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Phone Number Testing: What it is, Why it Matters, and How to Do it Right

Business phone numbers are a crucial part of any business’s communication strategy, whether for customer support, sales, or global operational coordination. However, a number that isn’t reachable, has poor call quality, or fails to connect from certain locations or networks can create missed opportunities and frustrated customers.

That’s why phone number testing is essential. It helps businesses verify connectivity, detect carrier issues, and maintain seamless communication, so every customer call gets through as intended.

In this guide, we’ll break down what phone number testing is, why it’s important, and how to test phone numbers effectively.

Key Takeaways:

  • Toll-free numbers are not often accessible internationally—businesses must test locally for reachability.
  • Missed calls = lost revenue—ensure all numbers work across different carriers and regions.
  • Work with your telecom provider to test and diagnose potential connectivity problems.
  • Testing can be ongoing, not just when issues arise.
  • Use a mix of one-off and scheduled testing to verify number performance.

What is Phone Number Testing?

Phone number testing is the process of verifying the reachability, call quality, and performance of a phone number across different networks and regions.

Businesses often use local, toll-free, and international numbers to connect with customers worldwide. However, not all numbers are accessible from outside their associated country, making it difficult to test from abroad.

For example, a Germany toll-free number cannot be dialed from outside the country. Other countries’ toll-free numbers may only be reachable from specific carriers.

By testing phone numbers, businesses can:

  • Confirm that inbound calls connect properly.
  • Detect potential call failures or unexpected routing issues.
  • Evaluate call quality, high latency, and audio clarity.

Why Should Businesses Test Their Phone Numbers?

Your phone number is often the first touchpoint customers have with your business. If they can’t reach you, they may move on to a competitor or assume your company is unresponsive.

Here are some key reasons why businesses should regularly test their phone numbers:

1. Ensure Toll-Free and International Number Accessibility

Most toll-free numbers are not accessible from outside their designated country. If a business wants to test its international toll-free numbers (ITFNs) from abroad, it must:

  • Work with a telecom provider that can verify international reachability.
  • Use a local partner in our network or an in-country tester to confirm connectivity.

2. Prevent Revenue Loss and Improve Customer Experience

A malfunctioning phone number can result in lost sales opportunities and frustrated customers. Businesses invest in marketing and customer service—but if customers can’t reach you, those investments are wasted.

3. Identify Call Routing Issues Before Customers Notice

Numbers may sometimes route calls incorrectly due to carrier issues. Testing ensures that:

  • Calls reach the intended destination.
  • IVR systems function correctly, and DTMF tones are detected.
  • The audio quality is clear and free of delays.

4. Monitor Call Quality and Network Performance

Even if a number connects, the call quality may be poor due to:

  • High latency (delays in call transmission).
  • Distorted audio or dropped VoIP calls.
  • Inconsistent call routing between carriers.

Regular testing allows businesses to track network performance and address quality concerns proactively.

Related: How to Achieve the Best VoIP Call Quality for Your Business?

How to businesses test toll-free numbers

How Do Businesses Test Their Phone Numbers?

So, what are your options for phone number testing?

1. One-on-One Testing via a Telecom Provider

Many businesses test phone numbers reactively—they reach out to their provider when they notice an issue.

At United World Telecom, we often test numbers for customers using local in-country partners who manually test numbers from different networks. Other times, we use a third-party testing tool to verify call connectivity.

Testing this way is useful for businesses that:

  • Need to troubleshoot a specific phone number.
  • Want to test one ITFN at a time.
  • Experience intermittent connectivity issues.

2. Scheduled Testing for Multiple Numbers

For businesses with multiple international phone numbers, one-off testing is not enough. A better approach is to schedule recurring tests for:

  • All toll-free and international numbers used for customer support.
  • High-priority business lines (e.g., VIP customer support or sales hotlines).

For example, we can set up recurring testing of a batch of numbers every 3 months to detect issues. Then, document failures and call quality reports for future reference.

3. Using a Third-Party Testing Tool

For large enterprises, automated testing tools like Klearcom provide:

  • Automated dial-out testing from in-country networks.
  • Performance metrics (audio quality, post-dial delay, IVR functionality).
  • Network reachability verification to check if numbers are accessible across different carriers.

While automated tools can be valuable, many businesses still rely on international virtual number providers like United World Telecom and in-country testers for additional verification.

Best Practices for Phone Number Testing

To maintain reliable phone connectivity, businesses should follow these best practices:

Test from multiple carriers & networks: Ensure calls work across mobile, landline, and VoIP networks.

Monitor call quality and connection delays: Track audio clarity, post-dial delay, and voice latency.

Establish a testing schedule: Test mission-critical numbers every 3–6 months.

Document test results: Keep records to identify patterns in network failures.

Work with your telecom provider for faster resolution: If an issue arises, provide test data to help diagnose problems.

Proactive Testing for Reliable Business Communication

Phone number testing is not just a troubleshooting step—it’s a proactive strategy to maintain uninterrupted communication, improve customer satisfaction, and prevent lost revenue.

By regularly testing toll-free, local, and international business numbers, you can ensure:

  • Seamless call connectivity for customers worldwide.
  • High-quality audio and low latency across all networks.
  • Quick resolution of carrier-related issues before they impact operations.

Want to learn more about keeping your business phone numbers reliable? Contact United World Telecom for insights and guidance!

How to Integrate Call Transcripts With Your CRM

When working in a data-driven business environment, integrating call transcripts with your CRM can significantly improve customer interactions, sales strategies, and support efficiency. Whether your business uses Zoho, Salesforce, HubSpot, or other CRM platforms, having AI-generated call transcripts automatically logged in your system ensures better documentation, streamlined workflows, and actionable insights.

Accessing Call Insights within CRMs

With AI-powered call transcripts, your team can review customer interactions at a glance and follow up with confidence. Integrating them within your CRM ensures every important customer conversation is instantly documented—no more guesswork, no more manual note-taking.

Why does this matter? Because having full visibility into call history and customer interactions helps your business make data-backed decisions faster and more effectively. Whether it’s personalizing outreach, identifying customer pain points, or refining sales strategies, integrated call transcripts bring clarity and efficiency to every customer interaction.

Why Integrate Call Transcripts with Your CRM?

Logging, recording, and transcribing business calls manually can be time-consuming and prone to errors. When AI-powered call transcripts are integrated into your CRM, businesses can:

  • Improve Customer Relationship Management – Access detailed transcripts for context on past conversations, reducing the need for customers to repeat themselves.
  • Enhance Sales Follow-Ups – Quickly review transcripts to understand customer needs and tailor follow-up strategies accordingly.
  • Boost Support Team Efficiency – Help agents resolve customer issues faster by reviewing past call logs and transcripts in one centralized location.
  • Ensure Compliance and Record-Keeping – Store call records securely within the CRM to meet industry regulations and maintain quality assurance.
  • Enable AI-Driven Insights – Leverage other AI features like sentiment analysis and keyword search to identify trends and optimize business operations.

Ways to Integrate Call Transcripts with Your CRM

There are a few different ways businesses can access call transcripts within their CRM. Below is a general overview of how this can be done, however, the process will be different for different CRM and phone service providers.

What you’ll need to get started:

  1. A business phone service: Typically, you will need a cloud phone service provider that offers advanced call analytics and features including transcription and integrations.
  2. CRM subscription: You will need a CRM account that can be easily connected to your phone service. Otherwise, look for the ability to easily upload / import transcripts into the CRM.

Let’s look at how you can integrate call transcripts into your CRM:

1. Manual Upload & Entry

Businesses without direct integration capabilities can still benefit from manual transcript uploads.

This involves downloading AI-generated call transcripts from your telephony provider’s dashboard. If your provider does not have transcription abilities, you will need a transcription device or app to transcribe calls.

