract carefully for lock-in clauses and the cancellation policy.

6. Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Customer testimonials and reviews are a great place to gauge how customers like you use this provider’s service and what, if any, problems exist. You can also see how the provider responds to bad reviews and what they do to resolve an issue.

Want to know how our customers use our service? Check out our customer testimonials.

Customer Support and Account Management

Since your phone service is crucial to the successful running of your business, you should be able to get assistance quickly, in case something goes wrong. So, you need to evaluate your provider’s customer support:

• Is it fast and responsive?
• Do they offer 24/7 support?
• Are they available on live chat, email, call?
• Do they respond to support tickets within 24 hours?
• Will you have a dedicated account manager to manage your account?

You can test their customer support during the free trial process or ask about what options they offer beforehand.

Switch to Cloud Telephony with Global Call Forwarding

As you can see, cloud telephony is the future of business communication as remote working becomes more common and companies are looking to expand globally. With a cloud phone system, you can expand and scale while keeping costs low and managing your teams through one central system.

Want to know more about the cloud telephony solution offered at Global Call Forwarding? Book a demo today or chat with our representatives online!

Growing a business means upgrading your systems and tech to use more efficient solutions that will help your employees do their job better.

Upgrading your business communications, in that vein, means improving the way your business communicates internally and externally. This means gaining high-quality voice, reducing downtime, and maintaining business continuity. A transition to cloud communications can ensure your phone system functions efficiently and continuously without interruption, no matter where your teams are.

Here is an in-depth guide on migrating to cloud communications, focusing on:

• • Why Should You Transition to the Cloud?
  • Benefits of Migrating Communications to the Cloud
  • What to Avoid During a Cloud Communication Migration?
  • What to Keep in Mind When Transitioning
  • How to Transition to Cloud Communications Successfully, 6 Steps

 

Why Should You Transition to the Cloud?

A recent trend within business technology is the adoption of cloud solutions such as cloud storage, cloud computing, cloud-based management systems, cloud communications, and so on.

The main reason to upgrade your legacy phone system is access to better and more secure services. But that aside, there are many reasons to transition to cloud communications—from wanting to revamp its business phone system to bringing on new features and services. You can get:

• Access to advanced features and services
• More reports and data
• Better cloud security
• Flexibility and scalability
• Increased collaboration and productivity
• Improved business continuity and disaster recovery
• Cost-effective and user-friendly systems.

Benefits of Migrating Communications to the Cloud

But why your business should consider cloud communications depends on what you want to achieve with a cloud phone system.

• Do you want more reliable service?
• Do you want to expand globally in a cost-effective way?
• Are you looking to scale your customer support and sales reach?
• Do you want to manage local, global, and remote teams through one centralized communications platform?

A transition to cloud communications can help you do these and more. Here are the top benefits you get when you migrate to cloud communications:

• High-quality voice service with multiple layers of redundancy and low downtime
• Access to new and advanced call management features
• Ability to work from any location and device
• Support for local, global, and remote teams
• Reduced risks and improved business continuity across different locations
• Ability to scale your business globally with cloud phone numbers.

What to Avoid During a Cloud Communication Migration?

Even as you prepare for the switch, you may miss out on some key aspects that can impede the success of your new communication system.

Thankfully, you can avoid and resolve these issues by communicating with your employees and cloud phone service provider. An experienced cloud phone service provider can help you avoid these issues and transition smoothly.

Related: Transforming Your Legacy Contact Center

What to Keep in Mind When Transitioning

When you decide to adopt cloud communications, you need to pay attention to 3 key elements:

1. Technology

Your phone system technology and equipment must be aligned and prepared for the transition. It is, therefore, important to review what you currently have and if you need anything else.

Tools and features — Which services and features are being used, why, and by whom? How do your teams communicate internally and externally? What valuable tools and features are missing in your existing phone solution? What business processes can benefit from new communication features?

Network — Can your existing phone network and internet service handle the increased demand of the new provider and service? Do you need a new provider who can support your plans to scale your business? What changes do you need to make to improve security, such as switching your router or firewall?

Equipment — Can existing equipment and hardware be reused, or do you need to replace them with new hardware? Does your cloud telephony provider a service that can be integrated within your existing network? For example, using a softphone for placing business calls through the computer.

