For many years, in-country numbers – be they toll (charged at local, national, or international rates) or toll-free (freephone) – have been a crucial way for businesses to provide the best customer service to their global customers.
In our increasingly interconnected world, this has only become an even more important channel for many businesses needing to maintain global reach. Customers increasingly expect the highest levels of customer service, and the voice call to customer service is going nowhere.
In-country numbers – what are they?
In-country phone numbers allow businesses to provide a local, in-country number to their customers to contact them, wherever they are in the world. These phone numbers can route calls to a local contact center, to regional hubs, or back to a single global contact center.
Phone calls may be routed differently at different times of the day (depending on timezones, to allow for 24/7 service), depending on demand, staff skills availability, customer need, or any number of different factors.
In-country numbers: the challenge
But, global telecom networks can be complex. That customer call to an in-country phone number in Singapore may not look like it has to travel far – by global standards – to connect to a contact center in the Philippines, but it may actually pass through a number of different telco service providers, including some subsea cables, on its way…
So, how can the company test their phone number in Singapore to ensure it connects and there are no quality issues on the line? A large enterprise may operate hundreds of similar in-country numbers, in different countries and/or for different types of inquiries. Testing all of those in-country numbers in a way that truly replicates the experience of the customer has always been a challenge.
So, what are the options for in-country number testing that allow companies to test phone numbers in many different countries?
Fully cloud-based in-country number testing
Fully cloud-based solutions exist for testing in-country numbers that mimic the call path without having a physical point of presence in-country. But this doesn’t truly replicate the path of a customer’s call through physical landlines using their local telco carriers.
Real people to test phone numbers
Alternatively, a surprising number of high-tech companies have fallen back on the decidedly low-tech solution of asking people situated in-country – be they friends, family, or paid employees or freelancers – to carry out in-country number testing for them, by manually placing test phone calls. This method of testing phone numbers is a good way to replicate the in-country experience of a caller and verify the connection of in-country numbers. But it’s not exactly a scientific way of measuring the quality of a call, and it’s also not the dynamic, reliable, 24/7 in-country number testing that most companies want and need.
Test phone numbers from a local, in-country, point of presence, with cloud-based control
The final solution available for in-country number testing is one that uses an in-country physical server, connected to real phone lines. The server can be connected to real ISDN (landline) phone lines, or mobile phone services (using real SIM cards), just as a customer’s in-country phone call would be made. Crucially, this type of in-country number testing can be controlled using a cloud-based platform that is much more flexible, accurate, and able to test phone numbers at higher volumes than having a person or people in-country placing test phone calls. The real in-country experience of customers is tested accurately by originating the test phone call from a physical point of presence, but companies can test phone numbers remotely, from anywhere in the world, at any time.
There are also other benefits to this type of in-country number testing:
Automated or on-demand testing
The benefit of a cloud-based platform to control in-country number testing is that companies can completely control how they test phone numbers. Control via a cloud-based platform means the ability to run automated programs of in-country number testing, or test phone numbers on-demand, in real-time. So, ‘pick up’ a softphone and place a test call to a phone number and hear the result, just as a customer would, or set up a schedule of number testing, then sit back and allow an automated program to place test calls and alert you if there are any issues.
Use in-country number testing to test the connection, audio quality, and more
Another benefit to this method of testing phone numbers is the range of factors that can be accurately, and objectively measured. For those interested in delivering the best customer service, testing that a call connects should just be the start of their in-country number testing objectives. Testing can also measure:
- Audio/ voice quality – tested and measured using reliable, objective indicators such as Perceptual Evaluation Of Speech Quality (PESQ) to determine that both sides can hear each other clearly.
- Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) functionality. IVR systems that route phone calls to the best operator often rely on touch-tone keypad inputs from the caller. In-country number testing can be used to ensure this functionality is working correctly.
- Post Dial Delay (PDD). Test phone numbers to monitor the time that elapses between dialing a number and it starting to ring or giving a busy signal.
- Latency. Monitor the time it takes from speaking, to when the other side hears the voice.
- Standard conference functionality. Replicate a conference call via a local phone number and test all-conference functionality.
- Conference call forward functionality. Test access to your conferencing platform via your customer’s call path.
- SIP Route/Dial Out performance. Test your dial-out quality by evaluating a specific carrier’s performance when dialing out from your network, in real-time.
- Agent Response. Replicate and measure the time it takes for a test phone call to reach your customer service representatives.
New to Spearline?
Spearline allows organizations to provide uninterrupted services to customers around the world. The Spearline platform, in particular, offers in-country number testing that tests inbound telecommunications services, as well as dial-out. If you would like to find out more, we would love to speak with you! Please send us a brief message, and we will be in contact with you shortly.