Then, depending on your CRM’s capabilities, you can easily copy and paste transcripts into the CRM under the respective customer profile or sales ticket or attach the transcript file (PDF, TXT, or CSV format) to the CRM record for future reference. Alternatively, you could set up an email forwarding rule to automatically send transcripts to your CRM.

This method of integrating transcripts into your CRM is manual and slightly time-consuming. Yet, it ensures important conversation details are recorded within your system.

2. Telephony CRM Integrations

For a more automated setup, consider telephony integrations. Many CRMs, such as Salesforce, Zoho, and HubSpot, allow businesses to bring their own telephony (i.e. integrate their phone service with the CRM platform).

Such CRM integrations allow users to automatically sync call records and details with the CRM. The best part about using a telephony CRM integration like this is that you can access advanced call features through your virtual phone service provider, including transcripts and recordings.

In this case, you will simply need to activate the integration and configure necessary settings. Once set up, you should automatically see call transcripts recorded within the associated customer profile post-call. Furthermore, you can access these customer and call records on both platforms, enabling easy access no matter which platform you are using.

Voip integrations in your CRM

How to Integrate Call Transcripts with Your CRM Using United World Telecom

United World Telecom offers a wide variety of call analytics and reporting tools to help you retain a comprehensive view of customer interactions.

With us, businesses can unlock key features like Call Recording, Call Summaries, Transcription and Translation, Search by Keyword, and Sentiment Analysis for all inbound and outbound calls. You can also easily view these insights in your UWT control panel.

To help businesses improve their operations, we have built our analytics tools to easily integrate these insights and call data with top CRMs. So, if you use our CRM integrations, you can view recordings, transcripts, translations, and call records directly in the CRM or our softphone app.

This way, your teams have quick access to key customer information and data without having to jump between different applications.

Here’s the step-by-step to adding transcripts within your CRM with our service:

Step 1: Get a Business Phone Number

Start by signing up for a cloud phone number for your business on our Pricing page. We offer international, local, and toll-free numbers from over 160 countries globally and can provision your numbers within 1-2 weeks. You can also port your existing business number to our service.

Step 2: Enable AI Call Insights & Activate CRM Integrations

Once your account is activated, you can turn on AI Call Insights in the control panel. Our AI Insights feature gives you access to call summaries, call transcripts, and sentiment analysis.

Then, navigate to our Integrations tab, find your preferred CRM integration, and activate it.

Step 3: Make & Receive Calls

When you install our softphone integration with your CRM, you can:

  • Use our softphone to make and receive calls
  • Automatically sync contacts and call records
  • Access voicemail, transcripts, recordings, and more
  • Log calls and make notes, and more.

Step 4: View Transcripts in Your CRM

As you enjoy inbound and outbound call traffic, you will notice that call logs and records are automatically updated in your CRM. You will be able to view transcripts, recordings, and translations wherever your contacts and call records are being stored in the respective CRM.

crm integration

Transform Customer Conversations into Actionable CRM Data

Integrating call transcripts with your CRM is an essential step toward automating workflows, improving customer experience, and enhancing sales and support processes. With United World Telecom AI Call Insights and CRM Integrations, businesses can seamlessly capture, analyze, and integrate voice interactions—turning every call into valuable insights.

Ready to connect advanced call analytics to your CRM? Contact us today to get started!

Navigating Saudi Arabia’s RHQ Program: Solutions for Growth and Compliance

Overshadowed by Saudi Vision 2030, a growing openness to tourism, and highly-publicized professional sporting leagues like LIV, Saudi’s Regional Headquarters (RHQ) program was more quietly introduced.

Yet, despite receiving far less attention, the RHQ program will play an equally critical role in accelerating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s shift towards a more diverse, digitally driven economy.

Effective January 1, 2024, this program requires multinational companies to establish regional headquarters in the Kingdom to remain eligible for government contracts.

This article examines the RHQ program, its impact on specific sectors, and strategies that foreign companies can adopt to continue growing their businesses in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Saudi Vision and the RHQ Program

For decades, the strength of Saudi Arabia’s economy has been heavily dependent on oil, which accounts for 84 percent of exports and 40 percent of GDP.

Large oil reserves have enabled the Kingdom to amass substantial wealth and finance ambitious infrastructure and development projects. However, this has also made the economy vulnerable to fluctuations in global oil prices.

Recognizing these challenges, Saudi Arabia launched Saudi Vision 2030.

Saudi Vision 2030

Launched in 2016, Vision 2030 is an ambitious framework aimed at diversifying Saudi Arabia’s economy and reducing its dependence on oil.

The plan outlines key areas for development, including tourism, technology, healthcare, renewable energy, and entertainment, intending to transform the Kingdom into a more sustainable and globally competitive economy.

Saudi Vision 2030 aims to position the country as an international business hub through foreign investment, innovation, and support for a digitally driven economy.

Regional Headquarters Program

As a cornerstone of Vision 2030, the Regional Headquarters Program was designed to encourage multinational companies to establish their regional headquarters within the Kingdom.

RHQ aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and the Kingdom’s ambitions to drive growth across various non-oil sectors. It offers specific incentives to companies that establish a regional headquarters in the Kingdom, but more importantly, it limits companies that do not.

How Multinational Companies Are Navigating RHQ

While in Saudi Arabia, I encountered companies whose mission was to help MNCs expand business into the Kingdom. One of these companies was Innovation-SA.

As a leading integrated solution and business support service provider in the Kingdom, Innovation-SA offers a full suite of services, from strategic consulting to market research, technology implementation, and operational optimization.

They provide end-to-end solutions to businesses across various sectors aiming to establish or expand their businesses in Saudi Arabia.

The IT Manager from this company introduced me to the RHQ program and detailed how his organization helps businesses navigate its mandates. For further information about Innovation-SA and its solutions, please contact Mr. Mohammed Zaki via email at zaki@innovation-sa.com.

Saudi Phone Numbers and Call Forwarding

One of the key challenges that businesses face when setting up their regional headquarters and expanding their operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is business support and customer communication.

Often, these businesses will have some presence in Saudi Arabia, but most of their customer-facing operations, like sales and support, are handled internationally.

These companies need Saudi phone numbers, but they don’t always have staff in Saudi Arabia who can answer their calls.

So, we help multinational companies expand to Saudi Arabia by providing phone numbers and call forwarding solutions to route incoming calls from their KSA phone numbers to sales and support centers overseas.

For example, a UK-based company can set up an in-country +966 customer support hotline but route the calls to their main office line or PBX in London. This enables the company to maintain a convenient phone presence in the Kingdom without decentralizing its customer-facing operations.

Phone Number Types

Businesses can choose between different Saudi phone number types depending on their unique needs:

  • Toll-free numbers: preferred by larger enterprises. 800 numbers can only be dialed from within Saudi Arabia.
  • Unified numbers: good for multinational companies that wish to project an established brand within the Kingdom. 9200 numbers can be dialed worldwide.

With years of experience doing business in the Middle East, our team of experts can help your company navigate telecom complexities in the region. If you’re unsure which phone number type will best suit your business, we can serve as a consultant to help you decide on the best option.

At-Risk Sectors Resulting from RHQ

Foreign companies benefit from having a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia. These benefits include specific tax incentives, streamlined administrative processes, and regulatory support tailored to foreign businesses.

But while the associated benefits can be a reason to establish an RHQ, specific sectors doing business with the government are at risk by not establishing a headquarters in the Kingdom:

The Saudi Arabia Regional Headquarters (RHQ) Program, effective from January 1, 2024, mandates that multinational companies (MNCs) establish their regional headquarters within the Kingdom to qualify for government contracts. This policy significantly impacts sectors that frequently engage in government procurement.

