How Hosted VoIP Solves the Hunt Groups vs. Ring Groups Dilemma

For decades, businesses have faced an ongoing, frustrating dilemma with respect to fielding customer service calls: hunt groups vs. ring groups. 

Hunt Groups

With a hunt group configuration, calls are sent through to a sequence of phones in order to find (i.e. “hunt”) an available employee. For example, a call may ring 3 times at one person’s desk, then 3 times at another, and so on.

The basic problem with a hunt group is that callers can be on the phone for a prolonged period of time before someone answers; and what’s more, there’s no guarantee that someone will answer (which frustrates customers even more!).

It is also annoying to customers who may be on-site, since it looks as though the business is under-staffed; or worse, that nobody is bothering to answer the phone. After all, customers do not know and frankly do not care about hunt groups – to them a ringing phone should be answered right away!

The hunt group approach can also be irritating to customers who are speaking to an employee, and hear in the background that phones keep ringing…and ringing…and ringing.    

Ring Groups

Yet at the same time, ring groups are hardly an ideal alternative. Instead of hunting down available employees, this configuration directs calls to everyone within the specific group (i.e. everyone’s phone will ring at the same time).

The advantage here is that calls usually get picked up faster than in a hunt group. The disadvantages, however, are that it can really put a drain on productivity as employees in the group are constantly interrupted. It can also lead to customers being re-directed to other members of the ring group, prompting them to wonder (or ask) in frustration why the wrong employee answered their call in the first place.  

Ending the Hunt Group vs. Ring Group Dilemma

Fortunately, there’s a proven, simple and highly cost-effective way to permanently solve the hunt group vs. ring group dilemma: implement a hosted VoIP system and take advantage of automated call distribution (ACD).

ACD

With ACD, calls are automatically routed to employees who are logged into the system and available (i.e. not one on the phone with other customers or temporarily away from their desk). As such, the only time a phone rings through is when an employee is ready to pick it up within 1-2 rings.

Furthermore, businesses can program the system to send calls through to employees who have specific training or experience. In this way, ACD functions much like a hunt group, except that phones do not keep ringing…and ringing…and ringing. The system automatically and proactively sees who is available – and skips over anyone who is not.

And perhaps best of all: because the ACD functionality is built on a hosted VoIP system, employees do not even have to be in the same office or building! They can be located anywhere in the world, including a remote/home office.

Learn More

To learn more about the game-changing benefits of ACD and hosted VoIP – and how together they end the hunt groups vs. ring groups dilemma – contact Votacall today. Your consultation with us is free. Now that you have learned the benefits of hosted VoIp, download our FREE eBook on how to choose the right VoIP vendor: