Until now, the classic analog and ISDN telephone networks had explicit local and institutional constraints. That is, if you want to use any of the country codes for your phone number, it must be a connection in that country name. Local network numbers worked on the same principle. Anyone who would like to have their company represented in different cities would need telephone systems on-site. Expensive and complicated international calls should be mentioned.
A virtual phone number removes these restrictions, which gives your company several advantages. We will explain to you how Internet telephony can help you demonstrate your presence in the regions and abroad and even save on costs.
What is a virtual phone number, and how does it work?
A virtual phone number can also be called an online phone number because it works over the Internet.
This means you don’t need a telephone jack and endless meters of cable to be accessible. Instead, your communication takes place over Voice over IP (VoIP). With this Internet telephony, voice signals are converted into digital data packets and sent over an IP network. Both telephone numbers and call content are increasingly moving from the traditional telephone network to the Internet.
The virtual phone number is stored on a server where it is assigned an IP address. You can call it at any time, no matter where you are during incoming and outgoing calls.
If you want to use virtual phone numbers, a stable Internet connection and a suitable VoIP provider are sufficient. With a normal setup, you can make and receive calls using your VoIP phone or, in the case of a cloud-based VoIP solution, from your smartphone or laptop.
This not only saves infrastructure costs as there are no control panels, telephone exchanges, and unnecessary equipment. Internet telephony also offers innovative features, such as integration with CRM and support systems. So it’s no surprise that even major telephony operators are focusing on All-IP and want to shut down their ISDN network by 2022 completely. All-IP eliminates the separation between analog and digital communication technologies and integrates telephony, mobile communication, television, fax, and Internet transmission in an IP network.
What types of virtual phone numbers are there?
There are different types of phone numbers in the classic telephone network, so online phone numbers can also be of any kind and can serve different purposes.
There may be a regular telephone number system. This means that local codes, country codes, and special codes are structured similarly to traditional telephony for virtual telephone numbers. According to your connection number, the client cannot tell that your company is calling via the Internet and not through an analog.
However, when choosing a VoIP provider, you should pay attention to the types of virtual phone numbers they offer; the cloud phone system has the following possibilities:
Stationary telephone Numbers
It is enough to add any area code for your phone numbers, providing the appropriate documentation. Thus, it is possible to have a regional presence without actually having a local branch.
International Numbers
Do you want your company to have an office in Los Angeles, but employees in other countries want to answer these calls? You can book local numbers in over 100 countries around the world. It works very easily and applies to both incoming and outgoing calls. Due to the different tariffs, there are no high costs for international calls.
Toll-Free Numbers
Do you want to offer your customers the ability to call you free of charge? VoIP providers make it easy to create toll-free numbers like 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877, and 888.
Special Numbers
You can set up individual service numbers and special numbers such as named numbers. In these numbers, individual numbers are assigned letters to select words to form a word and are easier to remember. The number key “2” on the phone replaces the letters “A, B, C,” and the alphabet continues in the same way until the number key “9”.
In addition, virtual phone numbers can be individually tailored to your needs. For example, you can take your existing phone number with you to use it to make online calls in the future. You can also set up a Voice Response (IVR) for your VoIP connection to direct customers directly to the correct company contact.
Benefits of a virtual phone number
You may find it helpful to equip your company with VoIP numbers for various reasons:
- Regional and Global Presence – With low-cost national and international numbers, your employees can call both locally and internationally without having to be there.
- Building trust – Customers are often reluctant to accept calls with an unknown or international area code or dial the number themselves. Improve the efficiency of your phone contacts by being reachable to your customers via a local number.
- High flexibility – you can adapt your telephone to the needs of your company at any time. Employee connections can be registered and unregistered in seconds. If you change the company’s headquarters, you can continue to use your virtual phone numbers in the new location without interruption.
- Cost-effective setup – thanks to cloud-based VoIP technology, you can conveniently use your online phone number on your laptop or smartphone. This saves you unnecessary hardware and annoying cables.
- More security in turbulent times – In challenging environments such as the corona pandemic, virtual phone numbers can keep business dynamic. Employees are location-independent, so they can also call clients from their home office as usual.
- Improving the productivity of remote teams – When employees are located in different offices and tasks are moved to a virtual room, the right technical solutions are required for smooth communication. VoIP phone numbers not only ensure that your remote commands are always available but can also be associated with valuable features and integrations. This includes, for example, integration with call center software and CRM and help desk systems.
- Cost Savings – Compared to traditional telephony, the VoIP telephone system is cheaper in service and terms of tariffs.
How to get virtual phone numbers
If you want to take advantage of virtual phone numbers in your company, this can be done in just a few minutes.
To switch to IP telephony, you need a stable Internet connection and a VoIP provider to offer a suitable offer for your needs. In the case of a cloud-based VoIP phone system, the actual setup takes only a few minutes.
Sequencing:
- Installing software on all required phones or computers and registering a company for the required tariff.
- Your company account will be created. This means that you manage your employees’ user accounts, set up the desired virtual phone numbers, and define the access data.
- If necessary, you can also indicate whether you want to use existing phone numbers, which can be accomplished by porting phone numbers.
- Now you can define how incoming and outgoing calls should be forwarded. You can also enable mailboxes and voice menus and set queues and opening hours.
- Optionally, you can link your online phone numbers to the most important tools like customer support, CRM, and other customer service programs.
Thanks to its user-friendly design, you and your employees can easily implement this process without the need to spend unnecessary time and resources on training. If you have any questions, the providers’ specialists are available to contact persons during registration and after installing the software.
If you want to try out the many possibilities of integrating the virtual number system in your company, now you can test the convenience and quality for free; many providers provide a certain time for a test drive!