This policy significantly impacts some sectors more than others:

  • Construction and Infrastructure: ambitious futuristic projects like Neom will require significant construction and infrastructure work.
  • Defense and Aerospace: given the Kingdom’s investments in defense, companies in this sector are directly impacted by the RHQ requirement to secure government contracts.
  • Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals: Saudi Arabia is focused on improving healthcare services, which opens opportunities for MNCs in this sector, provided they meet specific requirements for government contracts.
  • Financial Services and Banking: As Saudi Arabia diversifies its economy, the financial sector plays a crucial role. Banks and financial institutions must comply with the RHQ mandate to engage in government-related financial projects.

Beyond the sectors most directly affected by the RHQ Program, several industries present lucrative opportunities for foreign companies, especially concerning government contracts:

  • Travel and Tourism: The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 includes developing tourism infrastructure, which creates opportunities for foreign companies in hospitality, entertainment, and related services.
  • Education and Skills Training: With a growing emphasis on education, there is a demand for international expertise in educational services and vocational training programs to help Saudi citizens prepare for “jobs of the future.”
  • Renewable Energy: Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in renewable energy projects, aiming to generate a significant portion of its energy from renewable sources. This sector offers substantial opportunities for foreign investment and partnerships.

Conclusion

As Saudi Vision 2030 seeks to diversify the economy, and the RHQ Program continues to drive MNCs to establish their presence in the Kingdom, business support services offered by third-party companies and international telecom solutions can help businesses comply and remain eligible for government contracts.

7 Ways to Use Local Caller IDs

If you are expanding your business into new regions or trying to differentiate your brand in a competitive industry, using a local outbound caller ID can help you increase call answer rates and connect with more prospects.

Using local, in-country caller IDs can greatly support your business efforts to reach potential clients, partners, stakeholders, etc., across the globe. They enable businesses to connect with locals as a local entity, bridging gaps and establishing a presence even before you make the first call.

Let’s look at:

  • Why your outgoing caller ID matters when making business calls and
  • How your business can use local caller IDs

Why Your Outgoing Caller ID Matters

What caller ID you display when reaching out to potential customers or making cold calls can significantly impact the outcome of those business calls. Consider this, about 80% of Americans do not take calls from unknown numbers. So, if your caller ID appears foreign, unfamiliar, or is marked “unknown,” it’s likely to be ignored or dismissed as spam.

Instead, if you use an in-country caller ID—even when calling from outside the country—you may see increased chances of these calls being answered. For example, when calling customers in London, use a 204 London local phone number. Or use a +34 Spain number when calling prospects in Spain. This way, recipients feel that the call is from a local caller.

Displaying these local numbers as your outgoing caller ID will help establish a local presence for your business. This is especially useful when making sales calls, because the goal is to create and maintain a trusting relationship with customers from the beginning to the end.

How Does the Local Caller ID Feature Work

Local Caller ID, offered by VoIP providers, lets businesses choose what outbound caller ID to display when placing outgoing calls. To be able to change your outgoing caller ID, you’ll need an outbound calling plan.

United World Telecom offers an outbound calling service and a Local 2-Way Voice service where customers can make and receive calls with a cloud phone number.

Here’s how it works: Before your agent makes an outgoing call, they go into the softphone settings and choose a local caller ID for the region they’re calling. Then, when they place the call, the person on the other end sees the local number instead of an unknown or foreign number.

United World Telecom customers can easily configure this in the control panel or through the Softphone right before making calls.

Local caller ID use case

7 Ways to Use Local Caller IDs for Business

Whether trying to break into new markets, make your business appear more approachable, or improve call answer rates, using a local caller ID offers plenty of advantages.

Let’s explore the different ways you can use this feature to help your business grow and connect with people more effectively:

Quick summary:

  1. Enter global markets and establish a local presence
  2. Improve answer and pickup rates
  3. Make it easy for customers to return calls
  4. Provide localized support
  5. Centralize distributed teams
  6. Conduct local market research
  7. Protect employee privacy

1. Enter Global Markets and Establish a Local Presence

Breaking into global markets isn’t just about having a great product—it’s also about communicating and building trust with local customers. Part of this comes from creating a reliable and trustworthy global phone system.

Local caller IDs are typically associated with local businesses. Customers in a given region will recognize these numbers as coming from within their country. This will encourage them to answer the call.

You can get Local 2-Way Voice numbers or add outbound calling lines from multiple countries at a time. This will let your agents connect with potential customers and prospects in these regions.

2. Increase International Sales by Improving Answer Rates

When expanding globally, your business doesn’t need to hire sales reps across different target regions to connect with local customers. Sales teams can optimize their global outbound and cold-calling efforts by using in-country caller IDs corresponding to the countries they’re calling.

Incoming calls with recognizable, local numbers have more chances of being answered, letting your sales reps get one foot in the door. This way, you can obtain global reach even with 1-2 regional sales teams, further expanding your international sales operations.

3. Make It Easy for Customers to Return Calls

Customers are far more likely to return a call to a local number since they know they will be charged a local rate, or call for free if it is a toll-free number. With a Local 2-Way Voice number, you give customers a convenient way to return your call by calling the same number. This way, they get to call your business for local rates, even if their calls are forwarded to an international destination where your teams are located.

This accessibility is crucial when agents are following up or providing customer support. Making it easy for customers and prospects to return your call goes a long way in improving customer engagement and brand image.

4. Provide Localized Support

While serving a global audience, localized support is vital. Calls from international numbers can often be mistaken for spam or robocalls, further affecting your outreach efforts. But calling internationally with a local number has a higher chance of calls being answered quickly.

Businesses can provide obstacle-free customer support by using local caller IDs when connecting with customers for follow-ups, resolving tickets, billing issues, etc. And with a Local 2-Way Voice number, these customers can call your business back conveniently, in case they miss your call. This way, you increase customer engagement for your support efforts.

5. Centralize Distributed Teams

Businesses with distributed teams and service centers can centralize communications under one unified phone system with virtual local numbers and outbound calling. These distributed teams can place outbound calls through their devices (smartphones, laptops, and computers) using softphone apps and easily display a specific caller ID overriding the existing one.

Even if employees are calling from their personal devices, a local caller ID ensures that all outgoing calls appear professional and credible, projecting a unified business image across different countries.

6. Conduct Local Market Research

Since local caller IDs can help increase your entry into global markets, you can use them to survey new markets, test products in new regions, gather customer feedback, conduct competitor research, and more.

Your outreach teams will have an easier time collecting valuable insights from their target audience for a clearer understanding of market trends and customer needs across different regions.

7. Protect Employee Privacy

By assigning local numbers for business calls, employees can keep their personal phone numbers private while maintaining a professional appearance. For instance, in telemedicine, where doctors and healthcare professionals often make calls to patients, using local caller IDs to mask their caller ID ensures that their personal numbers remain confidential.

Related: What is a Dynamic Caller ID for VoIP?

Connect with More Global Customers by Calling Locally

Local caller IDs offer a simple but effective way to strengthen your business connections. From establishing a local presence in multiple markets to providing a unified communication channel, businesses will see several benefits for global communication.

You can use our local caller ID feature with any of our outbound calling or Local 2-Way Voice plans. Want to see which solution is right for your business needs?

Reach out to our experts and find out how you can optimize your outbound calling strategies.

Pros and Cons of UIFN

For businesses with a global base, keeping communications unified could be challenging. For instance, maintaining separate phone lines for each business region might create communication silos.

Universal international freephone numbers (UIFN) can work as a central bridge connecting your business to multiple continents. With UIFN, businesses can tap into a vast pool of potential customers, increasing sales and revenue opportunities. And customers in participating countries can easily contact your business for support through a single, familiar number.

