Although ‘Cloud communications’ wasn’t a buzzword a decade ago, almost every business leader, big or small, has acknowledged its potential in today’s digitally-disruptive ecosystem.
After a tectonic shift from a cloud-assisted to a cloud-dependent dominion, I can barely think of any business where I don’t have access to their communication channels. Chatbots, text messaging, WhatsApp business, cloud fax services - you name it, they have it.
However, a new-age business phone system still predominates to empower customer service and sales teams.
Travel agencies, restaurants, health centers, education hubs, or even retail shops would still depend on a centralized telephonic system to attend customer calls. I mean which brand would want to miss out on attending customer calls and subvert their business performance?
According to future market insights, Cloud telephony is poised to experience phenomenal growth during 2021-2031
A latest study on the global cloud telephony service market indicates, it is expected to expand at a CAGR of 13.28 by 2027.
The best part of a cloud-based business phone system? You can simply integrate it into your existing business calling system with no additional hardware or software procurements. No pesky wires or servers to add on to your infrastructural purchases. All you need is your laptop or any mobile device where you can set-up up your business communication framework using APIs.
Let’s uncover how small businesses to big corporates have turbocharged their existing business communication setup with cloud telephony.
Simplify high-volume call management
Let me start with an example here. Lenskart is one of the leading Indian eyewear brands that has created resounding ripples in both the e-commerce and retail market. With a helpline number spread across all channels, it was almost impossible for them to monitor business call operations of 500+ retail stores. Any traditional phone system would never match up to their increasing call volume and they were looking for a high-level automation solution to relieve manual call handling by their sales and support teams.
With cloud telephony, customized specifically to power up their multistore set-up, all incoming calls can be routed to the concerned store specialists for all their retail stores spread across the country. A centralized phone number can easily manage all the customer calls based on their ‘multistore’ and ‘Pincode’ requirements. This means, when a client calls on their unique toll-free number, the IVR plays a personalized audio greeting prompting the caller to enter their pin code on the keypad. Based on this they are easily routed to their nearest retail store. Could it get any more convenient?
And the results? They achieved 10X+ efficiency in their customer support operations.
Isn’t this a win-win for both the customers and your teams?
2. Drive down costs and resources
This is one of the major concerns of any business, especially for SMEs and startups. Do you know cloud telephony can cut down initial costs for flourishing businesses by up to 90%?
That might be a reason why more and more micro-level businesses such as coaching centers, local tours, and travel agencies, doctors, and now even solopreneurs are counting on cloud phone systems. Not only to track all their incoming and outgoing business calls but also to avoid any loss of data. You also have the flexibility to add or remove extensions at your disposal to keep your call costs in check.
No wonder, 31 percent of the SMEs are anticipated to spend more time collaborating with cloud telephone systems to rev up their business.
3. Meet your branding and marketing goals
With cloud telephony, you have access to a plethora of features such as toll-free numbers, virtual receptionists, cloud call centers, and so much more.
This gives you the ability to create a personalized experience for your customers and give the brand a much-needed boost.
How? A toll-free or freephone number plays well with the psyche of your target audience and they are more likely to believe that your brand is much bigger than it actually is. This is important to create a bedrock of trust making it more likely for your customers to call you back any time of the day. Even if you are not available to take your calls, your virtual receptionist will make sure no calls are left unanswered.
That’s how small tourism brands like Travel Triangle experienced a whopping 62% increase in their incoming calls with a single toll-free number.
The more you advertise your brand number, the higher are the chances to gain more customers with time.
4. Amazing call recording capacity
Let’s admit, in order to create a leak-proof business communication strategy, you need to understand the call quality, monitor the patterns regularly, and then come up with a plan of improving it, based on your findings.
This is a hard nut to crack if you’re still dependent on a traditional system. A centralized business phone solution ensures you have all the call conversations in one place which you can monitor even on your phone, on the go. Whether you have a lean team or a multi-disciplined one, vetting your customer or sales call quality will always help you redo or undo your communication strategy per your preferences.
This is how personal care brands like Lotus could improve their customer call handling process by 54%.
5. App/CRM integrations made easy
Can you ever think of integrating your favorite CRMs and productivity apps into a traditional business phone system?
Modern telephonic solutions have made it easier than ever to upgrade your business system to meet all kinds of customer touchpoints.
Disconnected conversations can be a deal-breaker for a lot of customers and you might not want to take that risk.
Since more and more businesses are moving up the scales by following the best practices, you should consider positioning cloud communications at the core of your mission statement, for the sake of your team and of course, customers.
(Ankit Jain is CEO and CO-Founder, MyOperator)
