Most of the small to medium scale businesses in manufacturing, logistics, transportation and other industries have realised that stagnancy in the constantly evolving business climate is dangerous for their sustenance. Due to this, a rising number of Indian companies have started focusing on technical advancements and innovation through the adoption of Cloud, Internet of things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics.
One such technological advancement that has witnessed an increase in the adoption is cloud telephony. With an increasing number of customer calls, businesses felt the need to automate their customer service processes. The emergence of cloud telephony system ended this search as it allowed the business to automate their communication processes, starting from receiving calls to analysing calling data.
Cloud-hosted Communication
Simply put, cloud telephony system hosts a company’s communication system on the cloud, which was previously situated inside the company’s premises. With hosted telephony, the organisation can connect to the customers using an online portal. This portal facilitates all the communication processes- dialling, receiving, routing and monitoring – on few clicks.
Businesses do not need any equipment or additional space to get started with the cloud telephony system. It offers a range of automated services that a business can use to maximise its communication effectiveness.
- Virtual number- It is a unique phone number that does not connect with a physical telephone line. Instead, it transfers all the arriving calls to a separate phone number that is mapped against the virtual number.
- Toll-free number- A phone number on which customers can call without paying any call charges.
- Interactive Voice Response – An automated virtual receptionist that answers the customer’s call and guides them further in the process for quick query resolution.
- Bulk SMS – It is a messaging system that sends text messages to many recipients at once.
- Number Masking – It is a technique used to protect the caller’s identity. It assigns a temporary virtual number against the caller’s original number to safeguard caller’s identity.
Drawbacks of Traditional Phone System
Still today, many businesses in India rely on traditional telephone system for customer interaction. And among all the drawbacks, system failure is one nightmare that business dread to face in reality. It not only affects the customer’s trust but does irreparable damage to the brand image. Following are some of the other serious issues that traditional phone system may cause:
Network Issues
Indians regularly experience network problems due to adverse weather conditions and poor maintenance of the telephony system. And repairing the damaged lines take weeks or months, which takes a toll on customer service and results in loss of customers and revenue.
Security
In traditional systems, one can easily hack the data if appropriate security mechanisms are not in place. Once the system is hacked, the security of your system gets breached, and data becomes vulnerable. Hacking may also cause interruption of service, data theft and lead to system failures.
Disaster Recovery
In case of natural calamities and disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, landslides and more, the whole telephony setup is damaged and halted resulting in massive data loss. Regaining normalcy in such situations can take months.
Hardware Failure
Last but not least, if the system is outdated and old, system hardware can stop working unexpectedly without any alert. Such failures can put a stop on the smooth running of the business for an unexpected time.
How Cloud Gives Your Communication System an Edge
Following are the benefits of cloud telephony that helps every small, medium and big enterprise.
Call Recording and Data Storing
Cloud telephony system can record all customer calls with its call recording feature, keep track of the missed and on-hold calls, analyse the call duration and number of calls and store the data of customers in the cloud which can be accessed anywhere almost instantly.
Cost-effective
Cloud telephony is extremely cost-effective as you don’t need a physical space or infrastructure to set up the system. Also, neither do you need to worry about landlines, routers, nor installation costs as cloud telephony liberates you from these overhead costs.
Scalability
A small business can confidently expand its hold and scale up its business without any hindrance. In layman terms, any business can tackle an increase in the customer calls over a click or phone call. Users simply need to ask the service provider to scale the calling channels whenever required.
Ease of Access
With the growing trend of work flexibility, the employees can access the stored data almost instantaneously from the comforts of their home or a remote place. They have control and access to the stored information to work hassle-free from anywhere without compromising their productivity.
Data Restoration
Businesses need not have to worry anymore about the loss of data as cloud telephony services automatically back up and restore the data when required. Business can rely on these services, unlike traditional phone systems, wherein there is a higher possibility of system failures.
Enhanced Customer Experience
With IVR and cloud-hosted phone number, customers have a positive experience while contacting customer support. Since the customers can access the services round the clock, they find it convenient to contact the customer service at any time from anywhere. IVR makes sure that the customer gets a personalised experience without compromising quality or productivity.
Security
Cloud-based telephony system provides an increased level of data security when compared to the traditional systems. Cloud providers have a dedicated security team deployed to ensure data safety.
If you’re looking for a reliable service provider, do check Servetel Communications and their personalised offerings. Contact us at 1800-120-4132.
