When it comes to business telephony, ease of use, efficiency and flexibility are crucial to productivity and therefore business success. As phone system technology has advanced with the advent of VoIP phone systems, one feature that has completely changed the way we handle business phone calls is the softphone - all the functionality of a traditional desktop phone combined with the portability of your laptop and/or mobile phone.
Particularly since remote working became the normality, employees require both a laptop and mobile softphone app to work from home / remotely effectively. In the office environment, desktop VoIP phones have not yet disappeard and wireless DECT handsets are common place in environments where employees need to move freely around the workspace. Therefore, it is quite likely that the majority of employees users use 2 or more devices to communicate on any given business day and this is where Call Flip has become a game changer for how we handle phone calls.
What is Call Flip
Call Flip is a VoIP phone system function that allows users to switch the device they are currently using during an active (i.e. live ongoing) call. Call Flip is sometimes referred to as call pushing or call switching, although call switching actually refers to a similar function that in the end has the same result, just a different method.
The pascom cloud phone system has long had the functionality to flip live calls to allow users to continue the conversation on a different device. However, the process was, until recently, not exactly user-friendly and therefore the function was never really utilised, but often demanded.
With the release of pascom’s desktop and mobile apps (version 114), the Call Flip function has been simplified to make it extremely easy to use.
How does Call Flip work?
Simply put, Call Flip works in a similar fashion to a blind (unattended) call transfer, but instead of calling the another person’s extension, calls moved with Call Flip are meant to be picked up by the same person who started the process. As such, the Call Flip feature starts an outgoing call and then transfers this call to your user devices by ringing your extension via an intermediary. The intermediary bridges the call between the orginal device and the device on which you pick up the call, i.e. the device on which you wish to continue the call.
As the process takes literally a second from clicking the Call Flip button on the orginal device to accepting the call on target device, the conversion can be continued seamlessly without the person on the other end even realising that anything has changed.
What are the benefits of Call Flipping
The main advantage of call flipping is flexibility and mobility. For example, the ability to move an active call from one of your devices to another of your devices provides greater flexibility, freedom to move around your workplace, and mobility in terms of remote working.
But what do these advantages deliver in terms of benefits to your business?
1. Minimise disruption to calls
Customer calls are essential and disruptions to business calls should be avoided at all costs. When choosing a business phone system, managers and business owners don’t only base their expecations and decision on cost, they look at guaranteed uptime, support reaction times, feature sets and more.
When a customer calls your business they also have expectations that need to be fulfiled. They expect to speak to someone when they call your business, they expect the call to be dealt with quickly and efficiently and for the conclusion of the call resulting in their needs / demands being met.
Having the latest in cloud PBX and call forwarding technology is a massive plus when it comes to avoiding call disruptions. For example, you are in the office and you are on a call with a potential new customer who could be worth a significant amount to your business. You’ve been on the phone for 20 minutes or so and everything is going really well, but you suddenly have to leave the office. The problem is your using your office desktop phone or your laptop softphone, neither of which are ideally suited for continuing the call.
In the past, you had to either stop the conversation and arrange a call back or transfer the call to a colleague. Both of these options will break the flow of the conversation and could disrupt the relationship with the potential customer.
With Call Flip, you can simply flip the call and continue the conversation on your mobile device, giving you the extra mobility you need to carry on the call outside of the office.
2. Increased Responsiveness
Business today is now more mobile than ever. The days of just the business owners working from home are gone. These days, employees are just a likely to be working outside of the office as in the office. This means that the demands and requirements on business technology have become much more exacting.
Having a business phone system that delivers all the latest in business telephony and collaboration technology provides employees, users and agents with all the tools they need to react quickly and efficiently, making them more responsive to customer demands and therefore more productive.
Remember the example above where you are in the office and suddenly have to leave, using call flip allows you to continue that conversation. But why did you need to leave the office? Perhaps an urgent matter has arisen at another customer and you absolutely have to speak to them in person face-to-face. Thanks to call flip, you can continue the call you were on whilst travelling to the second customer - of course only if it is safe to do so i.e. walking, handsfree bluetooth in the car or whilst using public transport.
Using this functionality adds an additional layer of agility and responsivess to your company’s business communications which when used correctly will only enhance your customer service and how your customers perceive your business.
2. Increased professionalism
What’s more customer expectations have shifted dramatically as well. Customers are well aware of the technology that is available today - they use it themselves on a daily basis. Therefore, customers expect the same ability and level of professionalism from your business.
Delivering and exceeding on these expections portrays your business and your customer service in a more professional manner and as a result, customers are more likely to choose and remain loyal to your company.
3. Stronger Business Image
Furthermore, a feature-rich professional cloud PBX not only gives callers the impression of a highly professional business as it delivers all the functionality required for the modern workplace out-of-the-box, it also gives the impression that your business is larger than it may actually be. This can be significantly beneficial to Small Business owners and their business growth as customers are more likely to believe that your business is capable of meeting their requirements.
Given the benefits, it is clear to see that functions like and including the Call Flip feature are essential components of a company’ telephony infrastructure as they strive to deliver on and exceed the expectations of their clientel. In fact, Call Flip is more than a feature, if forms part of a feature rich cloud communications platform that when combined with other features such as pascom’s Client Profiles, allow users to manage their own online presence and call routing exactly according to their requirements.
How to use Call Flip
With the pascom apps, using Call Flip is as simple as pushing a button. The only exception is if you are using your desktop phone. In this instance, you will need to either an asterisk (*) function, configure it on your BLF keys or go old school and simply hold the active call, and call yourself so that you can accept the call on a new device, as shown below:
If you have any questions about PASCOM ONE, our Team Messaging and Collaboration apps and how pascom can help upgrade your business communications, then we are here to help. Visit our website and arrange to speak to one of our experts. Alternatively, get started today with our free cloud phone system trial.