What are Intelligent Numbers?
"What are Intelligent Numbers? Intelligent Numbers were first
introduced in the UK in 1985 in the form of Linkline, Freefone
and LoCall numbers. Not only did they give impetus to highly
creative application development in the ICT sector, but they
continue to drive this. In turn such creativity has stimulated
much of the recent innovation in IP telephony. ""Intelligent
Numbers"" therefore is a term used to describe functionality,
rather than particular ranges or call tariffs to which numbers
belong. They may be they geographic, non-geographic or IP-based.
Intelligent Numbers however offer significant advantages over
""traditional"" numbers bringing feature-rich call distribution
services and network-level control to the organisations using
them. This removes the need for special and oftentimes expensive
end-user hardware.
Network-level services include the following two key elements:
Optimal Call Routing Call management at network-level allows an
organisation of any size to dramatically improve customer
support by ensuring that every call is routed optimally. This
benefits callers since efficient call distribution improves the
likelihood of a quick and appropriate response.
Examples of optimal call routing might include, but are not
limited to:
Divert on Busy / Unanswered - Calls are routed seamlessly to the
first available number in a pre-configured plan. This is
advantageous to callers who no longer receive a busy or
unanswered tone, but instead have calls routed seamlessly at
network level to staff who are available to receive the call;
Time of Day Call Routing - Calls are routed to different
destinations according to the time of day, day of week or other
similarly pre-configured plan. This allows even the smallest
organisation to extend its hours of operation and improve
customer service by routing calls to home or mobile numbers out
of hours rather than direct them to an unanswered telephone;
Geographic Call Routing - Calls are routed to the destination
closest to the caller's own location - for example a call
originating in Scotland might be answered by staff in Edinburgh,
whereas a call from the South East would be routed to an office
in London. This removes the need for large organisations to
publish long lists of local access numbers, saves time in taking
and manually onward routing calls or asking callers to redial an
alternative local number; Percentage Call Distribution - Calls
are distributed to different destinations on a call ratio basis
(for example 30% of calls to one destination, 70% to another)
helping organisations to manage calls according to staff
availability. This benefits callers by ensuring hold times are
minimised since calls will be routed to where staff are
available to receive them; Home Worker Call Distribution - Calls
are distributed to home workers whose numbers are stored in a
database at network level. Calls may be routed in strict
rotation, longest waiting or other pre-configured plans. Home
workers are able to log on and off via a dedicated telephone
line or web interface. The economic and environmental benefits
of home-working are self evident and well documented; Disaster
Recovery / Emergency Re-Routing - Since Intelligent Numbers are
managed at network level, destination numbers may be updated
instantly. In the event of a disaster or emergency, calls may be
instantly routed to a new destination. Similarly, should there
be too few staff to handle an unexpected increase in calls other
network level services (such as voice to email) may be deployed
to ensure they are handled efficiently. This is a clear benefit
to callers as it ensures continuity of service where it might
otherwise be impossible; Network Call Queuing - Spikes in call
volumes can lead to high abandon rates. As well as helping an
organisation to manage these peaks fairly and efficiently,
on-hold messages associated with Intelligent Numbers can provide
callers with valuable information such as important web and
email addresses or alternative ways to contact staff. Data
Transfer and Management In addition to optimising voice traffic,
Intelligent Numbers also deliver considerable benefits for data
transfer and management. Perhaps the earliest example is the
introduction of 0845 numbers, a vital element in the UK ISP
business model and the proliferation of dial-up Internet access
in the late 1990s. Nowadays Intelligent Numbers are used by
organisations to transfer and manage data in diverse ways.
Typical examples include:
Fax Management and Delivery - Unlike a physical machine, which
transmits a busy tone if it is sending or receiving another fax,
hundreds of faxes may be sent simultaneously to Intelligent
Numbers. The storage and onward delivery of messages is
configured and managed at network-level, for example via: Fax to
email - Faxes are delivered instantly as email attachments
allowing distribution to multiple recipients around the office
or around the world (at no cost). Fax to email offers other
environmental and efficiency benefits too reducing paper wastage
and toner usage. A digital archive of fax messages can be
created using a standard email application like Microsoft
Outlook. Web based management - Faxes are stored on the server
and users are able to log in via a web interface to view and
manage them. Voicemail and Voice to Email - Just as TIFF and PDF
image files may be used as attachments for fax to email
services, WAV or MP3 audio files are often used to store and
distribute voicemail messages. Voice to email and web based
message management are operated in exactly the same way as the
fax services described above. Real-time Call Handling Data -
Efficient call handling is radically improved with the
availability of real-time data (for example current call
volumes, average call duration and hold times). Solutions
ranging from simple web interfaces to bespoke call centre
applications have been developed to deliver real-time call data
for Intelligent Numbers. Call Statistics - In addition to
real-time call handling data, statistics are crucial to
organisations wishing to maximise efficiency and improve
customer service. Intelligent Numbers provide historical data
which may be analysed (again using an online interface or custom
software) to show call volumes by day, week, month, call
duration, geographic area of callers, answered versus unanswered
calls, time to answer data and similar performance indicators.
Since Intelligent Number services described above are operated
at network-level, many providers offer simple web interfaces to
their number management and data services. This approach allows
even the smallest of organisations to deliver high levels of
customer service through optimal call routing and analysis.
These types of Number Translation Services were previously only
available to large organisations with infrastructure budgets
which allowed sophisticated call management hardware solutions.
To order an intelligent number, visit www.numberstore.com.
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