How To Create Your Own VoIP App? Among the many modern business software and tools that are available today, you will find many software options that work as a system for receiving and making calls.
For a large number of businesses, such a tool is integral, so companies first determine what functions and features they need, as well as what budget they are willing to allocate for a subscription to such a service.
Read: Benefits of using VoIP Services for your Business
However, every business has its characteristics. When it comes to communicating with customers, partners, and suppliers, companies must pay due attention to ensuring that conversations flow smoothly.
The options for such software, which can be purchased for a subscription, are often versatile so that every business can receive a set of the most important functions.
However, if you want to improve the quality of your organization's communication, you might consider designing a bespoke VoIP phone system.
Read: 4 Reasons Businesses Should Start Using A VoIP Number
Since this is not a simple application, you should expect development to take up to one year, sometimes even longer. It all depends on what kind of development team you work with and whether you have a clear understanding of what you want your custom phone system to look like.
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The long development time is also due to the fact that it is a complex software that includes many features and details. It should be a highly secure, end-to-end encrypted platform that can support high-quality features.
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Despite all the possible technical difficulties and quirks, you can get a phone system that will work for the benefit of your business.
How To Create Your Own VoIP App?
We'll talk about why you should consider creating a custom platform for receiving and sending calls, and what you need to build your app.
Why should you build your platform?
The concern of all business leaders is to ensure a competitive advantage for the company. This is not easy for many reasons, given the enormous competition.
However, poor communication both with clients and within the company significantly worsens the situation for many firms. Companies must take care to provide employees with advanced opportunities to communicate with buyers and provide tools for collaboration.
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The next point is concern for impeccable customer service. Today, a high level of client service cannot be achieved if you use outdated telephone systems, which at the same time require investment in equipment and maintenance.
As the first Internet-based telephone systems began to appear, companies began to see many benefits. Their expenses began to decline. In addition, business employees were able to have unhindered conversations with both customers and colleagues.
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The biggest benefit is that companies have gained greater flexibility since the use of such applications allows employees to do their work from anywhere in the world without putting the company at risk.
Despite all the difficulties associated with developing a custom application, companies can achieve a solution that will give them a competitive advantage.
This choice will be beneficial in the long run. Furthermore, you may design everything exactly how your firm requires it, rather than depending on a universal solution.
How and where will your platform work?
You are about to start developing a multifunctional platform that will have a positive impact on all business processes. Before you begin the development process, you should decide how and where your custom platform will work. Here are some options you can consider:
Computer software development
This option is becoming the preferred choice of large businesses, which often choose to outsource certain types of tasks, especially the support team or call center. Contact redirection to accessible team members, digital assistants, audio and video recordings of telephone talks with users, and other functions are available on such platforms.
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Web-based platform development
It works similarly to the first, except that such a platform will be located in the cloud. Your employees will need to log in using the browser they use every day for work. Moreover, you can access the platform not only on a computer or laptop, since you can use any gadget. All you need is a Chrome browser or any other, as well as a high-speed network connection.
Development of a platform for mobile devices
If you have ever used Skype, WhatsApp, or another similar application, then you already have experience using VoIP. Such platforms offer seamless exchange of text messages and various media files, and the opportunity to make and receive calls. You can invest in developing a similar platform for your business communications.
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Key features you need in your phone system
When you have a team consisting of Designers, Software Engineers, Project Managers, and other professionals, you need to think about what functions your custom platform will perform.
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Depending on how you do business daily and if you already have experience using similar programs, you can determine which features you need, and which can be excluded.
