Why Is Call Forwarding One Of The Most Important Features of Cloud Based Phone System?

Yukti Verma

Author

Contact Center

August 6, 2020

4 mins read eye

Table of content

You don’t need to be a business tycoon to know that communication is the key to a successful business.

Even core functions like management and operations need a strong communication system to perform well. Such efficiency ensures a smooth flow of information within and between different departments of an organisation.

When we say communication, we mean both internal and external forms. For a company to thrive, it is necessary to foster clear, two-way relationships with customers and other businesses.

Having multiple channels of communication is just one way to assure that; emails, live chats, telephony make you accessible to all. Additionally, it helps your customer agents interact better and solve problems while also gathering essential feedback.

A Reliable Hosted Telephony Service Is All You Need

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is an excellent medium to convey messages proficiently. Every company needs to acquire an efficient telephony system in order to improve overall business communication, paying special attention to customer service.

A cloud phone system not only streamlines service but also offers a dynamic calling experience. This can easily determine the success of your business as a brand.

What is Call Forwarding?

A feature of the cloud telephony system, call forwarding allows businesses to route incoming calls to various departments when an agent or a department is unable to take the call.

This can happen when an issue escalates or when increased phone traffic keeps the agents engaged. Call forwarding helps customers solve their queries by connecting them to the most relevant agent available as quickly as possible.

Benefits Of Call Forwarding When Building A Positive Brand Image

Call forwarding allows businesses to increase their workflow productivity and provides greater customer experience. You can explore the following benefits for your better understanding:

Boosts Customer Satisfaction

Customers call you with the hope of getting their problems solved. However, it may not be possible for every agent to solve every customer query.

Call forwarding acts as a saviour that enables the primary agent to transfer the call to the colleague or department best-suited to handle the issue.

Saves Time

The world is fast-paced, and customers want their queries solved quickly without wasting time on call. They might get irritated easily when their problems are not solved instantly.

Call forwarding reduces the time spent on juggling between agents and departments to solve the customer’s issue.

Respecting your customers precious time can help you win their loyalty.

Builds Trust Between Customers and the Business

Customers are bound to be happy when a business efficiently assists them with queries and problems. This encourages satisfied clients to constantly avail the firm’s products and services.

So, the faster you solve customer’s problems, the more trustworthy you become.

Customer Service becomes Mobile

One of the most significant features of call forwarding is that agents are not chained to their desks. They needn’t answer calls from their desks only, but can easily forward them to multiple devices based on their convenience.

This eliminates any scope of disruption between customers and the business, even during odd hours.

Increase Accessibility

Most businesses have a publicised toll free number. This number enables customers to immediately connect with the business from anywhere in the country without bearing any charges!

This improves the accessibility of your business and builds a promising reputation for your business. Free of cost communication builds a better brand image for your organisation.

Gives the Business a Professional Look

Call forwarding comes with multiple add-ons that make your business sound professional.

Features like pre-designed greetings and automated call assistants, multi-lingual approach, location-specific service, on-hold ringtones, and more add credibility to your business.

This also offers dynamic customer service and adopts a more customer-centric approach.

24/7 Assistance

This feature enables businesses to be reachable 24/7. You can accept customer calls all times, even from different time zones. You never have to miss a call even when you are away from your desk phone.

Reachable During Emergency

Businesses always have a contingency plan for potential risks. Call forwarding takes care of the customer service aspect in a contingency plan.

For instance, if there’s a worldwide emergency, like a pandemic, the communication dynamic between customers and businesses will have to be shifted.

Or maybe not. Call forwarding allows employees to serve customers from a different location, even their home. This means that even in adverse situations, your customers can always count on you.

Summing Up

After going through these various benefits, it can be concluded that call forwarding enhances customer experience multifold.

All its features are interconnected and functioned together to ensure smooth communication. Customers feel valued, satisfied and assured and become a potential loyal customer.

In conclusion, businesses should wisely choose a cloud phone system service that offers a very dynamic set of features and service list.

Acefone provides exemplary cloud telephony services that increase your workforce productivity and boosts customer satisfaction. Contact an expert at 1888-859-0450 .

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

Boost Customer Experience Using Our Cloud Telephony Tools: A Handy Rulebook

Acefone Editor

Author

Cloud Telephony

August 3, 2020

9 mins read eye

Table of content

Article in a Glance

This article will equip you with essential guidelines for creating a fulfilling customer experience. There are 6 rules to keep in mind:

Article in a glance

This is the customer is king era. Your business goal is to provide customers with the best experience so that they continue to renew your services. However, as amazing as your product’s features may be, there are other factors that determine a consumer’s decision.

customer experience, for one, is recognized by all major companies in the world. Do you happen to know whose words these are: “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around”?

The answer? Steve Jobs. The mastermind behind the phenomenal success of Apple.

Customer is king

In the digital age, providing a seamless user experience is critical. Consider this quote by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon: If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends. 1 in 3 customers will leave a brand after even a single bad experience.

On the other hand, a happy customer is more likely to become a repeat and loyal consumer of your product.

But there’s no need to worry. Follow these simple rules to boost customer experience using our cloud telephony solutions, and watch as happy customers translate to positive business figures.

Rule #1: Choose an easy-to-remember number to pave your way into customers’ hearts

Companies like Domino’s and Pizza Hut get massive phone traffic daily. Have you noticed what’s common between their contact numbers?

It’s simple—Toll free numbers are the way to go!

When you’ve put so much effort into perfecting your product and piqued the interest of the buyer, the last thing you need is for the customer to be deterred because of extra effort.

Write it on stone: Do not let the customer’s process of contacting you require any effort on their part.

Reason why your business needs a free phone number.

Think about it—would a buyer trust a random number that may originate from anywhere and possibly be fraudulent, or would he prefer a trusty 1800 number. Additionally, 1800 numbers boost brand recognition as people will associate your number with countless other popular services that use it.

