Cloud technology has led to a number of amazing benefits for companies all over the world. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that global companies are projected to spend over $1.2 trillion on cloud solutions in 2027. One of the many reasons companies are utilizing cloud technology is that it allows them to take advantage of remote working opportunities.
As more businesses take advantage of the benefits of cloud technology, they are able to use remote workers to provide a number of services that previously required workers that were onsite. Virtual receptionists are among the workers that are currently able to assist companies offsite through the use of cloud technology.
But are virtual assistants actually useful? How does cloud technology help them serve their employers or clients?
Cloud Technology Helps Virtual Receptionists Offer Excellent Value to Customers Around the Globe
When missing a single phone call can cost your business £1,200 on average (at least according to BT Business), you must be able to answer calls professionally. But when you’re a small business or working for yourself, that’s not always easy.
If you’re with a client, in a meeting, travelling, working on a project, or even just accidentally miss the call because you don’t hear your phone ringing, you’re potentially losing money.
Using BT Business’ estimate as a baseline, even missing one call a week could cost your business £62,400.
Miss one a day (not even counting the weekend), and you’re looking at an average of £312,000 lost a year.
The good news is that cloud technology has made it easier than ever for receptionists to handle these tasks from afar. Many virtual receptionist services talk about the benefits that cloud computing brings to their business models. They point out that the cloud has helped them maximize the uptime of their call service models and connect to customers anywhere in the world.
You might have heard of virtual receptionists before. However, you might not have thought about the benefits that they can bring to your organization as they use cloud technology to engage with your customers.
They work the same way an office receptionist would, dealing with incoming calls and handling customer enquiries efficiently and professionally. Whether that’s taking messages, transferring calls to the correct team member, or sometimes providing answers to customer questions directly. They can also help with some of your business admin, like diary management and booking meetings.
But is it really worth investing in a virtual receptionist? And what benefits can you expect to see if you do?
Let’s find out.
How Does Cloud Technology Help Virtual Receptionists Do their Job?
The cloud helps receptionists serve their clients in a variety of ways. The biggest way that virtual receptionists use the cloud is through cloud telephony. You can learn more about this practice on TechTarget.
Cloud telephony essentially allows people to place calls anywhere they have an internet connection through the use of cloud interfaces. Receptionists are effectively able to take and place calls anywhere, as long as they have internet access.
The cloud also helps receptionists store data about customer messages. They may even store recordings on the cloud, provided they have received consent.
What Are the Benefits of Using Virtual Receptionists that Operate Over the Cloud?
You should have a better understanding of the technical aspects of virtual receptionists using cloud technology. However, you might still not appreciate the benefits of their services. You can learn more below.
Never Miss Another Call
Try as you might, it can be impossible to answer every call yourself, or to have your team answer it. Sometimes you just can’t get to the phone.
And as we’ve discussed, that can be costly.
With a virtual receptionist, you don’t need to worry about these missed calls because they’ll handle them all for you.
So whether you’re with another client, travelling, or simply need a break in the day to recharge, you can do so without worrying about missing calls and losing money while you’re away.
Keep your business open for longer
If your customers can’t call you during regular office hours (for example, because they’re at work themselves), you have a few options.
Let the calls go to an answering machine and hope the customer leaves a message.
Extend your business hours and work longer.
Or, you could use a virtual receptionist to deal with out-of-hours calls.
This allows your business to stay open for longer and deal with more customers without you or your team needing to work all hours of the day.
Even if the customer’s issue can’t be resolved on that first call, they’ll be reassured that they’ve spoken to a real person and that their enquiry has been logged properly.
Professionalize your call answering
It’s not just enough to answer customer calls. Every call needs to be handled professionally to maintain customer service and protect your business’ reputation.
But when you or your team is stressed, running around, and busy, it can be easy to sound harried on the phone or give the impression the caller is an inconvenience you’re trying to get rid of quickly.
You don’t need to worry about this with a virtual receptionist.
Virtual receptionists can deal with all your calls professionally and efficiently and take as much time as it takes to get the customer’s details or provide them with information.
Answer more than one call at once
If you need professional call handling, you might be tempted to hire an office receptionist and have a single person answer the phone.
And there can still be a place for that.
But the problem is, as soon as your receptionist is on the phone, they can’t deal with another call when it comes in.
And calls tend not to come one at a time, so you could very quickly find yourself without your professional call handling.
Virtual receptionists work in teams to answer your calls and can cover each other when one is dealing with a call or has gone on a break.
This means you can deal with every call that comes into your business.
Save on hiring and employment costs
Again, you might be tempted to hire a full-time receptionist to sit behind a desk and deal with calls.
But hiring full-time staff members is expensive (especially when you consider that they can only handle one call at a time, as we’ve already mentioned).
An experienced receptionist can cost anything up to – and above – £30,000, and hiring a receptionist with specific industry experience can be even more expensive.
Not to mention all the additional costs of tax, insurance, holiday pay, sick pay, pension etc and the administration that comes with employment laws and regulations.
With a virtual receptionist service, you only need to pay for the time or volume of calls you need, so the price is considerably lower, and you get a more comprehensive phone answering service.
Have opportunity to scale
Another reason a virtual receptionist service can be a better choice than a full-time receptionist is the scalability of your call handling.
If your receptionist struggles with the number of calls they have to deal with, what are your options?
It’s likely you or your team will have to deal with the overflow of calls – which is what your receptionist is supposed to stop from happening.
Or you could hire another receptionist. But again, that’s expensive, and then there’s the time to train your new hire. Then if things quieten down later, you’ve got an extra employee with nothing to do.
A virtual receptionist service is much more scalable.
When you need more support, you can simply invest more hours and instantly have more resources at your disposal. When things calm down, scale back your investment.
Improve business processes with a virtual receptionist
Virtual receptionists are a perfect addition to modern offices.
With more employees working fully remote or hybrid and more businesses being based out of co-working spaces or having no physical office space, having a virtual receptionist ensures your employees and customers can remain connected.
Far from being just a tool for answering calls, a virtual receptionist service can be scaled to create an outsourced switchboard and diary management function, allowing you to get on with completing projects and helping customers without worrying about missing calls.
Discover the Benefits of Working with Virtual Receptionists Over the Cloud
Cloud technology has provided many benefits to businesses all over the world. One of the most overlooked benefits is that it allows virtual receptionists to take calls remotely. The advantages listed above should help you appreciate the reasons companies use their services.