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How Private Hire firms can still compete in an increasingly digital world

The entire private hire industry, from both the business and customer perspective, is moving to more technology-based applications, with a huge disruption occurring in the form of ride-share platforms and app-based booking.

This increase in the use of technology has resulted in customers becoming even more expectant of an immediate response when attempting to book a taxi. If they don’t get through straightaway, the likelihood is that they will move on to the next option instead of trying again with the original company. As such it is vital for private hire companies to stay connected to their customers with the best way of managing this being moving to a cloud-based communications system underpinned by a reliable and secure data service.

 

Why make the move to a hosted system?

Traditional communications technology, which is still heavily relied upon in the industry, is inherently inflexible. When you factor in a lack of features and the difficulties which arise when trying to make changes it becomes even more obvious how it is no longer suitable for today’s requirements. Cloud-based solutions are feature-rich, offering intelligent call routing and redirection based on the number dialled, automatic call diversions if the desired number is unable to answer, time and location of the caller, efficient call queueing and designated call continuity plans – all of which can be instrumental in implementing successful growth plans for a business which depends on a strong communications solution.

Along with providing a whole host of features, modern communications solutions are data-rich systems. Designed to give businesses a greater understanding of their inbound calls, they allow managers to adapt staffing schedules or even recruit new team members in response to peaks in call frequency. By using SIP trunking, business owners are able to scale up and down the amount of concurrent calls they can handle in response to variations in demand. The combination of both these aspects ensures that companies have the right level of resource available to meet customer expectations but can also manage the associated costs.

 

What else needs to be considered to make the most of a hosted system?

When upgrading a communications system, it’s important for most businesses to retain their existing phone numbers which are known by the customer base, however for a private hire business it’s vital. When looking for a supplier, ensure you find one which will port all of your existing numbers over to their network to ensure there is no disruption in how your customer base contact you and so no lost business.

One of the biggest challenges is having the reliable infrastructure to support all of this technology. Call continuity and disaster recovery is essential for a private hire firm, with downtime from poor supporting infrastructure resulting in not only immediate loss of business, but potentially losing those customers to competitors moving forwards. By utilising a robust data connection along with an active standby service, calls can be delivered via one data connection with a back-up connection to a separate office or platform should disaster strike, enabling the business to always stay connected.

 

Conclusion

At Gamma, we provide the underlying connectivity as well as the end-to-end solution. So, when a business works with us, they get a single, reliable, agile provider for all their telecoms and infrastructure needs. We have the pedigree and reliability to underpin these technologies now and the innovative outlook to support into the future meaning you will always have access to the latest in communications technology, giving you the ability to deliver the service your customers expect as well as take on new projects and grow your business.