0871 Number Provider

On 11 April a tsunami warning in the Indian Ocean caused at least one major telephone support office to shut down as a safety precaution.  Zoho, a worldwide provider of online business, productivity and collaboration applications, suspended phone support and advised customers to e-mail requests instead.

Luckily for the region the 8.6 magnitude earthquake did not trigger a tsunami and staff were able to move back into their office the following day.  However the event has illustrated the importance of interactive telephone support systems and the increasing role which social media forums such as Twitter are playing, as the first line of defence against system failure causing negative customer reactions.

For some businesses, the loss of telephone contact may make little difference whilst for others being without their phones could spell disaster.  Almost irrespective of whether the business is a one man band or, like Zoho, serves millions of clients worldwide, the instinctive reaction of those failing to get through on the phone is to grumble at poor service or wonder if the business has in fact failed. 

This link between telephone failure and customer dissatisfaction was illustrated recently when HMRC came under fire for poor response times.  Although HMRC have announced that steps have been taken to resolve this problem, including moving 350 staff from other roles into their call centres, their reputation has suffered.

Luckily there are several lines of defence available for those businesses who want to ensure that they maintain a good service reputation with clients and potential customers.  The first line of defence is to make sure that phones can be automatically diverted.  For a multi-office corporation, this might mean switching calls between offices either on a “follow the sun” basis or as and when telephone problems occur.  Internet based switchboards remove the location element of risk as they can be accessed and programmed from any internet PC. 

Smaller businesses may simply require phones to be diverted to a mobile or alternate number.  These alternate numbers might include the use of an “as required” virtual assistant who could answer phones on behalf of the business, take messages and answer simple queries. 

Keeping callers informed when unable to answer calls is a vital tool in maintaining reputation.  Callers waiting to connect with HMRC were frustrated that they had no idea how long they might have to wait.  Simple “you are number 3 in the queue” messages can help to alleviate this frustration as can other elements of multi-call queuing packages such as the option to receive a call back or leave a message.  When it is simply not possible to answer the phone then an announcement on the phone line, backed up with information on the web site and social media sites can help to keep callers informed. 

In the UK we may not have to evacuate our call centres following tsunami warnings but there are plenty of other reasons why we may temporarily be out of telephone contact.  Taking steps to divert and keep callers informed will pay dividends in terms of reputation and client loyalty.

As part of its “adopt a kiosk” scheme, BT has seen its disused red telephone boxes turned into
everything from book exchanges and information points to art galleries and even into a pub. Now,
from Glendaruel in Argyll comes arguably the best idea yet. Its phone box has been fitted with life
saving equipment which can be used in the case of cardiac arrest.

The defibrillator was installed by Community Heartbeat Trust, a charity which provides defibrillation
equipment for use by local communities. With treatment recommended within 5 minutes of a
heart episode many rural communities are too far away from emergency help, turning communal
defibrillators literally into a lifeline.

The decision by BT to allow communities to adopt disused kiosks allows the community to retain
its iconic red telephone box whilst saving BT £800 in maintenance costs each year. With the rise in
home telephone use and then mobiles, the number of calls from pay phones has fallen by 80% in the
last five years with 64% of kiosks running at a loss.

When first installed, pay phones were a lifeline for the community. Being able to chat with those
who lived outside your immediate area opened up whole new lines of communication as well as
opening eyes to the possibilities of moving away from home and yet staying in touch by a more
immediate means than simply writing letters . Most importantly, the pay phone allowed us to
summon help when required.

Nowadays, we take this ability to call for immediate help for granted just as we expect to be able
to pick up a phone and instantly connect with colleagues and friends anywhere in the world.
The advent of internet telephoning (VoIP) has finished what the telephone box started and
brought cheap international telephone calls to all. This in turn has enabled businesses to open up
international markets, calling Spain or calling China as easily as nipping next door for a chat.

