Call forwarding is an extremely useful feature in a telephone system that allows an incoming call to be forwarded to another phone or cell phone where the called party can be reached. The main benefit of call forwarding – especially for businesses – is that no valuable customer call will be missed, and the caller will not be frustrated either.
The only alternative to call forwarding is an answering machine or voicemail.
However, it is an undeniable fact that most callers do not like to listen to an impersonally recorded message. There are also some callers who do not want to leave a recorded message because they prefer to speak directly to the person they are calling.
Many business owners who believe that human contact is necessary to develop a relationship with a customer prefer to transfer the call to an answering machine. There are also business people who prefer to have their calls transferred to a call center so that the customer can contact an employee and talk to them rather than using an answering machine or voicemail.
There are also advanced call forwarding features that are flexible
You can choose to forward calls to different phone numbers or voicemail seven days a week, depending on the time of day.
To use call forwarding, you must, of course, take responsibility for activating, reactivating, and deactivating call forwarding before and after hours.
If you have activated voicemail, you can forward incoming calls to your voicemail if you don’t get an answer, or you can choose to forward all calls directly to your voicemail. You also have the option to forward all voice messages as a voice file to your email account. In multinational companies, international forwarding is very common, and calls can be forwarded to any international destination.
If you use call forwarding, you should consider the costs involved.
Note that a transferred phone line is treated as an outgoing call for billing purposes. This means that long-distance charges apply if the number transferred is a long-distance number. Normally, the prefix *72/*73 is used to transfer the call. However, if you’re willing to pay the extra fee, the service provider allows remote call forwarding – which can be controlled from any phone.
This service is certainly a useful phone feature that allows you to receive and answer calls from different locations. If you have this option, all incoming calls are handled by a central answering service, and you only receive calls that are intended for you or your department.
It’s very easy to get call forwarding nowadays, and you can use this service at any service company. All you have to do is select the numbers that the forwarded calls will go to. However, if you want to use this service, you need to choose a reputable and reliable provider with a solid track record.