2. Processes

This part of the process focused on understanding what your ideal business communication process looks like and identifying gaps to fill.

Map Out Existing Communication Processes — How does your business communicate internally? How do your local, global, and remote teams share information and collaborate? What are some ways to improve this type of communication? How do you handle customer-related inbound and outbound calls? What disaster recovery and redundancy plans do you have in place or need to have?

How to Improve These Processes — How can new features support your business communication goals and processes? What new features and additional services do you need (instant messaging, live chat, advanced routing, etc.)? How can you use cloud telephony to expand globally and improve call management?

3. People

Part of preparing your business for a transition to cloud communications is to get everyone on board, including employees, suppliers, customers, prospects, stakeholders.

First, you need to understand how your staff uses the existing communication system and what they need from the new phone system. Their feedback is crucial in the successful adoption of the new system.

Once the migration process begins, everyone will need formal training to move the process along smoothly. Everyone who uses the new system will need the training to understand how the new system and features work. Your provider should provide such onboarding training and support. It’s a good idea to create guides and knowledge bases that everyone can access for information.

If there are any changes to workflow and processes (such as flexible working options or new customer support centers), make sure to communicate these effectively with policies in place.

How to Transition to Cloud Communications Successfully

By preparation for your transition to the cloud, you can:

• Migrate with little disruption and low downtime
• Implement a solution tailored and customized to your business’ requirements
• Improve your workflows and processes
• Provide training and support for staff, stakeholders, and customers.

Here are the 6 steps to a smooth and successful cloud communication migration:

Step 1: Visualize End Goals

First, you need to determine what you want your new business phone system to do and how much you want to spend on it. Then, you can start to look for the right provider with relevant features and a compatible service plan.

Step 2: Review the Current Situation

Next, audit your current system. What assets, capabilities, and processes are working well? What is essential to your business and teams? Get feedback from employees and others using your phone system.

Step 3: Identify Improvement Opportunities

When doing your review, identify what is lacking in your current system. Different cloud phone service providers offer different tools, features, and add-ons, but not all may be necessary for your needs. So, it is crucial to know what you need from your provider to make your business run smoothly and efficiently.

Step 4: Find the Right Cloud Phone Service Provider

Once you identify what you need, you can look for the right provider and cloud communication solution. Compare top providers, review plans and pricing, look at customer reviews and testimonials. You also want to understand the onboarding process and migration support so that you can transition smoothly without any interruptions or downtime.

Step 5: Prepare your Business

Then, you need to get everyone on the same page with training and onboarding. This change will impact different sections of your business: staff, customers, vendors, and suppliers. So, they need to prepare as well.

Step 6: Assess Network and Test

As you transition to the new cloud communication system, you want to test and make sure everything is running efficiently on your network. Your provider can help with configuration and testing.

Cloud Communications Transition with Global Call Forwarding

Migrating to the cloud is a big step, but one in the right direction. It can elevate the way your business communicates with customers and partners, and it can support your expansion plans and establish your business as a credible and reliable one.

Global Call Forwarding can help you build a cloud communication system that works for your business. We offer a wide range of call management tools and additional services so that you can focus more on your business and customers instead of your phone system.

Speak with our experts to learn more. Call us today at 1-888-908-6171 or chat with us online.

Are you looking to improve caller experience when customers contact your business? Responsive phone support is crucial to increasing caller satisfaction.

And one way to make your business reachable and responsive is with call routing. Try different advanced call center routing strategies to reduce wait times and help callers reach the right department or employee quickly.

• What is Call Routing?
• How Does it Work?
• Benefits of Call Routing
• Strategies and Best Practices

Call Routing Explained

Call routing is a call management tool that distributes incoming calls based on rules set by your business. In other words, you can set rules to route incoming calls to specific employees, offices, departments, or phone lines, as needed. This can help you manage high call volumes.

For example, you can set a rule to route calls coming to your main office to another location (such as a satellite office) during certain hours of the day. Or, you can set a rule to route calls coming from certain locations to a remote worker in that time zone or region.

These routing strategies help you organize incoming business calls during on and off-hours. And you can ensure callers are taken care of even outside of your regular business hours.

