A company's phone number is a treasured piece of property. We work hard to make sure everyone who needs to contact us has it. We work hard to promote it. So when a company changes their phone number, they don't do it lightly, there had better be a good reason.
This is our current dilemma, our old phone number just wasn't going to keep up with our needs. Not that there was anything wrong with the number. In fact, we had done a great job of getting that number out to everyone, and our call volume is up significantly.
So why change?
To understand why we must change our number, I must first explain how I got us into this situation.
When I started the company, I had very little resources, and even fewer customers. Like many one man operations, I used my personal cell phone number for the business. I was the only one taking phone calls, and many people already had the number, so it seemed like the only option at the time. A second phone number for the business was an additional expense that I couldn't justify.
As business grew, so did call volume, which is always a good thing. but the phone rang night and day. And I had no way of distinguishing a personal call from a business call, unless I already had the number saved. Also, since the call was on my cell phone, I had to field every call. There was no way for any one else in my organization to take phone calls. This became a growing problem.
So I started researching PBXes. I have a background in the old Lucent/ Avaya phone systems, and really wanted the versatility of a PBX-like system. However, I could not afford the high price of these systems, plus, they require a significant re-occurring cost from the phone companies. I looked at various Asterick solutions (this is a GREAT open source phone system that runs on commodity computer equipment), but again, I didn't want to spend my time setting up and supporting a box. For our needs, Asterick is over kill. I looked into several VOIP solutions, but most were going to cost over $150/ month, and I just wasn't ready to commit to that.
I kept hoping for a solution from Skype, but it never materialized. I have been a Skype user for several years, and think the technology has a lot of potential. Back when I was on Windows Mobile, I had the Skype mobile client on my cell. I primarily used it when I knew someone was avoiding my calls. Again, when Verizon launched their Skype partnership, I thought maybe now Skype would be a possibility for us. Well, the actual experience was awful. Verizon had now locked Skype out of WIFI, and the only way to use it is over 3G, which means, if you are on a Skype call, and someone calls your mobile number, you get kicked off Skype! Terrible. This manifested itself in a particularly frustrating call with a customer. Plus, even with Skype for business, there is no call routing capability (at least at the time of this post).
About this time (about a year ago), Google Voice was making waves, and I was intrigued. It offers some great features, voice mail transcription, voice mail to text message, voice mail to email ( don't pay for Visual Voice Mail!), and would ring multiple phones. Best of all, it is free! Now, when a customer would call, all of my team's phones would ring. I can forward all after hours calls to voice mail. If there is an emergency, I will still get the notifications. There is even a great Android app, and I can choose which phone number to call from, my cell, or Google Voice. Not quite PBX, but maybe it would be just enough.
Quickly, though, some of the short comings of Google Voice became apparent. When the phone would ring, only I knew if it was personal or not. I have over a thousand contacts in my phone, and there is no great way for us to share contacts. So inevitably, I take 90% of the calls. Plus there is no call routing options with Google Voice. This doesn't put me in a much better position than before, and we keep getting busier.
Back to the drawing board. By now Virtual PBXes are starting to mature, and there are many more options available. Most of the ones I researched have a per user fee, plus limited minutes. What I don't need are surprise bills each month, and really would like to keep the cost below $100/ month.
This is when I found Toktumi. Toktumi offers a very basic call routing and auto-attendant, with up to five extensions for $15/ month. This is more like it! They currently don't have an Android app (they promised one this fall, let's keep our fingers crossed), but they do have an iPhone app, and we have two iPhone users. We'll let you know how this works out. Setting up the call routing was relatively simple with their Web based configuration utility, and seems to work pretty well. Voice mail can be emailed as an audio file (.wav), but there is no transcription at this time. And there is no SMS (text messaging) support yet. So it is not perfect from our point of view, but definitely an improvement.
My hope was to direct the Google Voice number to my Toktumi account, avoiding the painful change of phone number situation, but alas, nothing works the way I want. Apparently, Google Voice doesn't like to be transfered to a PBX. Some in the forums say it is a violation of Google's Terms of Service, but I couldn't find it. Rather, I think it is a matter of Google Voice thinking the auto-attendant is a voice mail greeting, and intercepting the call. Could be wrong, but it doesn't work the way I want.
So, as it stands, if we want our phone system with Toktumi to take our phone calls, then we need to change our company number. It will be painful, and I know that I will continue to receive many phone calls on my other lines, but it has to happen. We are printing new business cards (5,000), and the new number is currently published on the site. We will need a solution to SMS (I get about 500/ month), but hopefully we will have that solved soon enough.
We do apologize for any confusion or problems this may have caused any one trying to reach us. Please try to be patient as we grow, and experience the kinds of growing pains all businesses go through. If you are starting a new business, you should take a hard look at how you manage the phone, and maybe take a look at services like Toktumi.
By the way, our new number is 404-631-6216. Give us a call!