That’s not all. You can also opt for a virtual phone number or a vanity number to improve customer experience.

The buyer calls a virtual phone number and gets routed to a mobile or landline device. You only need an internet connection to set it up and there are no extra hardware costs, which makes this option insanely affordable.

Moreover, you can reach a wider clientele base without any geographic limitations. You could be based in a mountain lodge in Himachal Pradesh and still be able to perfectly cater to a customer in Vizag.

In your quest to enhance customer experience, you need to give vanity numbers a chance. These numbers are easily recognizable, often spelling out memorable words alphanumerically. For example, if your brand is named “FOMO”, it could be represented as 3666 in your phone number. This will drastically improve your brand recognition.

Actually, why stick to one kind of number service?

You can even choose a toll free vanity number, and get the best of both features!

Rule #2: Create a seamless customer experience with the wonders of IVR

It goes without saying that being bounced around from one department to another like a ping-pong ball is not fun. When a customer calls you for support, they are already in a distressed state of mind. So wow them with an impressive multi-level IVR system.

Our sophisticated IVR menu allows the customer to directly connect to the best-suited agent quickly, eliminating the need for middlemen and saving on time and money.

Here’s how it works:

Boost customer experience with IVR

For your business to provide a quality customer experience, you need a high-quality IVR with user-friendly features and luckily, you need to look no further. Acefone offers a variety of IVR services based on your needs: single-level, multi-level as well as custom dial-plans. With its quick and cheap installation, it really is a steal!

Rule #3: Customer experience 101: Privacy simplified using number masking

Mask on was a thing even before COVID-19 hit us like a storm.

Number masking is a gem you didn’t know you needed. It’s so simple. You can choose one-way or two-way masking, which as the names suggest, hides one or both of the parties’ numbers during the call. This improves the customer’s trust by ensuring the protection of sensitive data.

There are so many times when a customer comes across a lucrative deal or product, but cannot commit to the purchase because it feels shady. Don’t make that mistake!

Making customers feel safe and trusting is—and we can’t stress this enough—absolutely essential. In a survey by Cisco in 2019, 84% of the people reported that they care about their data being used by companies, out of which 80% felt strongly enough to take action for its protection.

Survey by Cisco

So if you ever wondered if your Uber driver, who called you 10 times to find you in the parking lot, can call again randomly, you may rest assured knowing he can’t. The customer’s number is masked in services like these to regulate the transactions better.

Rule #4: Customer is God. Invite them in with easy ways to reach you

Patience is a virtue very few people possess. Your average customer will not be pleased with a wait time, or worse, no response. Thankfully, there’s no need to put people on hold incessantly anymore.

Use missed call services to turn unanswered calls to a boon from a bane.

With no cost to the customers, they are more likely to drop a call.
Use an intelligent routing system to assign the best-suited agent to call them back instantly.
In the process of the missed call, your agent also gathers enough data about the customer’ call history to hold an informed conversation.
Do Not Disturb options are presented to users so you need not pursue those who are not interested in being contacted.

Using the click to call feature is another way to enhance communication.

Everyone is tempted to press the big red button. It’s so easy! Just place a click to call button or widget on your portal, and one simple click will allow users to feed their number for your agent to call straight away.

Pro tip: When you do have to put callers on hold, have them wait with pleasing music instead of an annoying beep tone to maximize customer satisfaction.

Rule #5: Improve customer experience using CRM integration and analytics

A customer always calls with the hope of resolving their issues on the first call itself. This mighty task becomes achievable using CRM integrations which allow agents to access information about customers on their screen during the call. Better-informed agents can speedily attend to the customer’s specific needs.

A survey conducted by Deloitte in 2017 found that the attribute customers value most in a contact center interaction is the accuracy and quality of the information provided. A whopping 66% of surveyed executives gave this aspect a high priority, the highest among all options.

Deloitte Global Contact Center Survey

Acefone offers CRM integrations with popular software like Zoho, HubSpot, Salesforce, Freshdesk and more. This way you can have all your data together in one user-friendly portal to provide the best possible service.

Other features that help give the best customer experience include call recording and call analytics. These allow you to monitor the quality of your agents’ calls—and even whisper or barge in on calls for a quick fix.

The recordings can act as useful reference points for later exchanges. Real-time data analytics on the dashboard help identify weak points in client interactions. Improve future customer experience with the aid of these tools!

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome

Rule #6: The future is here. Enhanced AI can give your business a human touch

Technology is really smart.

Artificial intelligence can eliminate the need for manual effort in a lot of areas. The use of voice API can automate your calls to behave smarter—more human-like.

You can use any programming language to modify or create your own unique APIs. Click to Call, IVR, OTP calls and so many other features allow for pleasing customer experiences. You’re saving on time as well as manpower by employing AI for basic tasks.

SMS APIs can also be used to ‘train’ your SMSs. Customize features to your liking and needs, and opt for services like OTP verification, auto-responses to messages, automated alerts and other varying solutions.

The best thing about these APIs? You can customize them at any time to cater to your and your customer’s changing needs! Incorporate growing modifications with changing times.

You’re almost set to go…

While the goal of this article was to equip you with useful tools to improve customer experience, you must remember that a fulfilling experience requires more than the use of such features.

A few ground rules that affect customer service:

Build a rapport and form a meaningful connection with your clientele.
Figure out your target audience and cater to them specifically.
Not all customers prefer the same sales style. Be flexible with the customer’s preference and change your style accordingly.
Always be receptive to feedback and strive to improve.

Recommended read: How to improve call center agent skills

Hopefully, this article has helped you figure out the best strategy to boost customer experience. With the advent of technology, the scope for buyer satisfaction has increased manifold as well. Services such as virtual numbers, IVR, number masking, APIs and CRM integrations can be used in conjunction to transform your digital customer experience.

Become the top-runner in your field using these industry secrets!

