VoIP systems connect callers using the internet rather than traditional phone lines.
Hosted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a digital service that sends voice calls over the internet rather than through traditional phone lines. Because it’s virtual, hosted VoIP calling can be enhanced by a number of digital features simply not possible with traditional phone services. In this post, we’ll walk through a few of these capabilities, noting not only how they work on the individual level, but also how they could change the way your entire company does business.
Twinning
How much time do your employees spend playing telephone tag with clients or potential leads? How many important phone calls have you missed simply because you weren’t at your desk? Twinning technology lets users receive calls on multiple phone numbers from any location.
Twinning can automatically route missed calls to your cell phone or any other device.”
Here’s how it works: if a client calls your desk phone, twinning can automatically route the call to your cell phone, tablet, or any other voice capable device you assign. If you’re unable to pick up, the call will be answered by your hosted voicemail platform. These devices can even be programmed to change based a user’s schedule – or to ring sequentially or several numbers at once.
The benefit of this technology is twofold. On one hand, it frees employees from their desk since they know important calls will simply push to the best device. Similarly, it makes it easy to forward calls to a co-worker who can help when someone is out of the office. On the other side of the phone, callers will be more likely to reach the representative they’re calling, improving their customer service experience.
To further the customer experience afforded by twinning, users can typically transfer the call to other stakeholders just as if they were at their desk.
Presence & Chat
Many hosted voice systems offer a desktop call management application which offers time saving efficiency for users by speeding up the time to manage and process calls. The presence functionality allows you to see whether a coworker is on a call or in a meeting prior to reaching out and instant messaging allows a seamless environment to write “Want to chat?” and then click to call when they respond with an affirmative.
These systems also offer screen based 1-click dialing of extensions, frequently used numbers and call transfers with simple mouse clicks to transfer calls between desk phone and mobile phones or to other co-workers. While each call may only save only 30 seconds of processing time, over an entire year labor productivity increases can be substantial.
Screenpop / CRM Integration
Another feature increases efficiency as well as customer service by offering integration with CRM software solutions. This provides both click-to-call from a web browser session, as well as Screen Pop functionality on incoming calls.
How does that work? When a member or a customer calls, the system queries your customer database, locates a match, and populates that data on the agent’s screen with the inbound call. The result is a powerful, more personalized experience in which the customer’s needs are addressed quickly and custom offers can be proactively offered.
Voice to Email
Today’s businesses are challenged with doing more with less – especially when it comes to their most precious resource: time. Most professionals are too busy during the workday to check their voicemail. Plus, if they’re away from their desk when the call comes in, what good is it that callers have to leave a message that simply sits at that same phone?
You may be accustomed to getting your voicemails as an attachment, but many hosted VoIP services offer voice-to-email services, meaning they automatically transcribe voicemails and send them to their intended recipient. That way, employees can view messages immediately, from wherever they have an internet connection. Plus, digitizing voicemails allows users to quickly sort and search through them, cutting out wasted time spent listening to message after message just to find the caller’s phone number.
The outcome of voice to email services is threefold: it increases workforce agility, provides responsiveness to your customers, and improves communication within your organization.
International Availability
Perhaps the single most appealing feature for companies that regularly send their employees trotting across the globe is VoIP’s international calling capabilities. Because VoIP systems don’t rely on standard cellular networks, your employees will be able to log in from wherever they have an internet connection. As if that wasn’t good enough, these services are often far less expensive than paying for an international cell phone plan. Simply put, VoIP systems are essential for companies that don’t put boundaries on where they do business.
For help choosing the VoIP system that’s right for your business, trust the corporate technology consultants at ARG.