Here is a list of features you may need:
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Import your existing user base, as well as seamlessly add new contacts. Your system should be set up in such a way that when used, you can add your existing customer base without any difficulty, and also that adding new contacts is a simple and convenient process;
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Convenient management of user contacts. You will have a card for each user, but it will be much more convenient if you can manage your contact cards to make the settings you need. For example, you may want to assign several phone numbers to one user;
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Quick connection with other employees. Businesses can use VoIP systems for collaborations, as well as quick communication with necessary colleagues. Your system should allow employees to quickly communicate with their colleagues, which can be done through extension dialing;
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Transformation of a message left by voice into a text message. If it might take your specialists a lot of time to listen to all the messages recorded by voice, then thanks to this feature, they will be able to check all the left voice messages much faster;
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Direct the call to an available team member. It's unlikely that your customers will be happy that no one answers their call. This happens when there is no call-forwarding function. You can improve customer service with this feature because if some staff are busy, other people will be able to promptly answer client calls;
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Informing users about the waiting period. The function of redirecting user calls to available employees may not help if all specialists are busy. During busy work days when no one is available to answer the phone immediately, customers will be informed where they are in line. This will help reduce tension;
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Visibility of how long a client waits for a call to be answered. Your platform will show your employees the number of users waiting for a call to be answered, and they will also see which users are waiting longer than everyone else. Specialists will be able to pick which calls demand rapid attention in this manner;
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Display information about the calling user. Even before specialists answer calls, they can see information about who is calling. For example, this may be a loyal customer, so specialists will be able to immediately find the right approach for a specific client;
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Connecting a second specialist to the call. If necessary, when the buyer wants to talk to the manager or needs additional consultation with another specialist, you can create a conference call with three users. This eliminates the need to stop the discussion with the buyer and inform them that someone will reach out to them. You will be able to recognize user issues and needs swiftly and confidently and handle contentious situations;
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Availability of other employees. In addition to the previous feature, you can implement the function of viewing the availability of other employees. This way, your specialists will know which colleagues are online and can answer the call;
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Saving call recordings. This feature has many advantages, since it makes it easier to monitor the work of employees and their communication with clients, helps to receive feedback, analyze conflict situations, and also create relevant training materials.
There are also many other features that you can implement into your custom app. In addition to the above, you can take care of implementing video calling functionality, integration with other business platforms and applications, technical regulations, and much more.
Read: Types of Custom App Development
The key features you choose will simply depend on how your team works and which features benefit your business.
The steps you should take to build your sophisticated phone system
Step 1
Choose how and where your application will run. This will depend on how you communicate with clients, as well as the size of your company. If you prefer outsourcing, when your support team specialists can work from other countries, then you can choose a desktop application or a cloud platform. If you own a small or medium-sized business, you could prefer a mobile version.
Step 2
Find a role model. If you have already had experience using VoIP systems, then you probably have a service that you admire. You can use it as an example to more clearly explain to your development team what result you want to achieve. You can also pay attention to the shortcomings of the selected service to focus on what should not be in your custom application development.
Step 3
Determine what features you want on your platform. Based on what features your experts consider essential, you can create a list of features that your application should perform. Developing a custom platform for making and receiving calls is an attractive choice because you can implement new features as needed.
Step 4
Select the operating system to run your platform. Depending on where and how your platform will operate, you should choose an operating system. If you are thinking about mobile development of a service, then you should choose either Android or iOS.
You should also choose from the operating system for your computers. However, you can invest in cross-platform development.
Read: Custom Mobile App Development
This may be a more expensive solution, and it will also take you longer to build such a platform. However, you will be able to extract more value from it in this manner, as well as provide your organization with an advantage over others.
Step 5
Select team members to build your platform. Team members don't have to be located in one country or city, as you can find qualified people all over the world. You should explain everything you want to receive and also discuss when you would like to see the finished product.
Gain a competitive advantage by creating a custom VoIP system
Creating a one-of-a-kind corporate platform for calls may be a costly and time-consuming task. However, by taking this step, your business will reap many benefits in the long run.
You're investing in cost savings, a solution that's perfect for your business, and a better experience for your employees.
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Apart from the technical part, which will be performed by qualified specialists, your task is to clearly define what you want your VoIP platform to look like.
A simple solution is to use an example of a ready-made platform that you like. Additionally, you need to select key features that are important to your business processes.