In this article, we’ll delve into UIFN pros and cons and how these numbers work.

Using UIFNs for Business: Pros and Cons

The phone number type you choose for your business is a gateway to customer connections. It can influence how customers reach you, operating costs, and more. So, when considering international operations and expansion, a question arises: Is a universal international freephone number right for your business?

To determine if a UIFN is suitable for your communication needs, consider the nature of your business, target regions, budget, and customer outreach goals. In this article, we’ll go over the important UIFN pros and cons:

UIFN pros and cons displayed on a chart

How Does UIFN Work?

UIFN offers a single, toll-free point of contact that can be dialed from multiple countries participating in the program. These toll-free numbers are assigned by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Customers living in participating nations must use a specific dialing format to call a UIFN number. The standardized format typically comprises a country’s exit code (e.g., 00, 011), followed by the UIFN number, which is 800 and an 8-digit global subscriber number (GSN).

For example, in the UK, you would dial 00800 xxxx xxxx, and in Australia, you would dial 011800 xxxx xxxx.

UIFN consultation

UIFN Benefits

You can do a myriad of things with UIFN international freephone numbers, from centralizing communication to improving customer accessibility. Let’s take a look at the pros of using UIFN for your global communication strategy:

1. Expansive Global Coverage

One of the biggest advantages of UIFN is its global reach. Businesses can serve customers across a broad international spectrum (about 60 countries) with a single phone number.

Luke Genoyer, Business Development Manager at United World Telecom, explains that UIFN is beneficial for companies wishing to have a single phone number that covers a whole region like Europe or APAC. For example, he adds, “It works particularly well as a toll free number for EU countries because the dial-out prefix is the same for most of those countries.” So if businesses want to expand to Europe, then a UIFN will allow you to offer a single customer service number across European markets.

Below is the extensive list of countries where UIFN is available:

Argentina Australia Austria Belgium
Brazil Bulgaria Canada China
Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cyprus
Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland
France French Guiana Germany Greece
Guadeloupe Hong Kong Hungary Iceland
Israel Italy Japan Korea South
Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macao
Macedonia Malaysia Malta Martinique
Mayotte Moldova Monaco Netherlands
New Zealand Norway Peru Philippines
Poland Portugal Reunion Romania
Saint Pierre & Miquelon Singapore Slovakia Slovenia
South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland
Taiwan Thailand United Kingdom Uruguay

For more global coverage and access, you may be benefit from our Toll Free FlexDial solution where you use a single phone number for global toll-free access. Chat with us to learn more or browse FlexDial prices.

2. Unified Number = Unified Contact

Juggling multiple phone numbers for different countries can be a nightmare for both you and your customers. Imagine the frustration of a customer in France trying to reach your US headquarters, only to find a confusing list of regional numbers. UIFN offers a single point of contact for several international locations. You can eliminate the complexity of managing multiple phone numbers.

3. Easy to Advertise and Market

A single toll-free number can aid your marketing and advertising efforts greatly. Businesses can do away with the complex web of regional phone listings and promote one number across global marketing campaigns. This consistency also reinforces brand recall, because customers have to remember one number on different marketing channels.

Several countries on the UIFN list share a dialing code. For instance, most European countries have the same dial-out code ‘00.’ This further simplifies branding and marketing efforts, as businesses can promote a single, memorable number without having to educate customers on different dialing procedures for each country.

4. Minimal Documentation Process

UIFN numbers are regulated by the ITU, guaranteeing a standardized and reliable service. According to Lusia Tsymbrovska, Carrier Relations Manager — while some regulations exist, obtaining a UIFN is relatively straightforward; minimal documentation is required, typically only necessitating basic company details like name and address.

And, you typically only need to register the UIFN in a minimum of two participating countries. This eliminates the complexity of managing separate regulations and applications for each targeted market. This streamlined process allows you to quickly activate your UIFN and start connecting with customers across borders.

UIFN Cons & Alternatives

While UIFN offers extensive benefits, it comes with certain limitations that businesses should consider. These include complex dialing conventions, lengthy activation times, and high costs. Let’s delve into these challenges in more detail:

1. Limited Participating Countries

While UIFN boasts impressive global reach, not all countries participate in the program. It’s possible that key target markets might be missing. For instance, Luke observes that UIFN is not an ideal solution for business in Latin America and the Middle East since only a few countries in those regions participate in the UIFN program.

In such cases, companies could opt for international toll free numbers. ITFN offers broader coverage, encompassing over 160 countries, including most remote locations. And since they’re toll-free numbers, customers can call them for free from within these countries, even if you forward those calls to your office in another region.

Another alternative is Toll-Free FlexDial which leverages advanced reverse-calling technology to provide worldwide toll-free access via one number.

2. Complicated Dialing Conventions

UIFN presents challenges due to complex dialing conventions across countries. Customers need to navigate a maze of dial-out codes and prefixes, specific to each country. This variability can confuse international callers, who may not be familiar with the UIFN format and its toll-free nature. It may prove difficult to educate customers from different countries on these conventions, possibly leading to missed connections.

3. Lengthy Activation Time

Unlike ITFS numbers, which can be typically activated within a few days (e.g, we can activate Australia numbers in one business day), UIFN requires registration on a country-by-country basis. This means that activation can take anywhere between 10 days to two months. If a speedy rollout is what you are looking for, then consider getting an ITFS number.

4. High Costs

UIFN cost structure is another major drawback. The actual breakdown depends on where you are buying your UIFN number. In most cases, there’s an initial one-time registration fee of $300. On top of that, you’ll also incur a setup fee for each country activation plus monthly subscription costs for using the service. This ongoing expense can add up, especially for companies requiring UIFN coverage in multiple countries.

In contrast, ITFS costs often follow a more flexible model, typically involving a provider subscription fee, additional phone number charges, and usage-based carrier fees. This structure can be more cost-effective for businesses with fluctuating call volumes or a need for targeted coverage in specific regions.

5. Limited Mobile Accessibility

Not all participating nations allow mobile accessibility to UIFN. In countries where mobile phone usage is high, this could restrict some customer segments. This is a crucial consideration, especially with forecasts suggesting that the number of mobile users worldwide is likely to rise to 7.49 billion by 2025.

Make an Informed Decision with UWT

If you are considering global expansion or are looking for a more universal contact number, getting a UIFN number could be an excellent starting point. And as you know by now, a UIFN offers a single point of contact for customers worldwide, centralizing communication.

With years of extensive experience, United World Telecom has garnered an understanding of the pros and cons of UIFN compared to alternatives like ITFS and Toll-Free FlexDial. We ensure businesses make the right choice for all their communication needs.

Need help deciding on a business phone number? Contact our experts today to discuss your specific business case and determine whether a UIFN is the right fit for your global ambitions.

9 Blended Call Center Essentials

Improved customer experience can result in approximately a 15% boost in sales conversions. And to provide stellar customer experiences, you need to support your sales and support teams with the right tools and technology.

That’s where blended call center software may come in handy.

Blended call centers seamlessly integrate both inbound and outbound calling functions so you can assist customers across different buyer journeys. From providing advanced call management tools to flexibility in workforce management, there’s so much that blended models can do for your business.

In this article, we’ll go over what a blended call center is and the essential technologies to run one, such as:

What is a Blended Call Center?

Blended call centers combine inbound and outbound call services in a single setup. This is different from traditional call centers that specialize in either inbound (handling incoming customer inquiries) or outbound (initiating calls for sales, follow-ups, etc.) services.

In this setup, agents handle incoming calls as well as make outgoing calls to support all call center and business communication needs. By integrating both, agents handle a diverse range of tasks from resolving customer issues to conducting proactive outreach campaigns. This further ensures optimal resource utilization while maximizing customer service levels.