How Does Advanced Call Routing Work?

Advanced call routing is also referred to as an automatic call distributor system (ACD) since it automatically distributes calls to the right person or department. Callers do not have to input extensions. When they call a business, they may interact with a cloud IVR system or auto-attendant. Based on the rules set, the IVR will automatically route the calls or ask for more information about the caller and then route the call to the right department.

Benefits of Using a Global Call Routing Service

But what are the benefits of advanced call routing for your business? By routing calls strategically and effectively, you can help callers get assistance quickly. This improves customer experience as they don’t have to wait in long lines or move from employee to employee just to get information. And you can improve the overall experience of your customer support and sales teams by dividing the work and spreading it evenly.

Here are some of the key benefits of using a global call routing service:

1. Route callers to the right person or department; eliminate confusion
2. Offer 24/7 follow the sun customer support
3. Provide global customer support
4. Reduce wait time and call abandonment rates
5. Reduce the number of missed calls
6. Connect callers with agents within their time zone or location
7. Connect callers with employees they have previously interacted with
8. Improve customer satisfaction
9. Offer virtual voicemail and self-service options
10. Add custom greetings and pre-recorded messages
11. Balance out employee workload

Call Routing Strategies and Best Practices

There are a few different ways to route calls coming into your business. This mainly depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the size of your business and customer-facing teams.

Once you have these basics down, you can start identifying routing strategies that fit within your infrastructure. You can route calls through an IVR system or ACD system with pre-set rules and pre-recorded messages. Here are the top call center routing strategies:

1. Time-Based Routing

With time-based routing, you can route calls to specific offices, lines, or employees based on the time of the call. For example, calls that come in during off-hours or the weekends can be directed to remote workers or employees in different time zones. This type of routing is also known as time of day routing.

2. Location-Based Routing

Route calls based on the location of the caller. This is a good strategy for businesses that have customers in multiple regions and countries around the world. You can group together regions within the same time zone or close by. And then forward incoming calls coming from customers within these regions to agents assigned to these regions. You can also forward calls internationally to different offices or locations with an international call routing service.

3. Skill-Based Routing

This strategy works along with your IVR system. The IVR system presents the caller with a menu of options to choose from. Based on the caller’s input, the system routes the call to the agent with skills that match the caller’s input. For example, customers needing assistance in specific languages can converse with employees fluent in those languages by opting for that option within the IVR.

4. Simultaneous Routing

With this routing feature, you can ring multiple phones with one number. This means incoming calls ring on all phones assigned within your hunt group or ring group. You can set your ring group to include employees in the main office, satellite offices, remote workers, and so on. Then, as a call comes in, whoever is available can jump in and assist the customer. The customer won’t have to wait for an available line.

5. Sequential Forwarding

Sequential Forwarding — also known as sequential ringing — delivers incoming calls down a predetermined list of numbers. If the employee assigned to the first number doesn’t answer it, the call moves to the next in line.

6. Round Robin Call Routing

The round robin routing strategy is the most common one. Most businesses start out with this routing technique and then evolve from there. This routing strategy helps distribute incoming calls evenly. The first call goes to the first employee in the predetermined list. The second call goes to the next person on the list, and so on. Once the last person on the list receives a call, the next call is sent to the first employee.

7. Least Occupied Agent Routing

With this strategy, calls are routed to the agent waiting for the longest. In other words, the call is sent to a line that hasn’t received a call in a while. This routing strategy ensures that no agent stays idle for too long. And distributed calls evenly among agents.

8. Holiday Rules

Set call forwarding rules for major holidays in advance. Calls coming in on these days can be forwarded to voicemail or office different locations. This way, callers can leave a message or get a response from your teams in other countries and time zones, when your main office or core employees are on vacation.

Get Advanced Call Routing with Global Call Forwarding

The call center routing service from Global Call Forwarding is highly customizable. So, you can design a phone system that works best for your needs. Map out different ring groups. Set up rules for different situations and times. Upload voice messages, custom greetings, and menu options. And create a better caller experience for your customers. Speak with our experts to learn more about what our service can do for your business. Call us at 1 (888) 908 6171 or chat with us online!