Finally, remember that customers and businesses have a mutually dependent relationship that needs to be nurtured. When you integrate these rules for boosting customer experience with our services, you create magic.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Acefone Editor

Author

Acefone provides a broad range of cloud communication services to businesses of all sizes, which includes Hosted Phone Systems, Free Phone Numbers, and Cloud Contact Center Solutions. Being the UK's leading provider of VoIP service provider, we always strive to provide excellent customer service and high-quality custom solutions to our customers.

5 Common Customer Service Complaints and Tips To Handle Them

Yukti Verma

Author

Operations

July 30, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

When it comes to customer service, complaints come with the territory. It is how you handle complaints that sets you apart from the competition.

A customer complaint is not necessarily the end of the relationship with that customer.

When handled correctly, it could actually strengthen the relationship and encourage them to recommend your brand to other people after you have shown that you truly care about their experience.

At Acefone, we specialise in communications to help you resolve any customer issues as quickly and effectively as possible.

Here is a list of the five most common customer service complaints and how to handle them. This will help you to strengthen your customer relationships rather than breaking them.

Lack Of Communication

Sometimes, a lack of communication can lead to a customer complaint. For example, if a customer was expecting a follow-up call but did not receive one, then they would be understandably frustrated.

No matter what the follow-up call was about, the way you handle this situation is crucial in determining whether the customer will continue to do business with you.

All customers like to feel that they are valued and important. Thus, your first reaction must be to apologise for the oversight.

Yes, sometimes communication can be hampered, but most customers will not understand or tolerate it if it happens frequently. Or, even worse, if they do not receive a follow-up call the second time around!

A hosted phone system can make all this simple. Agents can assign the call to a colleague who’s available to ensure quick redressal.

If the caller is willing to wait, customer service representatives can even use the notes section to explain the mistake and schedule a callback.

When the next agent becomes aware that there has been a problem, they may strive to deliver better service to keep the customers happy and ensure that they continue to buy from your brand.

Products Not Arriving Or Faulty Products

Sometimes products are lost in the mail, or they arrive damaged or faulty. The key to handling this is to act quickly.

The customer has already been inconvenienced. So, it is important to solve the issue swiftly and send the customer a replacement as soon as you can.

Despite their frustration, most reasonable buyers will understand that this is out of the seller’s control and will be happy to receive a replacement.

However, the replacement should never be at the customer’s cost. As a goodwill gesture, you could also follow up with them and ensure that the new product is to their satisfaction.

This will impress the customer and prove that you are dedicated to providing great customer service to all.

A Disagreement Between Agent And Customer

No seller wants to fight with their clients. Sometimes, customers can be rude and, therefore, it is important to gain clarity on what has happened and what has been said.

Inevitably, personality clashes can occur between agents and customers. Difficult customers may become a bit rude, and, therefore, it is good to have clarity on exactly what has happened and what has been said.

Acefone’s hosted phone systems come with a voice recording feature. You can record each call and store them safely on your phone system.

If you need to access a call, all it takes a simple search through the history for the right agent and timestamp. Now, you can listen to a full recording and ensure you have all the facts and information before returning to the customer with a resolution.

These voice recordings also serve to protect your staff during conflicts, since you can access exactly what has been said in the event of a misunderstanding.

Either way, this type of complaint needs to be dealt with sensitively. If the agent is at fault, you can apologise to the customer and assure that you will provide further training to your staff in order to prevent the recurrence of such a situation.

In case the customer is at fault, you can calmly explain your policies and give them access to the recording so they can review the conversation themselves.

Long Wait On Hold

During busy hours, customers may have to be on hold for a long time, which they may not appreciate. If the long wait complaint is a one-off occurrence, it makes sense to simply apologise and give the customer a list of your less busy hours.

This can be done using the analytics tools from Acefone’s online portal. This way, you can tell them a more convenient time to call back or direct them to online resources for answers to basic queries.

However, if this is a recurring problem for multiple customers, then it may be time to hire remote staff to help you through busy periods.

Acefone’s cloud phone system allows you to hire staff from anywhere in the world who can connect to your phone system as long as they have an internet connection.

Extra lines for these agents can be scaled with just a few clicks as per your requirement. Once you have extra staffing in place, you can let customers know that you have considered their feedback and put extra measures in place to ensure they do not have to suffer through long wait times again.

Customers will be pleased to hear that they are valued enough to have their feedback acted upon and will continue to associate with you in the future.

Repeating Their Issue Each Time They Call

If a customer has to repeat their issue multiple times when they call, it may become a complaint in itself. The more a customer is transferred, the more frustrated they will become. It is important to solve customer queries on the first call.

Acefone’s hosted phone systems have the option to add an IVR to your phone, which means customers can select from a list of personalised options, like for instance, which department they would like to be put through to.

This means less wasted time for your staff—having to transfer calls to find the best-qualified person to help—and less time on the phone for customers, leading to less frustration for all.

IVR systems are highly professional and give a great impression of your business. Hence, they are a worthwhile investment for any company wanting to deliver excellent customer service.

If you would like to find out more about how Acefone can help you handle customer complaints efficiently through your hosted phone system, call us on 1888-859-0450 today.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Yukti Verma

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Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

How IVR System can Empower Telehealth Initiatives Amid The Pandemic

Acefone Editor

Author

IVR Service

July 25, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

The COVID-19 crisis is exerting tremendous pressure on the healthcare industry. Health workers across the globe are struggling to keep pace with the outbreak and its consequences. Thankfully, telehealth services have come up as a feasible alternative, allowing remote diagnosis and treatment of non-critical patients. There has been a 60-80% spurt in telemedicine appointments since the outbreak of the pandemic, which shows the scope and importance of this service.

Hospitals and health providers are using the latest technology to reduce in-person visits as well as the strain on resources. They are also able to ensure that everyone who needs medical care gets it on time, without any geographic limitations. Moreover, remote consultations are beneficial for patients because fewer outings indicate reduced exposure and risk of infection. Among the cloud technologies that drive telehealth care, IVR emerges as a forerunner.