So, why is this holistic approach to customer service management good for your call center?

Benefits of Blending Inbound and Outbound Call Services

Blended services offer a range of benefits—including improved efficiency, scalability, and service levels. Above all else, blended call center tech is capable of adapting to evolving business needs, supporting expansion, thereby, driving growth.

Here are some of the key benefits of blending inbound and outbound services:

  • Access a variety of inbound and outbound calling solutions and features to manage all business phone communications.
  • Use inbound calling features like call routing, IVR, etc to improve call handling and caller experience.
  • Leverage outbound calling features like caller ID management, softphones, etc. to increase response rates and sales efficiency.
  • Increase the chances of upselling and cross-selling since agents handle both incoming support and outgoing sales calls, they have more opportunities to talk to customers about products and services across different points in the customer journey.
  • Assign agents to inbound or outbound calls based on real-time call volume fluctuations to reduce wait times and provide more prompt service.
  • Analyze call center data and reports to improve agent utilization and allocate resources effectively across different channels and shifts.

Resource for blended call center key features.

8 Essential Blended Call Center Technologies

You will need an arsenal of cutting-edge call handling techs and features in order to run a blended call center.

From delivering sophisticated customer experience to helping you make staffing decisions, here are 8 blended call center technologies that can shape effective business operations:

  • International Phone Numbers
  • Call Forwarding and Routing
  • IVR and Call Flows
  • Softphone and Web Dialers
  • Outbound Caller ID
  • Call Recording
  • Call Reports and Analytics
  • VoIP Integrations

1. International Phone Numbers

International phone numbers, such as local and toll-free numbers, from target countries offer businesses the opportunity to establish a global presence without needing physical offices in every region. Customers can comfortably call designated business phone numbers, no matter where the business, main office, or service centers are located. Simply forward incoming calls to your desired destinations.

But besides expanding reach, calling internationally with local numbers can improve outbound campaign efforts and inbound customer engagement. This is because local numbers have recognizable toll-free and area codes that encourage customers to answer or return your business’ calls.

Blended call centers can especially benefit from services like local 2-way voice that support incoming and outgoing calls via a local number. This means your teams can use the same virtual local phone number as their outbound caller ID. This helps improve customer trust and the likelihood of calls being answered. Additionally, if a call is missed or unanswered, the recipient can easily call back on the same number, simplifying follow-up and potentially leading to successful sales conversions.

This makes it easy to manage inbound (support) and outbound (sales) calls through one service. And if you have multiple locations, you can get multiple international phone numbers from one global provider and centralize communications.

Related: Inbound Sales Calls vs. Outbound Sales Calls

2. Call Forwarding and Routing

Call routing and forwarding are features that let you redirect inbound calls from one location to another strategically without incurring expensive international calling fees. These tools help you ensure that agents are available wherever your customers are located.

And you can leverage various routing strategies like time-of-day or location-based routing or simultaneous ringing to provide round-the-clock support. Blended models can prioritize agent allocation based on factors such as agent availability, customer preferences, etc. This prioritization also helps in improving first call resolution rates.

With optimized call handling, your agents can respond better to customer needs and prioritize outbound efforts for more urgent queries. It also frees up your agents whom you can then distribute to other areas of need.

3. IVR and Call Flows

Advanced call management solutions, such as automatic call distribution (ACD) and interactive voice response (IVR), help streamline call flows across multiple departments and locations.

ACD helps with routing incoming calls to the right agent based on factors like availability, skills, etc. On the other hand, you can set up automated IVR menus with menu options that callers use to navigate to the right agent.

These tools are generally quite customizable, ensuring you can effectively control and manage how calls travel within your phone network. They help reduce call queues and wait times while quickly connecting callers to the best possible agent for support.

Diagram showing blended call center technology.

4. Softphone and Web Dialers

Softphones, web dialers, and web phones are tools or apps that convert any device into a business phone. With a dial pad and call handling capabilities, these tools are a must for blended call centers, offering flexibility and convenience in managing calls from anywhere in the world. Simply put, you can make phone calls directly from a device or web browser like Chrome, Firefox, etc.

Agents can make and receive calls with a softphone on any IP-enabled devices, such as smartphones, laptops, etc. For example, the United World Telecom softphone can be downloaded on any Windows device. Users can then use the softphone app to

  • Receive local and international VoIP calls
  • Make outbound calls using local caller IDs
  • Receive voicemails
  • View call activity and history
  • Transfer calls to other agents, and so on.

Some providers also offer softphone integrations with top CRMs and help desk software. With features like click-to-call, data sync, and in-app dialer, agents can get a comprehensive understanding of customer interactions. And managers can view and analyze agent performance and activity. This makes it easy to determine your inbound and outbound call flows and how to best optimize your customer experience efforts.

5. Outbound Caller ID

Caller ID management is important in ensuring your business calls are answered by your customers and prospects. Most people won’t answer calls by an unfamiliar number or one marked “Unknown.”

This is where the outbound caller ID feature comes in handy. By displaying a familiar or local phone number as the outbound caller ID, you can increase the chances of recipients answering calls. This could improve the success rates of outbound campaigns.

Now, if you have distributed and remote teams (aka, not working out of our main office), you may use a call masking feature to mask their actual outbound caller ID and use the business’ phone number instead. This way, your remote teams are also unified under the business’ phone network. This also protects agents’ personal phone numbers when using their own devices to place calls.

6. Call Recording

Call recording features can record both inbound and outbound calls. Blended call center supervisors can use these recordings to:

  • Monitor agent performance
  • Assess quality of customer service delivery
  • Protect against liabilities
  • Identify areas of improvement, and
  • Ensure compliance with established standards and protocols.

Some providers, like United World Telecom, offer call recording add-ons like transcription and translation for increased accessibility.

7. Call Reports and Analytics

Other quality assurance-related features like call reports and analytics, too, provide overview of call traffic, agent distribution, service quality, and areas for improvement. You need these features to evaluate call center performance and make informed decisions. Measure key metrics like call volume, average handling time, customer satisfaction metrics, etc. for a real-time, deeper understanding of customer interactions.

And with call activity reports, you can reorganize call flows, routing strategies, staff goals, etc. in line with business goals. United World Telecom customers can view metrics such as call duration, agent activity, calling charges, caller locations, and more to understand caller habits better.

Related: Tips for Running a Successful Virtual Call Center

8. VoIP Integrations

VoIP integrations with CRMs and help desk software can streamline call operations. These integrations come with features like call logging and data sync that automatically sync call records and contacts between the two platforms. This saves agents time and manual effort and ensures accurate record-keeping. Additionally, managers and agents can review customer interaction histories, follow-up tasks, and call recordings directly from the CRM interface.

How Can United World Telecom Help?

The right blended call center tech and tools can make or break your call handling strategy. And this directly affects the bottom line. Wondering what call management capabilities are right for your call center?

Talk to us! United World Telecom has been helping international enterprises and small businesses with state-of-the-art communication solutions. Our call center solutions provide you with a range of services and features to manage inbound and outbound calls and connect with your local and international customers reliably.

We can help you upgrade your telephony system to drive call center growth. Connect with our experts today and learn more about call center essentials!

How to Choose the Right SIP Trunk Provider? 8 Things to Consider

SIP trunking offers a compelling alternative to traditional phone lines. Gone are the days of relying on expensive analog lines and calling fees for business communication. Why? Because SIP trunking uses your existing internet connection and communication hardware to transmit voice calls.

