As a business expands internationally, it often becomes necessary to open satellite offices or use international call forwarding numbers to communicate with suppliers, partners, and customers in the new market.
In many cases, using international call forwarding numbers can eliminate the need to establish a physical office completely. If you do have a physical location, you can use these same numbers strategically to keep your international calling costs as low as possible.
Setting Up A Branch Office to Receive Incoming International Phone Calls
Your branch office employees will need a basic phone system with local phone numbers just as they would if located within your same country, so the initial set-up process is the same. However, those local numbers will be international phone numbers to everyone outside of the branch office’s country, complete with potentially high international calling costs.
If you’d like your domestic team to be able to dial up the remote office without the added confusion and high cost of international long distance, using an international call forwarding number is a convenient, cost-effective option.
Order an international call forwarding number that’s local (or toll free, if desired) to the callers’ country. For example, if your main office is in USA and your branch office is in Brazil, you’ll want to order an international call forwarding number that originates in USA. That way, it will look and act like any other USA phone number.
Set the destination or “ring to” number to the branch office’s main phone number. In this example, you’d set it up so that the USA number rings to your branch office in Brazil.
Setting Up a Branch Office for Outgoing International Phone Calls
Now, do the reverse so that your branch office employees can place a local (or toll free) phone call to reach your main office in another country. In this example, you’d need to order a Brazil call forwarding number and then set its ring to number to your main USA office number. Once complete, your Brazilian branch office employees can call your main USA office simply by dialing a local phone number.
Advanced Techniques
In either case, advanced features such as auto attendant, time of day routing, and more can be set up to provide even more value. For example, if you have bilingual staff members who speak English and Portuguese, you could set up sequential routing so that the incoming calls ring to those staff members first. Likewise, instead of buying an expensive phone system for a small branch office, you could set up your international call forwarding number to serve as a “virtual PBX” system, complete with individual extensions and voicemail boxes.
Your business will still incur international calling costs using this strategy. However, bypassing each country’s default international dialing options is a great way to save money. Our international call forwarding rates are extremely competitive, and all calls are carried over modern PSTN telecommunications networks for the highest audio quality available.
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