Best Cloud Calling Services for Business

The quality of your communications service means everything to the success of your business. With the right software, you can strengthen your team through better collaboration, elevate your productivity, and deliver knockout customer service.

In fact, a report by Metrigy found that using unified communications with cloud calling services correlates to above-average revenue gains, cost savings, and productivity increases. For example, a single-provider solution could bring a 56% decrease in the total cost of ownership of communications functions.

A wide range of providers now offer cloud calling, so which one should your company use? Find out the must-have characteristics of a winning cloud calling service.

Key Takeaways:

• Cloud calling services with automatic call recordings, transcriptions, and archiving allow you to retrieve critical data for greater efficiency in customer service.
• Your cloud calling should be part of unified communications software so you can access advanced features, such as analytics, artificial intelligence, and integrations with collaborative software.
• Look for a provider with outstanding customer support.

Essential Features of Cloud Calling Services

To increase your odds of success in today’s competitive market, your business needs cloud calling services with the following components and abilities.

Routing and Forwarding

Clients hate not being able to reach someone quickly. Fortunately, modern communications mean that you don’t have to wait by an office phone (or pay someone to do so) to make sure you don’t miss a call from a VIP client. 

With intelligent routing and ring groups, you can ensure that calls always reach you or a team member at the office, in the field, or at home. Cloud calling services operate through an app you can keep on any of your smart devices. Then, you can program guidelines for which devices will ring and when.

This also allows you to set do-not-disturb times when you’re attending to more important matters. Likewise, you can skip calls while on vacation or with your family to preserve your work-life balance. 

Call and Voicemail Recordings, Transcriptions, and Archiving

Privacy and security measures are making third-party data harder to come by. That means you have to obtain whatever you can from your direct interactions with clients and prospects to enhance your services.

One piece of low-hanging fruit is the conversations you have with callers. Staying attentive to what customers have said and responding to them based on those discussions shows that you’re looking out for their interests and see them as more than generic buyers.

You can more readily recall and review what customers have told you using cloud calling services with call recordings that have automatic transcriptions. Then, advanced archiving lets you make granular searches for specific information. With these features, you can boost efficiency and become a much more responsive company. 

Unified Communications

Cloud calling services are the foundation of unified communications as a service. UCaaS offers the most convenient customer service and collaboration. 

Your customers expect to be able to reach you through more than just phone calls, and your employees expect to be able to collaborate through multiple channels. UCaaS brings all of your digital communications together under a single provider. 

Not only do you have access to all of these channels, but they also work together in the same app to make interactions easier. For instance, when you reference a text or email while on a video call with a manager or client, you have quick access to those communications in the same dashboard.

Artificial Intelligence

AI can further enhance your communications, service, and productivity. Your system and agent reports become even more powerful with analytics that help you determine what the numbers mean and how you can improve them. AI also speeds up your workflows with its ability to do simple coding, perform calculations, and provide ideas and outlines for messages. 

Of course, a key concern with AI is security. Top AI solutions in cloud calling services, such as Intermedia SPARK AI, ensure that the app doesn’t train itself on your confidential information. Rather, the app helps you safeguard confidentiality. For example, AI can generate an automatic redaction of sensitive information for your transcriptions.

Integrations With Productivity and Collaboration Tools 

On their own, communications tools merely connect you to others. Collaborative features increase productivity by allowing remote and hybrid workers to interact as if they’re in the same physical location.

Document sharing, screen sharing, and team calendars are a few examples of collaborative tools that make life easier. Thankfully, instead of having to toggle between apps to use collaborative software on calls, you can integrate these right into your cloud calling services. 

For example, connect workforce management software to your system to see how your team is performing and create better schedules to prevent overstaffing or understaffing. Schedule and start meetings, send real-time alerts, and coordinate calendars by integrating UCaaS with popular tools, such as Slack, Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace.

Easy Installation and Support

You might not believe how much easier cloud calling services are to set up than old-fashioned phone services. Because everything is digital, all you have to do is start your subscription and download an app. You don’t even need to purchase special equipment or install telephone lines (unless you want to).

Intermedia’s award-winning support team will be there for you as you onboard and help you troubleshoot as long as you have the service. If the nature of your work requires more attention, you can upgrade for an even higher level of support. 

Start Using Cloud Calling Services Today

For a communications system that enables your company to operate at its best, look no further than Intermedia Unite’s cloud calling services. Talk to our team to determine which plan fits your needs. 

Melinda Curtis

Melinda Curtis is a Director of Product Marketing at Intermedia, where she focuses on helping businesses improve employee productivity and enhance their customer experiences using Intermedia's award-winning cloud communications solutions. Melinda brings over 20 years of experience in telecommunications, having worked in B2C and B2B marketing, product management, and vendor management roles. In her free time, she loves to travel with her family.