But this depends on finding the right SIP trunk provider. Once you’ve settled that, implementing and using this service is straightforward. SIP trunking integrates smoothly with your existing phone system.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

What to Expect from a Global SIP Trunk Provider

Instead of traditional phone lines, a SIP trunk service uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to send voice calls on virtual phone lines. These lines allow for multiple calls to happen at the same time; i.e. a SIP trunk carries multiple SIP channels where 1 channel = 1 inbound/outbound call, allowing for multiple calls simultaneously.

A global SIP trunk provider can be your one-stop shop for international communication needs, with the tools needed for smooth global connectivity. By adding SIP trunks to your phone system, you can expect:

Efficient Call Handling
At its core, SIP trunking is a highly scalable and reliable phone system that can handle many conversations simultaneously without losing call quality or efficiency. This means that your business can stay connected even during peak times.

Global Coverage
And because it transmits calls virtually, your business can achieve global voice connectivity at a scalable rate. Simply tap into your provider’s network of virtual phone numbers from various countries. This way, you can count on receiving top-notch voice quality for incoming and outgoing calls worldwide.

International Termination
SIP trunk providers offer international SIP termination services that guarantee your calls reach their destinations without any hitches. SIP termination is the process of routing calls from one provider (usually the SIP provider) to another PSTN or VoIP provider. In simpler terms, you can use SIP trunks to make outbound calls to customers wherever they are located and connect comfortably to their PSTN or VoIP setup.

Easy Integration
SIP trunks easily integrate with your existing business phone system, whether hosted or on-premises. In most cases, setup takes hardly a few days.

Feature Sets
Many SIP trunking providers offer outbound features, such as SIP calling, local caller ID, and call masking. These features let you manage how your number appears to call recipients, thereby increasing call connection rates.

Choosing a global SIP trunk provider.

Benefits of Switching to SIP Trunking for Business

Everyone from small startups to global corporations embraces modern telephony’s advantages, such as SIP trunking. Here are the top 5 reasons why:

  1. As SIP trunking uses the internet to place calls, overall communication costs go down. Save costs on long-distance and international calls. This is because traditional long-distance calls may need to be routed through multiple carriers, driving up per-call costs. Additionally, SIP trunking eliminates the need for additional hardware and maintenance.
  2. You and your staff can make or receive calls from anywhere—all you need is a stable internet connection and SIP-enabled devices like phones, computers, tablets, etc.
  3. Easily scale your service up or down—add or remove phone lines and destinations—as your business needs change, all without the hassle of dealing with multiple contracts.
  4. Typically, service providers offer redundant connections and disaster recovery features, ensuring minimal downtime and business continuity in case of outages.
  5. Get features like advanced routing, caller ID management, and multiple other communication features on a single unified platform.

SIP trunk pricing breakdown

Learn more about how this communication technology can benefit your business in our SIP trunking guide.

How to Choose the Right SIP Trunk Provider?

Choosing the right SIP trunk provider is crucial for a smooth transition and reliable communication. Remember, the ideal provider understands your business and offers the right features at a reasonable cost.

Let’s evaluate the different factors to consider when choosing a SIP trunk provider for business communication.

Quick summary:

  • Look for established providers with a proven track record.
  • Beyond pricing, consider the features offered, customer reviews, and contract flexibility.
  • Responsive customer support, ideally available 24/7 and through various channels, is essential for troubleshooting.
  • A dedicated account manager can further ensure your needs are met. Research different providers, compare offerings, and don’t hesitate to contact them directly.
    Free trials can also be a valuable tool.

1. Determine Communication Needs and Gaps

Before selecting a SIP trunk provider, assess your business’s communication requirements and scalability needs. For instance, consider:

  • Call volume – how many calls need to be supported simultaneously?
  • Team location – which teams and locations need to be added to the phone network?
  • Features – are there any features or functionality currently missing that can help improve your inbound and outbound calling efforts?
  • Tools like international phone numbers, softphone, local caller IDs, international call forwarding, etc.?

Cloud-based phone services provide a much more elastic telephony infrastructure. Unlike traditional analog lines, you can easily adjust channels, phone numbers, and destinations through a web interface. And with a global SIP trunk provider, you can expect extensive global coverage to support your international communications.

2. Identify Features and Functionality Needed

Consider the features and functionality essential for your business operations. Most cloud telephony and SIP trunk providers offer a full suite of inbound and outbound calling features. Of course, what your business needs depends on your size, team and customer location, call volume, and budget. But here are the features we’ve seen customers use the most:

Inbound features must-haves:

  • International call forwarding
  • Call routing strategies
  • Call recording
  • Virtual voicemail
  • Transcription
  • Online dashboard, etc.

Outbound features must-haves:

  • Caller ID management
  • Softphone for inbound and outbound calling
  • Integrations, etc.

Another important factor: how easy is setup? How quickly can you get this new phone system up and running with little-to-no downtime?

Consider compatibility with your existing systems and evaluate ease of integration.

3. Research Providers and Their Offerings

When researching, look for SIP providers with global coverage, advanced features, flexible pricing plans, and positive customer reviews.

Reach out to representatives to gauge their responsiveness and see if you can use a free trial before subscribing to get a sense of the service.

Consider United World Telecom

Over 28 years, United World Telecom has partnered with Tier 1 carriers worldwide to bring businesses a high-quality SIP trunking solution at affordable rates.

Why choose United World Telecom?

  • Global SIP trunk numbers in 160 countries
  • Monthly plans — no long-term contracts
  • International SIP termination
  • Local caller ID management
  • PBX integrations – 3CX, FreePBX, Genesys, Cisco, Mitel, Panasonic, etc.
  • CRM integrations – Zoho, Zendesk, Salesforce, etc.
  • High call quality
  • No setup fees or long-term contracts
  • Quick activation and dedicated account management
  • Advanced features — call recording, time-based and location-based routing, voicemail translation, and more
  • Scalability — easily add/remove users, phone lines, destinations, as needed.

4. Consider Costs

To make informed SIP trunking decisions, businesses must dissect cost structures. Monthly subscriptions can vary based on channels, virtual numbers, and even per-user fees. Outbound calling rates are another key element, with options for metered pay-as-you-go plans or predictable unmetered options. Don’t forget potential add-on costs for features like call recording. Finally, factor in any setup fees.

While pricing structures vary by provider, a careful evaluation of these cost factors and competitor comparisons will lead you to the most cost-effective SIP trunking solution that aligns with their communication needs and budget.

Here’s a breakdown of our SIP trunk pricing:

Monthly Subscription:

  • Monthly fee for the phone number used as the caller ID for outbound calls. For example, US numbers start at $7.95.
  • Monthly call credit; Basic plan is $25.

International Calling Rates:

  • United World Telecom call rates are metered. Different countries have different calling rates and this gets deducted from the call credit.
  • Calling rates can be found on our SIP trunk pricing guide.

Features & Add-ons:

  • 40+ free features including Caller ID Management and Softphone.
  • Premium features at additional rates such as Inbound or Outbound Call Recording for $5 monthly fee + 3¢ per minute.

Setup Fees or Contracts:

  • No set up fees.
  • Month-to-month billing; no long-term contracts.

Total SIP Trunk Pricing for United World Telecom: $7.95 monthly subscription + $25 call credit = $32.95 per month

SIP trunk pricing breakdown

5. Understand Setup and Requirements

You can quickly integrate SIP technology into your existing infrastructure with minimal hassle.
Ditch the setup headaches!

Service providers like United World Telecom handle everything for you. Get an outbound calling plan, and we’ll provide the SIP trunk credentials you need. Simply enter them into your phone system, and you’re ready to make calls.

6. Review Testimonials and Customer Reviews

Before making a decision, take advantage of the wealth of information available online. Researching customer reviews and testimonials will offer valuable insights into a SIP trunk provider’s track record and industry standing.

Ask providers for testimonials, references, and case studies. Positive reviews from satisfied customers can give you confidence in a provider’s ability to deliver on its promises.