Before understanding how IVR solutions can empower the medical sector, it is important to comprehend their working.

So how does a typical telehealth IVR system work?

You can access healthcare even beyond the hospital with a simple, yet highly effective IVR solution. This service enables seamless patient interactions around the clock, from delivering messages regarding medication, appointment schedules or behaviour modification to collecting individual patient healthcare data. Organisations can also use IVR for automated greetings, accepting patient inputs or routing individual callers to a specific department or agent.

You can easily install IVR technology and power up your telehealth solutions. Here’s how:

First, determine your IVR needs with a comprehensive evaluation and analysis of your practice. Opt for a customised solution to match your specific situation and challenges, as well as the expectations of your target group (say, patients).
Enable self-servicing options from the IVR menu. Calls can now be handled quickly, consistently and inexpensively.
Tracking and analysis feature allows you to assess the quality and success of your telehealth campaign. Pleasant patient experiences strengthen the foundation of your practice and improve the rate of patient retention.

To battle the pandemic panic, you need to implement these services as quickly as possible. A practice that does not do so risks losing patients. Conversely, if you are quick to make the shift, you can avail the benefits of early adoption of the technology.

Empowering telehealth with IVR system

“A time of crisis is not just a time of anxiety and worry. It gives a chance, an opportunity, to choose well or to choose badly.” – Desmond Tutu, Human rights activists, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Fortunately, many healthcare organisations have achieved innovation overnight by investing in telehealth solutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are relying on technology they have never used before. Although IVR system has been around for quite some time, the outbreak has led to an exponential growth in its use. Here are a few ways this technology is helping the healthcare providers:

Dial for self-service

Hospitals are increasingly using IVR systems to empower patients with numerous self-service benefits. These include scheduling telehealth visits, requesting prescription refills, getting frequently asked questions resolved, and more.

Send pre-programmed reminders

IVR system that provides outbound broadcasting features allows automated reminders for patients. These can be used for timely medications, refilling prescriptions, appointment notifications, and so much more.

Instant notifications during emergencies

Organisations can take things one step further with the integration of IVR technology with remote patient monitoring systems. You can share emergency notifications via call or SMS in case of fluctuations in the patient’s stats.

Benefits of IVR system for the healthcare provider

Now you know how to leverage an IVR system to deliver top-notch telehealth services to patients. Next, you need to understand the merits of employing this technology. The idea here is to understand the value of your investment, which is all the more important in a crisis situation. Here are the benefits that the telehealth system can offer your practice:

Improve patient access

With IVR-based appointment scheduling in place, patients get better access to your services. They need not queue up or visit the clinic personally anymore to book appointments. Rather, give them the option to call any time to book an appointment on the fly.

Optimise patient-provider matching

The smart AI can instantly match patients with the best-suited medical staff. This is done based on the needs of the patients and the availability of providers.

Reduce office staff workload

With the need for human intervention minimised, dependency on the staff is reduced and they have more time for critical tasks. This is truly a blessing for the workers who are already swamped during this pandemic.

Scalability and flexibility

Another undisputed benefit of IVR telehealth solutions is their immense scalability. Whether your practice has a few dozen patients or thousands, these systems are capable of handling them all efficiently. Moreover, you have the option to scale the solution to reach a wider audience or even send across vernacular messages to a local audience.

Going Ahead

The pandemic has taught many lessons to the healthcare industry. It has strengthened their commitment towards delivering the best patient care. The booming growth of telehealth services illustrates this commitment, showing the providers’ intention to always be there for patients.

Digital IVR technology systems have emerged as a key component of telehealth solutions. The best way to go ahead is to look for an IVR service provider that you can trust for their service quality and reliability. Additionally, you would want to collaborate with one that offers best-in-class prices for their services.

Check Acefone’s IVR solutions to empower your healthcare practice with the best telehealth solutions!

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

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Why Every Construction Business Should Have A Hosted Phone System

Acefone Editor

Author

Contact Center

July 15, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

A cloud phone system is a must-have for every type of business, but particularly for construction businesses.

Construction businesses by nature are mainly not office based – sometimes you will need to set up offices on sites, sometimes you will need to be out meeting clients and suppliers; but what you do not need it to be chained to your desk by your office phone.

A hosted phone system has many features that can make life so much easier for Construction businesses, so, here are our top reasons why every Construction business should have a hosted phone system.

Hosted Phone Systems Are Completely Portable

With a hosted phone system, as long as you have an internet connection you can take your phone system with you anywhere.

Hosted phone systems work on any compatible device, so your construction workers can stay connected with you as a manager or with each other simply and easily through their mobile phones, laptops, or tablets.

This means that your business will never miss a call from a potential customer as at least one of your workers will always be connected wherever you are.

It is important for Construction Businesses to be easily reachable, to both potential customers and suppliers too and a hosted phone system gives you the flexibility to be on hand to answer important calls, even when you are working on a site.

For sole proprietors, a hosted phone system is key to ensuring that you can go where you are needed and still remain connected to your business line.

When the whole operation is relying on you, it is important to be confident in your telephone system to bring in leads to your business.

Never Miss A Call Again

Sometimes, Construction Business work in such a way that it is inevitable that you might miss a few calls – particularly if you are a sole proprietor of a business without a team around you.

This is not a problem with a hosted phone system, as you can add a voicemail to email feature which sends all missed calls and voicemail messages directly to your email address as a sound file.

This handy feature means that you do not need to stop what you are doing to answer a call, you can let the call go to voicemail and then review the voicemail when you are finished.

With all the details you need to call the customer back with an answer to their query, you will still impress customers with your communications even if you do not answer on their first call.

This also gives you the opportunity to free up your own time and direct customers to the most relevant person.

If you review a voicemail and have a colleague who can answer the query more effectively or a colleague who is not working on a job, you can simply forward the email to a colleague and reply to the customer promptly – saving both you and the customer valuable time.

