Choosing a Global Communications Partner: 10 factors to consider

When it comes to scaling global communication services, what's 'on the ground' often matters more than what's ‘in the cloud’.

That is to say: the quality and depth of your voice provider’s network matters a great deal to your customer experience.

Choose the wrong partner, and you could quickly undermine call quality, service reliability and platform trust. Not to mention you may risk breaching local telecom regulations or getting offside with local carriers.

The right partner, however, will set you up for success.

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Here are our 10 top factors to consider when choosing a communications partner:

1.     No middleman

‍By working directly with carriers, service providers sidestep the added costs of aggregators and routing intermediaries. These ‘middle men’ add costs at every leg of call routing and termination.
 

2.    Transparency

‍Are your contracts transparent? Do they ensure that your allocated spend stays on track, or are there “add-ons” required to unlock features or provide additional support?

3.     Lower latency

‍Are your calls terminating at their intended carrier? You want “no mess, no fuss” - just crystal-clear calls. Providing minimal delays to responses is important for the call experiences and quality.

4.    Regulatory assurance

‍As fraud continues to rise governing bodies are cracking down on the use of certain numbers, where they originate and how they traverse and terminate on networks.

You want a proactive approach to this news, not being caught out when your customers enquire about why their numbers are being reported or blocked.

Non-compliance with scam calling or regulatory changes is a reputational risk to any provider. Does your provider help clarify your obligations and bring you across changes as they happen?

5.     24/7 Support

Coordinate with carriers across different time zones can be challenging. Does your carrier provide round the clock support and are a click or call away when needed?

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6.     Provision for local numbers

‍When VoIP isn’t enough, you need to ensure that your carrier offers a wide range of numbers to support your communication needs, including virtual mobile numbers  and international A-Z call routing.

7.     Support for Emergency Calling

‍You want a carrier that provides comprehensive support for in-region Emergency Calling routing – a “must have” for UCaaS and PBX services, often contractually required by government and large enterprise customers.

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8.     Porting support

‍If you are looking to move legacy services away from an existing supplier, you’ll want a carrier partner than is reliable and transparent, one that can assist you in smoothly and efficiently porting your numbers at scale.

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9.     In-country assistance with local license applications

‍Choose a partner who can provide guidance and requirements around the rigorous testing of in market voice infrastructure, ensuring you achieve full local compliance.

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10.    Flexible connectivity options

‍Data Centre, Public Internet, or Peering – depending on use case and desired level of investment, does your carrier have a solution to cover your needs?