What are Intelligent Numbers?

Intelligent Numbers were first introduced in the UK in 1985 in the form of Linkline, Freefone and LoCall numbers. Not only did they give impetus to highly creative application development in the ICT sector, but they continue to drive this. In turn such creativity has stimulated much of the recent innovation in IP telephony. "Intelligent Numbers" therefore is a term used to describe functionality, rather than particular ranges or call tariffs to which numbers belong. They may be geographic, non-geographic or IP-based.

Intelligent Numbers however offer significant advantages over "traditional" numbers bringing feature-rich call distribution services and network-level control to the organisations using them. This removes the need for special and often many times more expensive end-user hardware.

Network-level services include the following two key elements:

1. Optimal Call Routing
   Call management at network-level allows an organisation of any size to dramatically improve customer support by ensuring that every call is routed optimally. This benefits callers since efficient call distribution improves the likelihood of a quick and appropriate response.
    
   Examples of optimal call routing might include, but are not limited to: 

• Divert on Busy / Unanswered – Calls are routed seamlessly to the first available number in a pre-configured plan. This is advantageous to callers who no longer receive a busy or unanswered tone, but instead have calls routed seamlessly at network level to staff who are available to receive the call;
• Time of Day Call Routing – Calls are routed to different destinations according to the time of day, day of week or other similarly pre-configured plan. This allows even the smallest organisation to extend its hours of operation and improve customer service by routing calls to home or mobile numbers out of hours rather than direct them to an unanswered telephone;
• Geographic Call Routing - Calls are routed to the destination closest to the caller’s own location – for example a call originating in Scotland might be answered by staff in Edinburgh, whereas a call from the South East would be routed to an office in London. This removes the need for large organisations to publish long lists of local access numbers, saves time in taking and manually onward routing calls or asking callers to redial an alternative local number;
• Percentage Call Distribution – Calls are distributed to different destinations on a call ratio basis (for example 30% of calls to one destination, 70% to another) helping organisations to manage calls according to staff availability. This benefits callers by ensuring hold times are minimised since calls will be routed to where staff are available to receive them;
• Home Worker Call Distribution – Calls are distributed to home workers whose numbers are stored in a database at network level. Calls may be routed in strict rotation, longest waiting or other pre-configured plans. Home workers are able to log on and off via a dedicated telephone line or web interface. The economic and environmental benefits of home working are self-evident and well documented;
• Disaster Recovery / Emergency Re-Routing – Since Intelligent Numbers are managed at network level, destination numbers may be updated instantly. In the event of a disaster or emergency, calls may be instantly routed to a new destination. Similarly, should there be too few staff to handle an unexpected increase in calls other network level services (such as voice to email) may be deployed to ensure they are handled efficiently. This is a clear benefit to callers as it ensures continuity of service where it might otherwise be impossible;
• Network Call Queuing – Spikes in call volumes can lead to high abandon rates. As well as helping an organisation to manage these peaks fairly and efficiently, on-hold messages associated with Intelligent Numbers can provide callers with valuable information such as important web and email addresses or alternative ways to contact staff.

2. Data Transfer and Management
   In addition to optimising voice traffic, Intelligent Numbers also deliver considerable benefits for data transfer and management. Perhaps the earliest example is the introduction of 0845 numbers, a vital element in the UK ISP business model and the proliferation of dial-up Internet access in the late 1990s. Nowadays Intelligent Numbers are used by organisations to transfer and manage data in diverse ways.
    
   Typical examples include: 

• Fax Management and Delivery – Unlike a physical machine, which transmits a busy tone if it is sending or receiving another fax, hundreds of faxes may be sent simultaneously to Intelligent Numbers. The storage and onward delivery of messages is configured and managed at network-level, for example via:
  • Fax to email – Faxes are delivered instantly as email attachments allowing distribution to multiple recipients around the office or around the world (at no cost). Fax to email offers other environmental and efficiency benefits too reducing paper wastage and toner usage. A digital archive of fax messages can be created using a standard email application like Microsoft Outlook.
  • Web based management – Faxes are stored on the server and users are able to log in via a web interface to view and manage them.
• Voicemail and Voice to Email – Just as TIFF and PDF image files may be used as attachments for fax to email services, WAV or MP3 audio files are often used to store and distribute voicemail messages. Voice to email and web based message management are operated in exactly the same way as the fax services described above.
• Real-time Call Handling Data – Efficient call handling is radically improved with the availability of real-time data (for example current call volumes, average call duration and hold times). Solutions ranging from simple web interfaces to bespoke call centre applications have been developed to deliver real-time call data for Intelligent Numbers.
• Call Statistics – In addition to real-time call handling data, statistics are crucial to organisations wishing to maximise efficiency and improve customer service. Intelligent Numbers provide historical data which may be analysed (again using an online interface or custom software) to show call volumes by day, week, month, call duration, geographic area of callers, answered versus unanswered calls, time to answer data and similar performance indicators.

Since Intelligent Number services described above are operated at network-level, many providers offer simple web interfaces to their number management and data services. This approach allows even the smallest of organisations to deliver high levels of customer service through optimal call routing and analysis. These types of Number Translation Services were previously only available to large organisations with infrastructure budgets which, allowed sophisticated call management hardware solutions.