What is business call forwarding?

Call forwarding, or call diverting, means automatically redirecting inbound calls to an alternative destination, such as another landline number, a mobile number, a telephone answering service, or a voicemail system.

People use call forwarding for their business to ensure they never miss a customer call. For example, when an employee is unavailable to answer a call, the call can be forwarded to another colleague.

How does business call forwarding work?

Business call forwarding ensures that every call to your business gets answered, even when you’re out of the office or too busy to answer. Unlike traditional call forwarding, which reroutes calls to a different number, business call forwarding is more sophisticated.

It uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and a three-step process to receive, process, and connect calls based on your preferences.

• See more: Guide to diverting calls on iPhone, Android, and landline phones
• See more: The benefits of an out of hours answering service
• See more: 9 costs to consider when hiring staff

This type of call forwarding causes no delay, and callers aren’t aware of the forwarding, which ensures a more seamless experience and eliminates the risk of frustration from time spent on hold or transfers between departments.

The customisable features you can expect from business call forwarding include:

Unconditional forwarding

This setting enables you to automatically divert all calls from your business telephone number to an alternate number, such as your mobile phone or a backup colleague.

This is useful if you’re off work, usually out of the office, don’t work from a fixed location, or want to advertise your business with a local or national landline number while answering calls on your mobile.

Conditional forwarding

With conditional call forwarding, you can redirect calls to a different number or voicemail based on certain conditions. For example, when:

• your business phone line is busy
• a call isn’t answered within a certain amount of time
• your mobile is switched off or you don’t have service
• you’re unavailable or don’t want to be disturbed

Conditional forwarding also enables you to divert specific caller IDs to another number, such as your mobile phone, a particular colleague, or a telephone answering service. This can be beneficial for handling calls from key clients or other important business contacts when you’re out of the office.

Sequential ringing

The sequential ringing function diverts calls to multiple phone numbers in a pre-determined order (such as office phone > mobile phone > different colleagues’ numbers) until the call is answered or before diverting to a telephone answering service or voicemail.

Simultaneous ringing

Simultaneous ringing is a feature where an inbound call to your business rings on multiple phone devices at the same time until someone answers. As soon as one person accepts the call, the ringing stops on the other devices.

Time-based call diverting

With time-based call diverting, you can programme calls to be forwarded based on the time of day. For example, you can divert inbound calls to your mobile or an on-call colleague after hours or route calls to specific people based on assigned shift patterns.

How to divert your calls

Anyone can divert their personal calls to another number by searching for ‘call forwarding’ in their phone’s settings or by dialling a specific code. We have a more detailed guide on how to divert calls on iPhone, Android, and landline phones here.

To set up call forwarding for your whole business, it helps to turn to a specialist provider like Bizik. We offer business telephone and personalised telephone answering services to suit various needs. Here are the three services we offer.

Call forwarding using Bizik’s telephone answering

This service helps you forward your business’s calls from your number to us, so our team of Bizik PAs will answer your calls on your behalf.

To get it set up, you’ll need to follow our simple instructions, and we’ll start answering immediately. We’ll provide you with the phone number to divert your calls to, also known as a diversion number (DDI).

This service is perfect for businesses that already have a business phone number that they would like to keep but want some support handling phone calls.

Call forwarding using Bizik’s business telephone number service

This service helps you take your own phone calls while protecting your personal phone number.

We can provide you with a brand-new business phone number, whether regional, national, or freephone. Then, you can set up a diversion from that number to your own phone number.

This will make your business appear more established and professional, and you’ll be able to answer calls without publicly disclosing your phone number.

Call forwarding using Bizik’s telephone answering & business telephone number service

This service offers the best of both worlds. We’ll provide you with a business phone number and answer your calls for you.

We’ll set up our divert system so people who call this number always go directly through to a Bizik PA, who’ll answer your calls on your behalf and in the manner you want.

The benefits of business call forwarding using Bizik

Our telephone answering specialists provide a personalised telephone answering service at the level you’d expect from your own reception staff. Here’s what else you’ll gain.

1. Never miss an important call. Forwarding your calls to us ensures your business is available to customers, leading to improved brand image and caller experience.
2. Increased productivity. When we handle your non-urgent inquiries, you can focus on other priority tasks, free from distractions.
3. Improved professionalism. Bizik PAs are trained customer service experts who know how your business runs and how you want them to answer, so they can handle inquiries quickly and effectively.
4. Cost-efficient, convenient customer service. Hiring full-time PA staff to manage calls can be expensive. Our virtual PA service provides an affordable solution that scales with your business.
5. Useful customer data. At Bizik, we’ll inform you exactly how long customer calls last and what they’re calling about. You’ll receive full transcripts of calls and detailed reports on essential statistics to help you learn what their pain points are and how your business could improve.

Wrapping up

The Bizik telephone answering service is the perfect solution for businesses of all sizes. From small teams to SMEs managing high call volumes, our trusted and professional agents are here to ensure every call gets handled quickly and professionally.

We provide flexible, tailored support that fits your business needs, so your customers receive a consistently exceptional experience with every interaction. Letting Bizik manage your incoming calls frees up valuable time to focus on growing your business without compromising customer satisfaction.

We’d love to talk more about how Bizik can support your goals and elevate your customer service. To learn more about our tailored telephone answering services, contact us at 020 3917 7444 or explore our seven-day free trial option.