SIM-less cloud phones have become the pivot for handling business communications in recent years. At first glance, their name clearly indicates that two things. First is they embrace cloud technology and second is you won’t require a SIM card to connect with your network.
Normally, we use SIM cards on our mobile phones to get cell tower signals and access services to manage phone calls, SMS, and more. It’s great for personal communication but when it comes to businesses, cloud phones take the win.
SIM-less cloud phones provide a seamless calling experience to companies thanks to their benefits and features. In this article, we will briefly learn about SIM-less cloud phones to understand their significance in the communication sector.
What are SIM-less cloud phones?
SIM-less cloud phones are virtual phone systems that allow you to handle communication channels like voice calls, SMS, audio conferencing, etc. through an active internet connection.
Since it is cloud-based, it uses VoIP technology for calling. There are various virtual cloud phone systems that provide cloud phones services. All you need to do is sign up and purchase the services.
A cloud-based phone system operates by converting your voice into a digital signal and breaking the signal into small digital packets that are transferred over the internet as data to the call recipient.
Just like SIM cards come with a phone number, cloud phone system providers will give you virtual phone numbers that enables you can make phone calls. The best part is, such phone systems allow you to buy phone number not just from the country you are currently residing but outside that country as well.
Suppose, you are currently residing in United States but need an Australian phone number for communication. In such scenario, you can easily get Australian virtual phone number online without any hassle. Moreover, you do not have to pay hefty roaming charges without traveling abroad since the communication charges remains the same no matter which country you travel to.
What are the benefits of SIM-less cloud phones?
SIM-less cloud phones are a miracle in the world of communication. Ever since their introduction, cloud phones are slowly becoming the major player in generating leads and revenues for small and large businesses relying on phone calls.
They provide different benefits to businesses in terms of scale, cost, and many more. Let’s have a look at some of them.
When talking about expenses, shifting to cloud-based phone systems from traditional phone systems reduces large expenses. The first notable cutdown is the physical infrastructure. Since cloud phones are connected to the cloud, you don’t need additional hardware.
You can install the cloud phone application on your existing device like smartphones, laptops, etc. Also, they are considerably cheap. Their subscriptions packages are about 60% cheaper than your traditional phone line connection. This will help your business save a lot of money.
The COVID-19 pandemic has tilted the focus of businesses on remote work. As long as your device is connected to an active and stable internet connection, you can use your cloud phone from anywhere.
This is the reason work-from-home has become the most feasible option for companies during lockdowns and disasters. Not only that, cloud phones help employees to balance their personal and work life. Now businesses can provide their employees flexible hours for their work due to which there is a rise in productivity.
Incorporating cloud-based infrastructure is one of the major trends in telecommunication industry at the moment. Workload in the business can vary on a regular basis. And to address that, companies have to scale up/down their telephony system regularly.
However, adding and removing users is difficult with the traditional phone system. But with SIM-less cloud phones, businesses can easily add and remove users from their workspace. All they need to do is make adjustments in the cloud phone systems and users can access the cloud phone through their existing device.
Also, CRM integration has allowed cloud-based phones to customize the looks of the dashboard by integrating CRM apps. Different CRM apps have different functionalities so you can customize your business strategy by using apps that are necessary to your business.
Cloud phones are incomplete without features. Various kinds of features help you to manage your business communication. Basic features like call forwarding, call recording, voicemail, call hold, etc. helps you in handling simple inbound and outbound calls.
If you want your cloud phones to do more than handle calls then features such as CRM integration, IVR, intelligent call routing, etc. will help you to handle the flow of customers’ calls and data in your business.
Also, SIM-less cloud phones are enriched with feature like call masking, which helps to cloak your current phone number with an unallocated phone number. This helps to protect your identity and prevent potential spam calls and SMS.
Cloud phones provide a very high VoIP call quality to deliver a great customer service experience. Being internet-based, you don’t need signals from a cell tower to make calls but you can easily make calls using your internet signals especially are remote locations without cell towers.
Cloud phone providers are always monitoring the quality of calls from the server side. They will help you to handle VoIP issues such as jitters, latency, packet loss, etc. to get an uninterrupted calling environment.
What are the best features of SIM-less cloud phones?
A SIM-less cloud phone delivers various kinds of features that improve the productivity, reliability, and efficiency of the users. These features impact the growth of the businesses by assisting them to generate leads and increase ROI.