7. Test Top Providers

Many SIP trunk providers offer free trials or demos, allowing you to experience their service firsthand. Make calls to various locations and devices to assess voice quality and stability. Play around with the features to determine how you may use them. See how user-friendly the provider’s control panel is for managing your settings. Most importantly, engage with their customer support team. Ask questions and evaluate their responsiveness and technical expertise.

In this way, you can take advantage of free trials and demos and eliminate any lingering doubts. And then confidently choose the SIP trunk provider that delivers the performance, reliability, and features you need.

Want to see how United World Telecom works? Book a demo today!

8. Review Security Measures and Compliance

Finally, security is always a concern for businesses and that should extend to communications networks as well. Look for providers adhering to industry-established security protocols like secure real-time transport protocol (SRTP). These standards encrypt communication content, making it unreadable even if intercepted.

Inquire about the provider’s security infrastructure. Reputable companies will have robust firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and access controls in place to prevent unauthorized access to your network.

Get Global SIP with United World Telecom

Sign up for SIP Trunking with United World Telecom. Not ready to take the plunge? Start with a free trial and test out our service. Get an outbound number and add inbound features.

Still have questions about how SIP trunking works? Our experts are here to help you make the right decision. Reach out to us to see if it is a good solution for your exact business communication needs.

How to Set Up a Global Phone System?

Did you know that 64% of customers have switched to another company after a bad experience? This shows how important it is to make customers happy.

For global businesses, maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction is even more critical. And when your customers are spread across different time zones and regions, a robust communication infrastructure is essential for building trust and loyalty. And all this depends on having a reliable global phone system.

Let’s look at:

How Can Your Business Benefit from a Global Phone System?

 

In a nutshell, global telephony providers facilitate communication over the internet using VoIP technology. They offer a range of cloud-based services from virtual numbers to softphones and web dialers, that you need to establish a global phone system. Let’s look at the top benefits of using global telephony services:

1. Establish a Global Presence and Wide Network

Virtual numbers have brought the world closer. You can operate your business across borders without a physical presence. Simply purchase a phone number for your target region and then place calls virtually.

For hard-to-reach regions, United World Telecom offers Toll-Free FlexDial, a solution that makes your business accessible even in countries where toll-free numbers are hard to purchase.

Also, expanding to new markets is easier with virtual local phone numbers. This is because it showcases a localized approach, which is important for gaining trust and building credibility among locals. Paired with outbound calling, these numbers let you display a local number as the outgoing caller ID. This can improve the chances of customer engagement, as they perceive calls to be from a familiar source.

2. Offer 24/7 Global Customer Support

Providing round-the-clock customer support is a must for businesses with customers worldwide. To that effect, call management features like call forwarding, time of day routing, and follow the sun support strategies can help you stay available for all customers anytime and anywhere.

For instance, say a customer from Japan reaches out to inquire about a product at 2 AM Japan Standard Time. This would be outside your US business’ regular hours. With a feature like time of day routing, you can preset where calls are directed depending on the time of the day. This means that the call from Japan will automatically route to a support team in a closer time zone, such as Australia. In this manner, you can effectively provide all your global customers with timely assistance.

3. Work with Global Workforce

The internet and cloud telephony have made it possible for businesses to work with a global talent pool. Through features like conference and in-network calling, distributed teams can meet virtually, brainstorm ideas, and coordinate projects in real time.

Say the marketing team of a business in New York needs to discuss a new campaign with the design team in London and the production team in Tokyo. Using your business’s global phone system, they can initiate a conference call, allowing all team members to participate in real-time discussions. Global phone system typically comprises telephony features that facilitate communication across different regions.

4. Use Advanced Business Communication Features

Are you looking for new ways to stay ahead in a competitive market environment? Here’s what you can do.

From interactive voice response and call analytics to voicemail transcription and call recording, there’s a plethora of sophisticated global phone services available today. You can streamline communication, gain customer call insights, and more. Moreover, the option to integrate these features with business applications and platforms could further improve efficiency and workflow.

Take for instance the call masking feature. Besides offering privacy, it helps with building a brand and trust from local customers. How? By displaying specific local or a business phone number when making outgoing calls. So, if you work with a remote sales team, each salesperson can display the business caller ID when making calls. This helps in increasing response rates as they are more likely to answer calls from a known number.

Global telephony providers like United World Telecom offer a range of advanced business communication features with their virtual number plans. With these, you can review and handle calls more successfully.

What to Keep in Mind When Upgrading Your Business Phone System?

 

Here we’ll go over a couple of important pointers to consider when setting up a global phone system. To skip over, jump to the How to Set Up section.

When building a global phone system for your business, there are several key factors to keep in mind to ensure optimal use of resources and effectiveness. Here are some of the top considerations to take into account:

1. Business Needs

Before rounding up the global phone services for your phone system, consider your business needs carefully. Identify your communication challenges and coverage gaps. Find out how many phone lines you need and how many users (local, remote, and global) need to be connected.

As a global business, you have clients and staff across the world, so figure out if you need features for multi-language support. For instance, a voicemail translation feature makes communication easy by translating transcriptions, allowing your agents to assist customers from anywhere and in any language. Similarly, call routing strategies and rules can ensure your global and remote teams are comfortably connected to your phone network.

If this process seems daunting, you can always reach out to your service provider and get help in shortlisting your communication needs. United World Telecom has been helping global businesses upgrade their business phone systems since 1996. We can help you scale up with our top-rated services like call routing, call forwarding, voicemail transcription, and more.

See a global phone system in action.
2. Types of Global Phone Services Offered

There are several factors, such as budget, existing infrastructure, desired features, and specific communication needs, if any, that need to be considered before getting global phone services. For instance, both voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and unified communications as a service (aka UCaaS or UC) utilize the internet for communication. You’ll notice that they also offer similar benefits. However, UCaaS combines various communication technologies into a single platform, while VoIP mainly focuses on making calls over the internet.

Learn about their differences in our UCaaS vs VoIP guide or ask one of our cloud communication experts.

3. Global Coverage

This is the most basic telephony requirement for any global business. You need to peruse international coverage services that providers offer—such as toll-free or local virtual phone numbers. These features are necessary especially if your target markets include remote and hard-to-reach regions.

Check out our country coverage to see if we cover your target markets.

4. Tools and Tech Needed

Cloud communications, such as VoIP, session initiation protocol (SIP), and Unified Communications (UC), offer a wide array of features and functionality. Key tools that you will need to simplify and centralize global communication include international phone numbers, call routing, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), outbound calling, local caller IDs, call activity reports, and more. Assess these tools to determine which ones align with your business requirements.

5. Scalability of Features

A scalable system allows you to upgrade to accommodate the increased communication demands without disrupting service or requiring heavy investments. For example, if you initially start with a simple VoIP service, you can easily scale up by adding more phone lines, country phone numbers, or advanced features like call routing as your business expands. The idea is that your communication infrastructure should adapt to the business’s growing needs without breaking the bank.

6. Integrations

When thinking about global phone services, it is important to look at how well they integrate with your existing tools and system. VoIP integrations, for instance, help you multitask efficiently.

Let’s understand this with an example. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are normally used to manage data, track interactions, etc. But this has to be done manually. VoIP integrations enable automatic tracking of customer interactions, access to customer information during calls, and so on. So when a customer calls a support line, the VoIP CRM integrated system displays the customer’s order history and previous inquiries when the call comes in. Plus, with click-to-call functionality, teams can quickly call from within their preferred business applications.

United World Telecom offers multiple CRM and help desk integrations to help you centralize business communications.