Virtual Assistants Take Messages for You

Another option for Construction businesses is to enable the Virtual Assistant feature. This feature answers your calls for you and can take messages from customers – giving a very professional impression to any customer calling your business.

Virtual Assistants can stop you from missing a call and make customers more confident that their message has been received and passed on, meaning they will be happier with the customer service they have received.

Virtual Assistants also make your business look larger and more professional, which will impress any shareholders or clients who may be looking to do business with you.

Choose Your Own Phone Number

Many Construction businesses, particularly smaller businesses, list a mobile phone number on their website and marketing collateral.

While this may be convenient for them to direct calls straight to a mobile, it does not give the most professional impression.

Customers may be put off by calling a mobile number and may think that your business is less established than those with a landline phone number and office location.

So, by using a hosted phone system you can make it appear that they are calling a landline number and have calls directed to your mobile phone.

This is simple to do with a hosted phone system, and in a few clicks, you can choose your own phone number.

You could have a local number to increase trust and local community ties, or a free phone number to appear as a bigger and more professional company while removing any barriers to customers calling you.

Alternatively, you can create a custom number which is memorable and matches with your marketing collateral. The choice is yours with a hosted phone system and you can choose how you want your business to come across.

You do not need to worry about directing your new number with a hosted phone system, customers will see no difference when they call your number and will enjoy the same crystal clear communications whatever device you pick up on.

Hire Remote Staff

If your business is growing, you may need to hire staff away from your physical office location. This is not a problem with a hosted phone system.

If staff have an internet connection it does not matter where they are based, so you can confidently hire staff from anywhere in the world to help run your business.

If you have a new project and would like a team based in the area to help monitor its progress, then you can add this team to your hosted phone system in just a few clicks. You could even set up a hosted contact center with a full sales team – the choice really is yours.

Staff calls and call costs can be monitored with Acefone’s easy to use online portal and you can access a range of analytics from call waiting time to call recordings.

Everything can be accessed in just a few clicks and can be accessed wherever you might be and on whatever device you choose.

A hosted phone system gives you the power to expand your business without geographical limits – something which can be highly beneficial to Construction businesses.

If you would like to find out more about how a hosted phone system can help your Construction business grow, call our team on 1888-859-0450 for a consultation.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

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[email protected]

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When Is The Time To Switch Your VoIP Service Provider?

Acefone Editor

Author

Voice - VoIP

July 14, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

There can be any number of reasons why you might be looking to switch your VoIP service provider, and the right time depends on your business needs.

If you are finding that your phone system simply cannot keep up with your business, or it does not have the features you need to do business effectively then you should think about switching to a VoIP service provider who can provide everything you need.

In this article, we will explain some of the best times to switch your VoIP service provider and why doing so could benefit you in the long run.

Business Is Booming

If your business is going well and you are attracting more and more customers, your existing phone system may not be able to keep up. If this is the case, then it may be time for you to switch your VoIP service provider.

Suppose your hosted phone system is experiencing downtime or being overwhelmed by the number of calls coming into your business. In that case, you need a hosted phone system with much more capacity and robust enough to keep you connected.

When searching for a new provider, you should look carefully at their uptime statistics and how robust their phone systems are.

If you do not discuss with the provider exactly what you need, it may end up costing you more in the long run as you will need amendments and extras adding onto your phone system.

To save yourself time and money, be sure to check how many calls the phone system can handle at any one time and make sure this is more than enough for your business’ needs.

You Are Expanding Worldwide

If your business is thinking about expanding worldwide, can your hosted phone system support this? If the answer is no, it is time to switch to a provider who can.

There should be nothing stopping you from hiring talented customer service staff all over the world, and connecting them seamlessly to your hosted phone system.

Your VoIP phone service provider should be able to add remote workers on to your phone system with ease.

With Acefone, it is as simple as a few clicks on our easy to use online portal, where you can add and remove agents easily.

Agents anywhere in the world can connect to your VOIP phone system and make and receive calls as if they are in the room with you! You can also monitor and manage them from your own devices.

You Need More Analytics

If your hosted phone system does not provide you with detailed information and analytics on everything from agent performance to call costs, then it is time to switch your VoIP service provider.

Analytics are key to figuring out if customer service agents are performing to the best of their ability, see if your marketing is working well, and being able to make changes accordingly.

Without the information, you might not be able to help your business grow and develop based on customer interactions – and the last thing a hosted phone system should do is hold your business back.

With Acefone, you have access to all the analytics you could possibly need right at your fingertips.

You can see call logs, costs, agent call time, call recordings, and much more – so you can always make informed decisions about any changes to your customer experience and can use the analytics to keep your business developing and growing.

Knowledge is power, and Acefone gives you the power to have complete control over your hosted phone system.

You Have Had A Security Breach

If you have had a security breach on your phone system and you have lost confidence in your system, then it is time to switch VoIP provider.

You should have confidence in the security of your hosted phone system, so you should make sure that the provider you choose has the relevant VOIP security procedures and protection in place for your all-important customer data.

If customer data is breached, they will want to be reassured that you are doing everything you can to ensure that it does not happen again, and changing and investing in a more secure phone system will go some way to repairing the lost trust or fear of another attack.

Acefone backs up your data at a remote location, so if anything should happen to your phone system your data is safe and secure from attackers well away from your premises.

This means that we can get you back up and running in no time, simply switching your calls from your desk phones to your chosen devices.

You can be sure that you will not lose your precious information and will not lose time and money having to rebuild your database, as your data is safe with us.

Alongside this, we are also compliant with PIC, FCC, GDPR and CPNI regulations. This means that you can assure customers that their data is safe when you switch to Acefone for your VoIP needs.

Trust is important between customer and business, so it is important that you do all you can to ensure this trust is strong.

Costs Are Creeping Up

If your call costs are creeping up, or you are using more than your phone plan allows for – it may be time to switch providers.

