International Calling

Much has been written about the “global marketplace,” but these references sometimes miss an important aspect of what the trend toward international business means: dispersed workforces. Serving customers in different countries often means that it’s necessary to have employees based in those locations, or at least have them travel there. In both cases, there are ramifications regarding how and where business is conducted.

 

A subset of this reality is a trend toward telecommuting — employees working from locations outside a company’s main office, whether that be from a hotel room during a business trip, from home, from an Internet café, or some other location.

 

Dispersed workers need access to affordable international calling services, just as their office-based colleagues do. There are times when only a phone call with a customer in another part of the world will suffice, and here is necessary for an international calling service to be utilized.

 

Given the tough economic climate, many small businesses are struggling to cut costs without reducing the quality of their products, services or customer support. An international calling service like the one offered by Packetel (News - Alert) can be helpful by offering low long distance rates from any phone.

 

Packetel’s international calling service is somewhat like a calling card, but updated for modern users. Here’s how it works: a user subscribes to the service by choosing a local personal access number. Once activated, this number is used from any phone to access low international calling rates. This number can be programmed into a phone’s speed dial or address book for fast dialing.

 

To make low-cost international calls, the user can dial make use of one of Packetel’s toll-free international access numbers, available for 19 countries around the world. Using this number, coupled with the personal access number, provides access to very low per-minute rates (an additional $0.01 per minute) from any phone.

 

Packetel’s international calling service also features an online account portal where users can buy additional minutes (there’s no monthly fee and no contract), view call history, manage phone book and Quick-Dial functions, and set up follow-me call forwarding.

 

Telecommuters that are part of a dispersed workforce can use an international calling service like the one offered by Packetel to speak with clients at affordable rates, from across the globe. This type of service is a useful tool for being an efficient, mobile worker.

 

To learn more, please visit the International Calling channel on TMCnet.com, brought to you by Packetel.