7. Operations

Decide how you want to organize your global communication setup. You can send all the send all global calls to one main office for easier and centralized control. On the other hand, you can give distributed teams in different regions their own numbers to offer tailored support in their regions. Align your operations model with your business goals and customer service strategy.

8. The Ideal Telephony Partner

When selecting a global telephony provider, prioritize factors like reliability, uptime, responsive customer support, customization options, etc. Also consider the provider’s track record, reputation, and ability to deliver tailored solutions that meet your specific requirements.

Next, research different providers to ensure they offer services for your target countries and regions, competitively priced plans, secure communication systems, integrations, licensed carrier status, and highly available networks with multiple connections. Consider factors such as pricing, activation times, available features, network reliability, and customer support.

Pay attention to other customer testimonials to gauge service quality, industry relevance, problem-solving capabilities, and customer support availability.

Finally, be wary of hidden fees and long-term commitments, and ensure you have a clear understanding of cancellation and refund policies before signing up.

How to Set Up a Global Phone System?

Setting up a global phone system for your business involves several steps to ensure smooth communication across borders. Let’s break it down into four simple steps.

1. Sign Up and Buy International Phone Numbers

Once you’ve researched your providers, decide on one that meets your needs and budget. Then, purchase international phone numbers for your target regions. Use call forwarding and advanced routing rules to forward incoming calls to your desired destinations.

2. Configure Devices and Install Software

Depending on your needs, you can use softphones (software-based phones), IP phones (hardware phones), or gateways to connect legacy phones to your VoIP system. Simply download the necessary software or connect your hardware devices to your internet router to get started.

3. Customize Your Phone System

Take time to familiarize yourself with features provided so you can set them up as needed. Call management features will ensure that your phone system operates efficiently and meets your specific requirements. Create call flows, set up IVR (interactive voice response) systems, implement routing strategies, enable call recording, and establish ring groups to manage call volumes effectively.

4. Verify Network Performance Through Testing

Thoroughly test your network for any issues before deploying your global phone system. Look into connection reliability and call quality. Check the latency and audio quality. Finally, test the network speed. Test your system for coverage, address any issues with your service provider, and get necessary adjustments made before going live.

Once live, continue to collect feedback to improve and maintain your global phone system.

How Can UWT Help?

As you know, success of global businesses hinges on effective communication strategies that transcend borders. From establishing a global presence with virtual numbers to working with a diverse workforce, there’s much that can be achieved with a global phone system.

For 28 years, United World Telecom has been helping businesses worldwide with global telephony features such as call routing, voicemail transcription, and integration capabilities. Using these, our customers have not only fostered stronger relationships with customers, but also improved operational efficiency.

Ready to upgrade your business phone system? Contact our experts today to find out how United World Telecom can help you drive business growth.

 

Achieve Global Voice Connectivity with SIP Trunking

Reliable voice connectivity is without a doubt crucial for global businesses. It helps businesses become more accessible to customers while fostering strong relationships with them. So how do you achieve better global voice connectivity? A global SIP trunking solution is one way to expand the coverage of your business phone system while improving reliability and call quality.

SIP Trunking for Global Businesses

Global SIP technology makes it possible to run global businesses from anywhere you are. Simply integrate this service with your existing infrastructure and then connect with customers, stakeholders, partners, and employees anywhere in the world. Let’s learn more.

Understanding SIP Trunking and VoIP

SIP trunking and VoIP rely on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)—a signaling protocol—to transmit voice and other communications over the internet and IP networks.

SIP trunking refers to virtual phone lines over which this communication can take place. A SIP trunk can hold multiple SIP channels, enabling you to run multiple concurrent call sessions through one trunk.

Easily integrate SIP trunks into your existing phone system and let your PBX system leverage VoIP to make calls over the internet.

SIP Trunking with United World Telecom

United World Telecom offers a SIP trunking solution as our Outbound Calling service. You can sign up for a monthly outbound calling subscription with an outbound number and inbound features.

An image with more information about global SIP trunking.

How Can SIP Voice Solutions Help Your Business?

But why go for SIP trunking?

From transcending geographical barriers to unifying communications, there are myriad ways in which your business can benefit from global SIP voice solutions. Here’s how:

1. Establish your Business Beyond Borders

Global SIP trunking expands your reach, connecting you with potential clients across different regions using virtual local, international, and toll-free numbers.

If you are looking to expand your business into remote, even hard-to-reach and rural areas, you can do so without establishing a physical office. SIP trunking works alongside toll-free and local virtual numbers in different regions. For instance, if you are looking to expand your business into Australia, then you can get a local 2-way number—for both inbound and outbound calls—providing your customers a convenient way to contact your business.

With these numbers, you can display the desired outbound local caller IDs. You can get local 2-way numbers for multiple countries like the US, Singapore, France, Australia, etc. with United World Telecom.

2. Leverage a Reliable Voice Network

Additionally, you can avail a highly redundant voice network essential for reliable global outbound calling. For instance, United World Telecom has long-term partnerships with local tier-1 carriers around the world, enabling us to deliver top-notch SIP trunking call quality at competitive prices.

Our global telephony services are accessible in nearly 195 countries and over 4,000 cities worldwide. This ensures comprehensive coverage for global business activities.

3. High-Quality Voice Calls and Communication Functionality

As SIP trunking sends calls over the internet, you can make high-definition calls. Keep in mind the quality of these calls hinges on factors such as internet bandwidth and device caliber. It is therefore important to allocate sufficient bandwidth that can accommodate SIP traffic.

Moreover, service providers like UWT often offer a range of advanced call management features designed to streamline communication processes. From setting up IVR for different phone lines to changing your outbound caller ID to managing call routing rules, we’ve got you covered.

Related: How to Achieve Best VoIP Call Quality?

4. Flexibility and Scalability

A significant advantage of SIP trunking is the flexibility and scalability it offers. With our softphone, your team can transform any device, such as smartphones or laptops, into a robust business phone, enabling you to make and receive calls from anywhere. This way they stay connected to headquarters via their smartphones, making and receiving calls as if they were in the office.

You can get a softphone from United World Telecom with our outbound calling plans. We also have a web dialer that is powered by WebRTC.

Plus, you can use complementary features like call routing and forwarding to direct calls to available staff or agents, in case a call goes unanswered. Simply set them up and adjust as needed through the control panel. This flexibility extends to users as well; add or remove phone lines and users depending on business needs.

5. Work with a Global Workforce

SIP trunking simplifies collaboration across global teams, bridging distances effortlessly. Hire remotely and work with global teams—all easily managed with a unified communication platform. Teams can connect with each other over audio, increasing collaboration and productivity. And as all this is possible over the internet, you don’t have to worry about paying through your nose for long-distance calls.

Finally, SIP trunking solutions with their robust security measures can protect your communication channels from cyber threats like hackers. This makes it a reliable technology for conducting business virtually. Learn how to keep your global phone system secure in our security and encryption guide.

6. Quick and Easy Setup

Integrating SIP solutions into your current setup is a breeze, requiring very little effort to get up and running. You can quickly incorporate SIP technology into your existing infrastructure without encountering any major obstacles.

And service providers, like United World Telecom, handle and guide you through the setup process. This allows you to focus on your core operations while leaving the setup and management of such cloud solutions to professionals. Once you get an outbound calling plan with United World Telecom, we will provide you with the necessary SIP trunk credentials. Feed these credentials into your SIP or PBX phone system, and you’re all set!

Get Global SIP with United World Telecom

Looking to expand your global voice connectivity? Dive into the world of global SIP trunk solutions.

Get a virtual phone number with United World Telecom and join our extensive global SIP network. As a leading provider since 1996, we offer top-rated international SIP trunking services. Our solutions include outbound calling, call forwarding, local 2-way calling, and more.

Reach out to our experts today to learn more and achieve global voice connectivity!