Particularly during COVID-19, it is important to ensure that your profits are not being wasted on inflated call costs of VoIP for remote workers.

VoIP provides a much cheaper solution to traditional phone call costs, however, if your business has grown and you are going over the minutes in your phone plan you may find yourself with a costly bill.

You should explore different providers and compare them to each other.

Going to providers with a budget in mind is a good idea, then the provider can tailor something to your needs and budget ensuring you have enough minutes to cover your needs – and stopping any costly bills coming through for extra use.

If you’d like to find out more about switching your VoIP service provider, talk to our expert team today on 1888-859-0450.

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Building A Virtual Call Center Team: 4 Tips For Managers

Acefone Editor

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Contact Center

July 10, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

Virtual call centers aka virtual contact center have come into the spotlight even more due to Coronavirus, as they provide a flexible alternative to traditional office-based call centers.

Virtual call centers are more cost-effective and open up your business to new talented staff based anywhere in the world.

As a manager, you might find it daunting to build a virtual call center team, so we have put together some tips for you to bear in mind when building the perfect team.

So you can find the best talent and train them well, giving them all the tools they need to deliver excellent service and get you results.

Open Up Your Talent Pool

The beauty of a virtual call center is that you can hire any person who is a good fit for the role, rather than the person who is geographically located closest.

You can hire talented staff from all over the world and add them to your phone system in just a few clicks.

Ideal for shift work, someone can be online to answer calls 24 hours a day due to them working in different time zones and customers can contact you whenever they want to.

You will never have to settle for staff who are located close to you if they are not quite the right fit. As a manager, you can pick and choose from a global talent pool and can work together as if you are in the same room using your hosted phone system.

Make Sure Everyone Is Included With Collaborative Tools

Once you have hired your talented team from all over the world, you can start building a team atmosphere by using your hosted phone system to foster collaboration.

You can encourage your staff to collaborate on your different projects, and they can call each other internally with no costs attached.

No matter where the staff members are located, they can communicate over the phone with the same crystal clear communications as they would experience sitting in a room together.

Staff can also have team meetings with conference calls, and can easily dial in and share ideas and expertise.

They can also get to know each other and other staff’s areas of expertise, so if a customer calls they know exactly who to put them through to, to best answer the customer query.

Staff can learn from each other and this will help their own development too!

As a manager, creating a good collaborative atmosphere is important – particularly if staff are working remotely. This helps your staff function better together and can help minimize any feelings of isolation within the team.

Train Staff With Call Recordings

Your online portal, connected to your hosted phone system, allows you to access call recordings from any call you choose in just a few clicks.

These call recordings can be used in a number of ways, but are particularly useful when you are building up your team.

Team members will come from all different backgrounds, some may be inexperienced in working in a call center, however, this is no problem as you can utilize call recordings to show your new staff members exactly what to expect.

You can search easily through call logs to find great examples of customer service and play them alongside poor examples of customer service, and can even bring up the most difficult or common enquiries so staff members are fully prepared before they start on the phones.

Once staff are up and running, you can choose a few of their calls to review and give them tips on how to improve or identify where they have gaps in their knowledge, so you can easily draw up a training plan to make sure they are working as effectively as possible and providing the best customer service they can.

Monitor Staff And Support Them

Acefone’s online portal is a useful tool for managers as it has everything they need to run their call center efficiently. Call center managers can monitor their call center’s performance as a whole, through the total number of calls, call times, and more.

These useful analytics can tell call center managers which staff might need more training or support to perform better and which staff are exceeding expectations.

By looking at individual agent’s call waiting times, call recordings, and time in between calls managers can see where staff might need their support and can step in before a problem becomes more significant.

In the unfortunate event of a complaint against a staff member, you can support them by reviewing call recordings so you have all the information before you take any action with the customer.

Acefone’s online portal gives call center managers all the tools they need to develop a successful team from scratch, no matter where in the world that team might be based!

So, if you are putting a new team together for your call center, a hosted phone system and the amazing features it can include can help you recruit and train the best possible team without the limitations of a physical office location.

To find out more about how a contact center system can help you build the best call center team, call us on 1888-859-0450 today.

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5 Reasons Why SMS Marketing Should Be Part Of Your Marketing Plan

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SMS Service

July 9, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

SMS marketing is a great way to reach large numbers of your customers with very little effort and spend.

SMS marketing is direct and cuts through the masses of emails your customers are receiving every day – and can be a great addition to your marketing plan if used correctly.

If your messages are informative and give customers the information they want to receive customers will respond positively to this and you will be in the front of their mind when they come to make a purchase.

SMS marketing is quite personal, as you are reaching their personal mobile phones, so you must think carefully about the messages you are sending and make sure they are relevant and to the point.

SMS marketing can be a fantastic addition to your marketing plans, so this article will outline why you should include SMS marketing when you’re creating your marketing strategies.

Reach Your Target Audience Immediately

With SMS marketing, you do not need to wait for marketing collateral to be printed, adverts to be approved, newspapers or magazines to be released – your advertising is sent immediately to everyone you want to reach.

As SMS marketing is immediate, you can add urgency to your messages by sending out limited-time offers to encourage customers who might have been thinking about buying from you to go ahead and make the purchase.

Customers are more likely to read an SMS message, as it is more direct than an email and the customer will be notified of the SMS coming through to their mobile phones.

This means, that your message will immediately reach and be picked up by your target audience – giving you even more chance of your marketing message being successful.

SMS Marketing Is Cost-Effective

When compared to Facebook advertising, email marketing, and other areas of your Marketing plan, SMS Marketing is highly cost-effective.

It does not cost much to send the SMS messages to your customer’s mobile phones, and it also does not take too much time for your marketing team to put these messages together – so you will save on both staff time and advertising spend.

With a hosted phone system, you can send SMS messages right from your phone system’s online portal. It is simple to categorize customers and select only the customer type you are looking to target.

