During the early stage of business, usually, it is normal to consider your mobile phone number as a primary number for business. This may be because it is cheaper, easier, and a habit when starting a business venture. However, trying or starting something new can be a hassle for most of us.
But as we think of it, personal needs and business transactions are two different things. This means they require different exclusive approaches since using a personal number for a business will become a conflict and inefficient in the long run.
The times had evolved so much that the days when businesses used telephones were considered the dark ages. Now, a new age for virtual phone numbers has come, replacing the traditional mobile or telephone systems in the business sector.
It is natural when you hear the term “virtual number” or “virtual phone number” you feel a bit confused, maybe because the word “virtual” that makes you think twice about how these numbers can exist and do phone calls online even if it is not really in the first place. It may be confusing, but this number works simpler than you think and can benefit your booming business in future years.
How Different Virtual Numbers to Real Phone Numbers?
Virtual’ this means that virtual numbers is not connected to anything physical online. In contrast, local phone companies own and configure real phone numbers to connect incoming calls to other physical phones connected to their networks. The numbers rely on registered cards known as SIM cards owned by their respective mobile networks.
Users who use virtual numbers can receive calls from all over the world, just like they can with a conventional mobile phone, and they are just as easy to set up and use.
What is a Virtual Phone Number?
Technically speaking, a Virtual number is also called Direct Inward Dialling or DID. This kind of phone number exists without physical connectivity to any device or telephone line, etc. Differently, this allows redirection and rerouting users’ calls from one phone number to another using the device’s IP address.
Reasons Why You Should Quit Using Personal Number in Business
1. Disrupts Work-Life Balance and Compromises Privacy
Accessibility is one factor for clients to feel closer to your business, but being too accessible is different. Answering a call promptly is highly needed, but this should limit their reach to you whenever they want. It is important to be present at work, but business people should consider a healthy life-work balance. To experience this, using a different mobile phone number for personal and business needs can aid in achieving a work-life balance.
One of the main goals of a phone number in business is maintaining privacy while maintaining accessibility. This concept is primarily realized through automated call routing. You can easily set up the system to route calls to you or your staff based on the time, day of the week, and caller’s phone number.
2. Impossible to Control Employee-Customer Interaction
Even if you completely trust your workers, giving them free control limits your ability to assist customers and allows your employees to lose clients due to inefficiency or deception.
Letting your employees use their phones to call customers is like solely giving them the freedom to control that system in your business. Remember tracking your business’s sales, logistics, or customer service performance are all critical. So, if this happens, you will fail to monitor your business’ direction and lose control.
3. Exposure and Vulnerability
Privatization of your personal mobile number will become increasingly important to you, particularly as the number of SMS and spam calls increases.
Using your SMS number is always a constant threat from pranksters, hackers, and scammers. If this is the danger ahead? Would you still be willing to take the risk and advertise or pose your phone number?
4. Communication is Limited
You may find it difficult to expand your call-processing capabilities like adding business-oriented qualities to your phone system when using your personal phone number.
Sometimes, cases may also result in difficulty in changing one’s company number while your business is growing. So better start doing it now while it is still early, and it will not affect your branding.
5. Places You in a Bottleneck
You may misplace your phone, leave it at home, or worse, have it stolen. In all cases, your primary mode of communication has been lost and obtaining a replacement phone, and SIM could take days.
A virtual number’s availability is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and can be forwarded to virtually anyone, including multiple people, with just a few clicks. So, if your current phone is not working, take out the spare and use it to make and receive calls until the problem is resolved.
Personal numbers are inconvenient, inefficient, and unsafe to utilize in the workplace.
To oppose this, you can bring two different phones, use your mobile carrier’s “business” options, or use a virtual phone network. You will have to pick one to avoid the numerous drawbacks of using your personal mobile phone for business transactions. However, you do not have to cross the line.
