Your Guide To Choose A Provider of Multiple Virtual Phone Numbers

For the uninitiated, a virtual phone number is a number not linked to any physical telephone network but is a unique identifier for a cloud telephony provider to offer call management capabilities to any business. The provider uses this number to route calls to and from the actual network with the business, usually connecting incoming calls to the right departments and agents based on preset IVR flows.

A virtual number comes with a ton of benefits to grow your business compared to a regular telephone number, including allowing concurrent calls through multiple telephony channels, the ability to customise calls flows, integrating the system with a CRM, Helpdesk and more. It can even generate call-related analytics to improve customer engagement levels at your business.

However, major cloud communication providers selling multiple virtual numbers offer features that are broadly similar to each other. While you should shortlist those based on the exact feature set you need to solve your communication challenges, consider the below factors as key points of differentiation before you zero in on a provider.

• Handle surges in call volume: You would need a scalable platform to cater to a sudden surge in call volume during a seasonal spike in business interest or when you run a promotional campaign. This means that your cloud communication provider’s platform must be able to maintain peak service uptime while they add or allot channels in real-time so you can engage all potential leads and sell in their “moments of truth”. Find a reliable partner which operate smoothly even at peak capacity and which doesn’t have x that it can allot to you.
• Enterprise-trusted Reliability: Look up independent software review platforms, from Capterra to SoftwareSuggest to find how reliable the platform is. Specifically, if it is prone to downtime when a server or a node malfunctions. That could mean your agents being locked out of having conversations with your own customers because of poor quality of stress-tests undertaken, poor backend testing and more causing disruptions in your customer communication efforts.
• Adaptable to your business stack: The platform must sing to your tunes, and not the other way around. Given the diverse nature of how every business like yours is set up to serve your customers well, the system must be able to integrate with your customer-facing systems for two-fold benefits: create a single source of truth by transferring call-related data, and improve agent outcomes through capabilities such as using the virtual number service from their CRM, Helpdesk or Servicedesk apps.
• A platform to match all your growth goals: Signing up with just a cloud telephony provider is aiming too low. While you will get everything you asked for from using multiple virtual phone numbers, you will soon realise that the platform cannot match the evolving requirements of your growing business. Look for a platform that is able to offer both traditional and modern communication channels as a single bouquet of offerings (usually through a communication framework), and can drive up customer engagement levels to drive new or recurring business.
• Keeping pricing transparent: There are chances of signing up on a certain platform for a basic fee. But as time progresses, you might discover additional charges for any feature enhancement or addition in server capacity. Look for vendors that share the tentative service cost upfront over the time you use their platform. Bottom line: Don’t get hit with hidden costs.

Exotel, Asia’s largest cloud communication platform offers all of these on any default plan listed on our site. But to prove how what we offer works on the ground, look at Sulekha and Ola and why they are strong advocates of our services.

P.S: To get you started easily enabling a remote or hybrid work model for sales and support teams, check this quick guide.