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The client: a software company moving its operations out of the office
A software company with 50 employees needed to manage client communication as it transitioned from office-based work to remote operations.
Clients had to continue reaching the appropriate department, discuss questions, and receive updates. However, colleagues now worked from different locations and needed to coordinate their responses remotely.
The company’s leadership wanted business calling and texting on the smartphones employees already owned. It also wanted company-issued numbers so employees could contact clients through a business line instead of sharing their personal numbers.
On top of that, the company wanted a reasonable yet practical cloud-based phone system as it expanded remote operations.
Table of Contents
4. Give your remote workers a better way to communicate with iPlum
6. iPlum — A phone system built for remote work
The challenge: remote communication became expensive and unreliable
Moving work out of the office changed how client inquiries reached the company.
Calls, emails, and messages arrived through different channels, and employees struggled to coordinate replies.
During the first few days, more than 35% of client messages went unanswered or received a delayed response. The average response time reached eight hours. Meanwhile, IT spent close to 10 hours a week troubleshooting the communication system.
The company traced those problems to the following issues:
Client inquiries passed between departments before reaching the right contact
The existing call routing setup did not consistently connect callers to the appropriate department. Only 62% of calls reached the correct destination, and some clients had to go through several transfers.
Employees then had to redirect inquiries to colleagues working elsewhere. Clients waited for answers as the company worked out who should respond.
Personal numbers became part of daily business communication
The company’s employees used personal numbers to contact clients. Business calls and messages consequently arrived through accounts the company did not administer.
On one hand, employees had to check personal conversations alongside business inquiries. On the other, management lacked a consistent process for reviewing pending client messages and confirming who had responded.
Troubleshooting added to the cost of remote work
The IT department spent close to 10 hours each week correcting routing errors and resolving license issues. Meanwhile, the company continued paying for existing phone licenses and hardware maintenance.
Monthly communication expenses skyrocket. And, despite that spending, the system experienced approximately four hours of downtime per week, interrupting calls and delaying follow-ups.
Communication problems affected client satisfaction
Missed calls accounted for 30% of incoming calls. Clients who could not connect had to try again or wait for a response through another channel.
Within one month, customer satisfaction fell from 9.1 to 7.2. The company needed to address both the service problems and the expense of maintaining its existing setup.
The solution: give remote employees business calling and texting on their existing phones
The company adopted iPlum to connect its remote workforce through a cloud-based phone system.
The rollout allowed the company to:
Route client calls according to the department they need
The company configured a phone tree with auto-attendant and extensions on its main number. That way, callers heard a greeting and selected the department relevant to their inquiry.
The company then assigned extensions to the employees responsible for those calls. Employees could respond via iPlum from remote locations, so routing followed their assigned responsibilities
Give employees company-issued numbers on their smartphones
With iPlum’s second mobile line, employees added business calling and texting to the phones they already owned.
They shared their assigned numbers with clients and used the iPlum app for professional conversations. Personal calls and texts continued through their personal numbers.
For IT, deployment involved setting up business lines and configuring the app. The company could therefore equip its remote workforce using existing devices.
Provide an alternative when home internet was unreliable
Employees configured dual-mode calling to make business calls through either their carrier’s voice network or an internet connection.
When home Wi-Fi or mobile data was poor, employees could select voice calling over the iPlum network. That way, clients would still see the employee’s business number.
The calling option addressed connectivity differences across remote work locations.
Coordinate client follow-ups through secure messaging
The company introduced secure texting and group messaging for business correspondence. Colleagues used secure app-to-app conversations to exchange project notes, discuss pending inquiries, and confirm who would contact a client.
Group discussions allowed the relevant colleagues to review an update and agree on the response. For confidential client exchanges, employees used secure messaging with clients who had the iPlum app.
Review missed callers’ requests through voicemail transcription
The company enabled voicemail transcription and email alerts so employees could review messages left on their business lines.
Employees could read the request before returning the call. They could also consult the original audio to check names, numbers, or wording that needed clarification.
Email alerts notified employees of new voicemail messages during the workday, making voicemail review part of their remote work routine.
Communicate availability before clients tried again
Employees set business hours for their lines, with calls routed to voicemail outside their scheduled availability.
The company also configured automatic text replies to acknowledge missed calls and incoming texts. The preset messages explained when clients could expect a response.
These settings provided clients with information about availability, even when an employee could not answer immediately.
The results: 42% lower communication costs and fewer missed calls
After adopting iPlum, the company reported lower monthly expenses alongside improvements in call routing, response times, and customer satisfaction.
It reported the following numbers:
- Monthly communication costs decreased by 42%
- Missed calls dropped from 30% to below 2%.
- Call routing accuracy increased from 62% to 98%.
- The call drop rate fell from 6.5% to 0.8%.
- Average response time decreased by 75%, from 8 hours to 2 hours.
- First-call resolution increased from 68% to 91%.
The company reduced its communication spending as more callers reached the correct department and received answers during their first call.
Meanwhile, employees conducted business through company-issued numbers on their existing phones, separating client communication from personal calls and texts.
Give your remote workers a better way to communicate with iPlum
Your clients should be able to reach your employees, even when they’re working from home.
iPlum lets your company assign business numbers and department extensions that employees can answer from their own smartphones. Colleagues can then exchange project updates through business messaging, even when they work miles apart.
As you expand remote operations, you can manage those lines through your company account.
Start with the phones your employees already own and build client communication around how your business works today.