Whilst e-mail and broadband are nipping at the heels of the telephone, at the end of the day they
are no substitute for sheer speed of contact as well as the certain knowledge that the call has been
answered and a dialogue established. The telephone is still the medium of choice when calling for
emergency help and will be for some time to come. In the meantime, initiatives such as the use of
old kiosks for emergency defibrillators are thought provoking and inspiring.

The department of Health has announced the launch of a new non-emergency telephone number for NHS services. The number, 111, has already been tested in four areas of England and will be rolled out nationally by 2013. It will not replace existing NHS services in Scotland and Wales.

Designed to replace NHS direct; the 111 number will provide access to a range of services across the NHS including out-of-hours GPs, walk-in centres, emergency dentists and pharmacies. The government hopes that this memorable number will reduce confusion although patients may still then be advised to make a follow up call to local service providers or to a slimmed down NHS direct.

Choosing a simple to remember number such as 111 is one of the drivers behind the success of the new service. Indeed, as with any business, the easier it is for potential customers to contact you, the more likely they will do so. Even with the rise of the internet, having a robust telephone service aligned with a memorable telephone number can make a difference.

In America, businesses realised the benefit of memorable telephone numbers far sooner than we did in the UK. Aligning the letters of the alphabet with the numbers on a telephone key pad means that you can refer to your business name or type within the telephone number itself. So, for example, a sports shop might want a telephone number which included the word “sports”. All customers had to do was remember the word “sports” and dial the appropriate letters, effectively dialling 776787.

Whilst in the UK we haven’t taken up this letter/number association with much enthusiasm, it is still true that having a memorable number is more likely to attract callers. Luckily the advent of internet technology also means that calls to the memorable number or numbers can then be routed via a virtual switchboard to anywhere in the world. This means that you can offer clients in the UK or elsewhere a memorable number which appears to apply to their area whilst retaining the flexibility to answer calls from anywhere. Virtual switchboards can even be programmed to “follow the sun” so that calls are switched between international offices or even between office and mobile depending on the time of day.

Some memorable numbers are more memorable than others and these tend to attract a premium when chosen. Whilst few will be as simple as 111, the choice of telephone number might still be an important cog in your marketing mix and one which is well worth considering.

Research carried out by Asda recently revealed that a third of us have given up on having a stand alone home telephone and that this figure rises to 48% for the 18-34 year old age group. This shift in our home telephone usage means that telephone lines are increasingly being used for broadband connections and little else.

Partly as a result of their survey, Asda have decided to stop selling landline handsets and concentrate instead on the sale of a range of smart phones from top of the range phones to those costing as little as £40. The question remains how long it will be before other retailers follow suit.

When it comes to business telephony the picture is more varied. The majority of businesses still rely on having a fixed office space with telephones at every desk. However, here too the picture is slowly changing. Businesses are gradually waking up to the benefits of internet telephony, both from the basis of cost savings and flexibility. This means that whereas offices still contain telephone handsets, these may well be dedicated internet telephony handsets or linked to the internet via a virtual switchboard.

On cost alone, internet telephony tends to win hands down over traditional land lines. VoIP (internet) to Voip calls can range in cost from being free to a few pence per minute and even VoIP to landline calls result in cost savings. This applies equally to international calls as it does to domestic ones, allowing businesses to improve communication links with international clients and suppliers.

Linking the VoIP telephone system to a virtual switchboard also brings other benefits such as call recording and storage or intelligent routing. This latter service enables businesses to forward calls to any other handset including mobile, meaning that the smallest business can always stay in touch.

It is possible that apart from the benefits of smart phones, one of the drivers behind the decline in home telephone lines is the conflict when a single line is required by several family members at the same time. Internet telephony and virtual switchboards can remove that conflict within an office environment with switchboards being able to handle tens of thousands of calls per hour. So, whilst the traditional single office telephone line may go the way of the home phone, the internet and VoIP lines are well on their way to taking its place.