Here are some of the best features of cloud phones offered by KrispCall – a virtual cloud phone system.
When it comes to negotiating commercial deals, data and reports are critical. A cloud phone can gather data from all incoming calls with the help of call analytics. The data contains vital information such as the caller’s name, location, phone number, and more.
It also captures intelligence information from your conversation. Call analytics picks up important information such as customer preferences, product reviews, competitors, and more. This aids your company’s strategy-making process. You may use the information to improve campaign budgeting, target potential customers with contextual ads, and produce more leads.
The process of linking a SIM-less cloud phone to third-party applications is known as CRM integration. Its primary function is to transfer data between your cloud phones and third-party apps. It extracts correct data from your business software, allowing you to receive get information about your business and customers.
It leads to automatic operations that improve the performance of your software by eliminating the requirement to switch between apps. CRM integration has different modes including email, social media, calendar, marketing automation, and team communication.
IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response and is a type of automated cloud phone system. Instead of communicating with an agent, inbound callers can get information from a voice response system that plays pre-recorded messages.
It has menu-driven options that allow you to direct a phone call to certain departments or agents by pressing keys on the touch-tone keypad. It also improves the efficiency and KPIs of call centers.
Customers can get the proper answers and navigate the menu more simply with the help of an effective interactive voice response system. This can be extremely beneficial during peak calling hours.
Intelligent call routing recognizes callers and their reasons for calling then connects the callers with the right agent. It analyzes an agent’s background, training, and skills to route callers to the most appropriate agent who can provide can provide the right assistance.
Also, it needs the caller’s information to figure out the optimal path. It needs details such as call priority, previous inquiries, customer value, and their personality stored in your company’s database. It improves customer satisfaction which reduces the average session length and call-hold time.
The click-to-call widget is a lead-generating magnet of cloud phones that dials a phone number automatically after clicking on it. It’s a button placed on the website of your business by adding a small code snippet.
It enables your website’s visitors to speak directly with your company’s customer support agent. Some websites may ask you to provide your phone number after you click on the widget then visitors will shortly receive an inbound call from your sales department.
What are the drawbacks of SIM-less cloud phones?
As much as we praise the benefits and features of cloud phones, some minor inconveniences might affect your calling experience. Let’s have a look at 3 major drawbacks of cloud phones.
Without a stable internet connection, cloud phones cannot function properly. If your internet connection fails then you can no longer handle business communications by using the cloud phone app. Cloud phones require a minimum of 100 Kbps bandwidth for cloud calling.
So, you need to maintain a reliable source of internet for your phone to work. Make sure your internet connection doesn’t fluctuate and position your device where it gets uninterrupted signals.
If you haven’t recently replaced your old networking equipment such as routers or switches with new ones then you may need to invest to bring your infrastructure up to speed.
Routers are responsible for segmenting networks, assigning IP addresses, and shaping network traffic so you need to get up-to-date routers. Large-scale VoIP installations may not be compatible with older routers.
You will never know when you will encounter VoIP issues such as jitter, latency, dropped calls, etc. So, keep your internet connection stable to avoid such trouble.
Also, your cloud-based phone system is responsible for attracting VoIP issues because it may not be powerful enough to counteract VoIP issues. So, you must be careful in choosing a cloud-based phone system.
Is SIM-less cloud phones: a seamless experience or a major nuisance?
SIM-less cloud phones are a game-changer in business communications. As much as the standard SIM-based phones give you quality calling services, cloud phones are several steps ahead in terms of functionalities, services, and benefits. SIM-based phones are great for personal communication and places without an internet connection but they lack far behind in comparison to cloud phones.
Apart from some minor drawbacks, SIM-less cloud phones give you a seamless experience in handling different kinds of communication channels. The great thing about being SIM-less is that you can easily use the platform on any smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc. as long as you have working login credentials.
For large or small businesses, they assist you in creating a virtual working environment. On the whole, what makes cloud-based phones stand out is their excellent features, great subscription packages, and mobility.
Article contributed by Olivia Williams.
About the author: Olivia Williams is the Chief Editor of Crazy Fintech. Along with keeping up with the latest financial technologies, she is a voracious reader, a music enthusiast, and has a soft spot for pets, among other things.
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