When you use your hosted phone system, this means that you can keep all the analytics in one place and you do not need to export your data to any 3rd party software – you can simply do everything you need to in one place; with no need to spend any more money on extra software.

All Mobile Phones Are Compatible With SMS Marketing

If you have been marketing on social media, or in newspapers and local press – you may find that you have missed some of your target audience as they are not active on social media, or they do not read newspapers, etc.

With SMS marketing, you will reach many more customers as every customer’s mobile phone will support incoming SMS messages.

You may think that SMS marketing is basic and there are more technically advanced ways to reach your target audience, but simple solutions can work very well for businesses, and using SMS marketing may help you be more inclusive to customers who are not using social media or other online marketing channels.

SMS Marketing Is A More Direct Form Of Advertising

Most people have their mobile phones within reach at most times of the day, so using SMS marketing is a way to reach people directly in their homes or place of work.

If messaging is simple, to the point and highly relevant then customers will appreciate your business making accessing your offers simple for them; as you can include links and direct people to your latest offers online.

As SMS marketing is so direct, it is also more personal. Instead of a blanket email, customers will feel as if this offer has been personally chosen for them and sent to their mobile phones to make it easier for them to access.

This personalized service will help to increase customer experience and make the customer journey easier for customers thinking about buying from you.

Even if they are not quite ready to purchase yet, they can look back through their SMS messages when they are as the message is less likely to be discarded like an email.

SMS Marketing Is Trackable

Through your online portal, you can access a range of analytics through your hosted phone system. This means you can track who has opened your SMS message and when they opened it, you can also see if they called you to follow up.

This tracking means that you can use SMS marketing to follow up with customers and start building a relationship with them.

Your staff can call the customer to check they received the SMS message and can offer help with any questions the customer might have – which could lead to increased profits and increased customer experience.

All from simply tracking and using the information provided to follow up with customers!

Overall, SMS marketing should be a part of your marketing plan if you want to reach all of your customers with highly targeted and personalized marketing messages.

Used correctly, this direct form of communicating with customers can unlock new customer relationships and ensure that your business is at the front of a customer’s mind when they come to make a purchase.

To find out more about SMS marketing and how your hosted phone system can help you add this to your marketing plan with ease, call our expert team on 1888-859-0450.

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Top 4 Call Monitoring Features That Will Give You Deep Insights

Acefone Editor

Author

Contact Center

July 8, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

For business owners, it is not enough to simply monitor the number of calls coming into your business.

The number of calls is only one part of what your hosted phone system can tell you – it can also tell you much more about how your customers interact with your business.

As a business owner, you can use these unique insights to find out exactly how your customers operate and how they interact with your business, to use for marketing purposes and to improve your customer experience even further.

What is more, these insights are easily accessible via Acefone’s simple to use online portal.

So, we’ve put together our top call monitoring features on our hosted phone systems and how you can use the insights to benefit your business.

Call Recording

Call recordings are one of the best ways to see exactly how customers interact with your business, by hearing it first hand!

Call recordings also let you see how your staff are dealing with customers and is a useful tool for giving them constructive feedback on how to improve their service and give customers a better experience.

All call recordings are securely stored within your online portal, so you can get insights into how customers are interacting with your business in just a few clicks.

You could access recordings from different times of day to see how different shifts of staff are working, and whether your service is consistent whenever a customer calls.

You could also check whether weekend staff are providing the same great service as weekday staff or vice versa. The opportunities for gaining insightful information to help grow your business are unlimited with a hosted phone system.

Call recordings can also help you spot new business opportunities. If you are reviewing call recordings and find multiple customers asking for a service you do not currently provide, then you could use this information to provide what customers are asking for.

This can help ensure you remain competitive and can potentially point out any gaps in the market which your business could fill – helping you become more profitable as a result and showing that you care deeply about customer feedback.

Call Waiting/Handling Times

If customers are kept waiting for long periods of time, then eventually they will get tired of waiting and may move to a competitor who can be reached much more effectively.

A few long periods of waiting time is understandable but when it begins to be a pattern then this may be a problem for your customers and therefore your business.

If you did not monitor this metric, you might not be able to pinpoint where things are going wrong – but with a hosted phone system you have this insight at your fingertips.

Keeping an eye on call waiting times can ensure that if there is a problem, you can step in and provide a solution.

If you look at your call waiting times on your online portal and see a pattern, for example waiting times jump at 5 pm on a weekday, you can make allowances for this by changing staff shift patterns or hiring extra staff to cover busy periods.

Rather than using guesswork, you can make business-savvy decisions that will both increase your customer experience and help keep customers loyal to your company.

Having these insights on hand is the key to ensuring that you can react quickly and save any potentially detrimental patterns from occurring.

Also, you can drill this down to staff member’s individual call waiting times, so if there are a few particular members of staff with long call times, then you can give them some extra training to ensure that they can effectively handle queries and that they understand all of your processes.

You can even use call recordings to see exactly how they need to improve.

Individual Agent Performance

Acefone’s online portal will also give you access to individual agent’s performances. These insights into their performance will allow you to create bespoke training plans for your agents, helping you to get the best from them and helping them give their best to your customers.

You can draw on the above two features, call recordings and call handling times, to address certain areas in which they might need improvement and then can back this up with data.

The data will give the agent a base to start improving from, then with their training, they can work on their performance and compare their figures once some time has passed.

Getting deep insights into agent performance will allow you to run the best possible contact center and give the best possible service to your customers at all times.

No matter where your agents are based in the world, you can monitor their performance and help them grow and develop as customer service professionals.

By investing your time into your team, you can create a world-class customer service team who’s experience and knowledge can be passed on to your customers in the form of exemplary customer service.

CRM Integrations

Our hosted phone systems integrate seamlessly with many CRM systems. This means that you can track customers right through from initial contact to sales and aftercare – which gives you great insights into the customer journey as a whole.

