However, many call forwarding services do not support outgoing calls.

• I’m receiving calls via telework, but I can’t make calls from here
• If you make a call from your smartphone, your number will be revealed
• Can I bill the company for the call charges incurred in business?

I think there are many people who have such troubles even though they are answering phones by telework.

“Call forwarding service + BYOD” attracting attention in telework

The obstacles when we suddenly had to introduce telework during the pandemic were the lack of fixed-line support and telework devices.

However, now that telework has permeated companies, measures are being taken to address these issues.

An increasing number of companies have introduced a “call forwarding service,” which forwards incoming calls to their fixed-line phones to other phones such as mobile phones.

The common sense of “going to work to answer the phone” is disappearing.

In addition, in order to promote telework, we are lending mobile phones and smartphones to employees working in the office and allowing them to use their own devices.

Using a private device for business is called BYOD (Bring your own device).

Advantages and disadvantages of call forwarding services

Call forwarding services provided by telecommunications carriers are increasingly being introduced as a countermeasure for fixed phones during telework.

For example, if you have a landline contract with NTT, you can subscribe to an option called “Voice Warp” provided by NTT.

Voice Warp automatically forwards landline incoming calls to pre-registered destinations.

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Forwarding services such as VoiceWarp allow you to set up a forwarding destination to your mobile phone or another landline number, allowing you to answer your company calls while telecommuting or on the go.

Incoming calls are automatically forwarded, eliminating the need for employees to manually forward calls. It doesn’t matter if the office is empty.

In addition, you can select forwarding conditions according to the situation, such as “unconditional forwarding” that forwards all incoming calls, and “forwarding when no answer” forwards calls when the forwarding source cannot answer.

In addition, with the higher plan “Voice Warp Select”, you can also set “Incoming call” and “Forwarding” for each caller number.

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With a call forwarding service, when you return the call to the other party, the call will be made from your own mobile number, and the number will be revealed.

For the other party, it may be difficult to answer the call because the caller is from an unknown mobile number and does not know who the caller is.

Also, with voice warp and other carrier call forwarding services, you can only select one forwarding destination, so it is a disadvantage that the phone calls are concentrated on one person.

BYOD Issues are Caller ID Notification and Call Charges

There are some challenges when using a carrier’s call forwarding service on a BYOD device.

One is caller ID notification. If you make a call from a personal device, your phone number will be notified to the other party as the caller ID.

If you don’t want your business partners or customers to know your private phone number, you need to take some measures.

Another issue is the burden of call charges. Since you will be charged for the number of calls you make, you must consider whether you can charge the company for the amount used for business.

How to make a call without private number notification / call charge burden with BYOD

If you use a call forwarding service, it is possible to respond to landlines even when working from home.

Now, let’s think about how to solve the problems of “number notification” and “payment of call charges” when making calls from personal devices.

AI call forwarding service “Canario”

Canario, provided by NEC Networks & System Integration, uses AI to respond to incoming calls to fixed-line phones and forwards them to the person in charge by name transfer.

When the person in charge calls you back from his or her cell phone, you can call from a dedicated 050 number, so your private number will not be known to the other party.

Call charges for calls made using the 050 number will be billed to the company, so there is no need to worry if there are many occasions to make calls or if the call is long.

“Cloud PBX” that can make your smartphone an extension

“Cloud PBX” is a system that builds a switchboard for extension telephones on the Internet, and services are provided by various business operators.

By using cloud PBX, you can use terminals such as smartphones and personal computers as extensions and use them like business phones.

In addition to answering incoming calls to landlines, it is also possible to talk between extensions in the same way as in the office.

You can use your company’s landline phone number for external calls and your own extension number for internal calls, so you don’t have to worry about your number being exposed.

Calls made from landline numbers are covered by the company, and there is no charge for the individual.

Packet communication occurs on each device, but you can take measures by connecting to Wi-Fi.

Assign another number to your mobile phone “Mobile Choice 050”

Rakuten Communications’ “Mobile Choice 050” is a service that allows you to assign a dedicated number starting with “050” to your mobile phone.

If you use the “050” number for all outgoing calls at work, you can make outgoing calls without letting the other person know your private number.

Calls from “050” will be billed to the company, so there is no cost burden.

However, “Mobile Choice 050” does not have a forwarding service from a landline phone, so if you are teleworking, you will need to prepare a separate method for forwarding calls.

Automatic forwarding and BYOD calls are possible with “Canario”

In the past, the presence of a landline phone often made it unacceptable to leave the office.

It’s a very big change that you can now respond to incoming calls on landlines with telework, and you can now make calls from your business number.

However, there may be some people who are worried that “even with telework, I still spend a lot of time answering the phone and my work is not progressing.”

Compared to responding in the office, it may take extra time to respond to absences and return calls.

In NEC Networks & System Integration’s “Canario”, AI performs the primary reception and forwarding of calls.

There is no need for manual intermediation by employees, and AI will transfer the call if the person in charge is named, eliminating the time spent on primary response!

If you can’t answer the phone, it will send you a message by text. It’s nice to be able to call back from the 050 number.

• Telework for landlines
• Automation of primary receipt/intermediation
• Calling from a business number

“Canario” fulfills all of these. Please feel free to contact us.