Picking the best softphone for your business determines how your business interacts with its customers and vice versa. Find out how to choose a softphone with relevant features and add-ons that will improve business-customer communication and enhance caller experience.

What to Look for in a Softphone?

A softphone is an application that allows users to place calls from any location and device. All you need is a headset, VoIP service, and a stable internet connection. Then your teams can make and answer business calls from anywhere in the world.

Softphones work through the internet and on most devices, as opposed to desk phones. So, whether your set-up includes Windows or Mac devices, you can use a softphone with ease. However, you will need a VoIP service with credentials to log in. And an internet connection with enough bandwidth to handle multiple VoIP calls.

How do you pick a softphone that fits perfectly within your phone system while offering you advanced telephony features? Here are a few things you must consider.

1. Operating System

What type of softphone would work best for your employees and teams? Do you need one that runs on a desktop or smartphone or both? Does it matter whether the softphone is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android devices?

There are various forms of softphones: mobile apps, desktop apps, web extensions, and web browser apps. Certain softphones can be accessed by logging in on a browser (such as Chrome) while others need to be downloaded to a device to use. Many softphones use WebRTC for functionality.

You will need to decide what type of softphone is most suited for your business set-up. For instance, if all your employees work out of the same office and reuse the same devices (computers), a desktop app or browser extension works well. On the other hand, if your teams work remotely, you may want a more remote-friendly option such as a browser extension that can be accessed for any type of device. Most softphone providers will offer their dialer in these different formats.

2. Softphone Features

The next, and perhaps most important step is determining your needs and required features. The main purpose of a softphone is to make and receive calls from any device and location. But that is not all a softphone does. Softphones can also store call details and records, allow for internal transfers and conferencing, and more. When choosing a softphone, you may want to consider the different features that come along.

For instance, the Global Call Forwarding softphone offers the following features:

• Two-way voice calls with any of our numbers
• CRM and helpdesk integrations
• Call transfer within departments
• Free in-network calls
• Advanced call routing options
• International call forwarding
• Customized caller ID
• Call detail records
• Fully integrated contacts and call history features
• Cloud call recording
• Ability to call with one click
• Voicemail

Think about how these features can further streamline your business communications. If you hold multiple offices or manage remote teams, being able to quickly transfer calls can save a customer’s time. Additionally, having an outbound calling service with a dynamic caller ID ensures you call international customers through numbers they recognize and feel comfortable answering.

Furthermore, having access to call records and contact information goes a long way in ensuring your teams stay up-to-date on customer interactions and offer better service.

3. Pricing Structure and Options

Softphones are cost-effective. However, different providers offer different pricing structures and payment options. Compare the prices of different providers along with the features and services they offer. Some things to consider include:

• Do they offer different pricing tiers depending on the business’ size and the number of users?
• Are monthly minutes included?
• What features come with the plans?
• Are there additional add-on services?
• Do they offer a free trial that you could use to test the service?
• How is the pricing structure laid out? Is it month-to-month or long-term contracts?

You do not want to get locked into a service contract when the service does not live up to promises made by the provider. It is important to test out the service and easily cancel it if needed.

4. Support for Outbound Calling

Your softphone should be able to support your outbound calling strategy. This means that if you have long-distance or international customers, your softphone should help you connect with these customers without any interruption or service issues.

Global Call Forwarding’s outbound calling service lets users connect with long-distance and international customers with high voice quality. Furthermore, we offer a dynamic caller ID feature that lets your employees customize their caller ID when calling these customers. In other words, you can override the existing caller ID to display a local or toll free number when calling customers in foreign countries.

Your customers will feel more comfortable answering your call when it comes from a local number than an unrecognizable and unknown foreign number.

5. Local and International Coverage

Lastly, can this service provider support your local and international calling needs? For example, you will need local and international numbers to stay connected to your customers. And so, it helps if you can get both your softphone and phone numbers in one place and through the same service provider. This can help reduce costs and time spent on two different providers and platforms.

Learn More About Global Call Forwarding’s Softphone

Global Call Forwarding is a leading softphone provider. And we offer a multitude of cloud-based phone services. Curious about how our softphone can help your teams make business calls with high-quality service? Chat with our experts online or call us at 1 (888) 908 6171. We offer a free trial for businesses and are available 24/7!