With your phone system integrating with your CRM, you do not need to do repetitive data entry and your staff can focus on delivering the best possible service without worrying about inputting data numerous times.

When a customer calls this can automatically update on your CRM system, and staff can save detailed notes on what the customer called about and whether it needs any follow up.

With your hosted phone system and CRM system sharing data in this way, you can gain some fantastic insights which you might not have experienced before.

With data on previous purchases, customer contact preferences, and more, you can create highly targeted marketing campaigns to suit specific customer types – and can learn a lot more about your customer’s behaviour.

All with the minimum of effort to you or your staff.

All of these features can be accessed remotely, so wherever you are you can connect to your online portal and get valuable insights into how your communications are working.

These insights can open up new opportunities to advertise and to increase customer experience, so what are you waiting for?

If you’d like to find out more about call monitoring features and gaining brand new insights into your customer base, then call us on 1888-859-0450 for more information.

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3 Common Risks Of On-Premise Telephony And How VoIP Overcomes Them

Acefone Editor

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Voice - VoIP

July 2, 2020

6 mins read eye

Table of content

On-premise telephony has been around for years and is common in many businesses. With this type of phone system, there are risks if something were to go wrong.

On premise phone system are vulnerable to break downs and unfortunately are costly to fix should something happen to them – so, keeping this phone system may cost your business more in the long run.

Is it time to invest in a new, VoIP system? We have set out 3 common risks of traditional, on-premise systems so you can compare this to a VoIP system and see how VoIP can keep you protected from these risks.

A Traditional Phone System Could Break Down Without Maintenance

On-premise telephony comes with high costs attached to keeping it running. Your on-premise telephony will need maintenance regularly, which always comes at a price.

Installing your telephone system in the first place is very complicated and often comes with very high costs.

As on-premise telephony is often so complicated and comes with a range of hardware, wiring, and infrastructure, it is more expensive to run and keep running.

If one piece of equipment fails, then you will need to pay out for replacement parts which may not be as readily available as they once were, meaning long waits and more expensive to rectify a simple fix.

On-premise telephony also requires long commitments to maintenance packages, meaning there is very little flexibility if you wanted to change something within your phone system.

As maintenance contracts are so long, of course, they will cut into your business’ profits and you may not be getting the best service from your restrictive phone system.

Additionally, on-premise telephony requires an on-site IT team to make changes to it and work cannot be done remotely.

How Can VoIP Help?

With VoIP telephony, very little maintenance is needed and installation is simple. VoIP is simply “Plugin and Play” meaning installation costs are low and very uncomplicated.

You can have complete control of your phone system using an easy to use online portal and can make changes as you wish without having to pay astronomical fees.

An IT team is not needed on-site, as the phone system is so simple to use anyone can add and remove lines, add features, and manage staff from the online portal.

As VoIP works over your internet connection, it does not need a lot of hardware to work correctly. It simply needs a compatible phone, laptop, tablet, or mobile, and staff are connected!

As your VoIP phone system is hosted elsewhere too, you can simply connect your devices and get to work immediately without any need to spend your hard-earned profits on installation and maintenance.

Traditional Phone Systems Are Difficult To Fix

As on-premise telephone systems are complicated and have hardware on-site, if something goes wrong you will need to call someone out from your telephone company to fix it.

Often just the call outs are expensive before they have even seen the issue.

Fixes to traditional phone systems are not easy as there are so many complicated parts to it, so you could experience a high amount of downtime when customers cannot get in touch with your business while it is being repaired.

Meaning, you could lose business while the engineer is working on your phone system.

If you have a small IT team, as your phone system grows it may become unmanageable for them and so they will not be able to fix something should it go wrong.

As they will need to work with the engineer to figure out what has gone wrong, you will be paying for their time as well as the engineer and so costs can add up when something goes wrong with a traditional phone system and there is no way around it but to spend money to solve the issue so you can resume business.

Finally, if something goes wrong with your traditional phone system there is a risk of valuable data being lost and unable to be recovered.

This loss could also cost your business as customer records could be gone and therefore you will have to spend time rebuilding your database instead of finding new customers.

Why Is VoIP Different?

VoIP is different, as not only does it come with 99.95% uptime, it is robust enough to handle a high volume of calls with no issue.

Should something happen though, as your phone system is hosted in the cloud, it is easy to restore it with a few clicks.

If your phones do not work for whatever reason, staff can simply switch seamlessly to another device – even mid-call!

Whatever issue arises, maintenance costs are lower with a VoIP system due to its less complicated nature, so you will be able to get back to business immediately using your internet connection while your problem is rectified with your provider.

Your data is also hosted in multiple locations so if something happens to your phone system you can be sure that your data is safe and protected and can easily be backed up and restored so you will not lose anything important if something goes wrong.

Disasters Destroying Hardware And Infrastructure

Should disaster strike your physical premises, your on-premise phone system could be completely destroyed and there will be no way of saving it.

If it is damaged beyond repair, you could end up needing to pay again to get a whole new system fitted and if your whole office is destroyed then your business will grind to a halt as you will not be able to contact customers.

Even if your phone system is not completely destroyed, you could be landed with a high repair bill should anything happen to your telephone system or your office premises.

How Can VoIP Help

If disaster does strike your physical premises, you can continue business as usual as staff can work remotely with no issues.

Your phone system is hosted remotely in the cloud so we can simply restore your phone system and you and your staff can connect from another compatible device.

This means that you can focus on getting your office premises repaired while staff can work from home, or anywhere else they have an internet connection.

Customers will be unaffected, and you can continue delivering excellent customer service even through a disaster. Staff are able to access all the information and data they need about your customers as everything is securely stored in the online portal – so all is not lost, even if your physical premises is not usable.

So, if you’d like to find out more about how VoIP can help you avoid the risks of on-premise cloud telephony solutions, call our expert team for advice on 1888-859-0450.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

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