Our Journey So Far
1998
The idea for virtual numbers started in 1998 whilst working at Yellow Pages. We were selling valued advertising in the printed directories to everyone from small regional businesses to large national advertisers. Customers really wanted to know how well their advertising was working for them and present the opportunity of growing new areas in which a local number would encourage directory users to call. It’s funny now to think back to times before Google was around and Yellow Pages in the UK was at its peak holding similar power to advertisers that Google & Facebook have today.
There was no significant supplier in the market offering tracking services such as these - not even Yellow Pages. It therefore made sense to provide affordable, tracked, localised 01/02 and national 0800/03 numbers, which we placed in paid advertising. For many businesses the only real alternative was BT, who still offer Remote Call Forwarding Numbers at £23.50 per month, with expensive call divert costs of 23 pence per minute.
Therefore, Smart Comms was launched, offering customers tracking numbers at 80% cheaper than BT. In addition, we were able to provide enhanced features to help advertisers manage the inbound calls. These included 'Call Whisper' - announcing the call from the location, classification or directory where that number featured. The amazing call stats provided the number called, dates, times, length of calls, how long it took to answer and call recording. All at fantastic prices.
In the early 2000s Smart Comms launched online, being early adopters of Google, Google Paid advertising and Google organic listings (Search Engine Optimisation). This increased our customer base from just those who wanted tracking numbers like our Yellow Pages advertisers, to the wider audience who had a business requiring localised telephone numbers to divert calls to their mobile.
2005 - Full Time & Fully Limited
Having successfully traded for number of years with online bookings, the demand for a “landline number for mobile” meant we now needed the right people, full time in the business.
Over the years we have continued to develop our virtual landline offering and grow our digital marketing agency, Smart Websites. As well as adding to our fantastic team each year, there have been 4 significant milestones for Smart Comms:
1. Mobile Landline - Outbound Calling From Your Mobile Showing Your Smart Number
Something that remains unique to Smart Comms 10 years on is the functionality to be on your mobile (anywhere in the world) and make a call to your customer, presenting your Smart Number to the recipient.
Having the inbound 01/02/08 or 03 number generate the inbound calls perfectly wasn’t enough - our users found that calling back from a mobile number meant their customers sometimes didn’t answer. In some cases a business didn’t want their customers to have mobile numbers which could be called out of hours etc.
Hence the Mobile Landline was born.
This has been a real game-changer for Smart Comms. Since its launch we've further developed this solution into Mobile App Calling and Softphone Calling via laptops (within our Smart VoIP package of solutions). All options fit for the modern workplace.
2. Smart Comms Google Partner Status
We, more than most communication businesses, understand the importance of the variety of communication channels customers can engage with when looking to purchase a product or service.
Getting your marketing right, understanding where your enquiries are coming from, and utilising the most effective form of advertising are all cornerstones to our Media Agency Smart Websites.
There are many businesses, from sole traders through to online directories, who sell or recommend Google. However as one of the early Google Partners we had to show a certain amount of capability. Firstly exams - yes, you have to pass exams to become a partner and there is an annual exam to retain your partner status. Then you have to demonstrate best practice through the accounts you manage. Thirdly, to be a partner you have to meet advertising spends under management.
We love our relationship with Google, with regular visits to their London head office, quarterly conferences and account works. In conjunction with daily updates on changes, ideas and support from Google, This has become an integral part of our offering. View our Google Partner Status here.
3. WordPress website developers
Bringing in the right skills and people into Smart Comms is always at the forefront of our recruitment. In our media team, we became early adopters of WordPress websites and now have a team dedicated to using this framework, along with custom PHP, WooCommerce and OpenCart eCommerce sites.
Using WordPress designers has really changed the style and approach in which we recommend and build our websites. With a portfolio of 700 plus websites to date, we bring a wealth of knowledge and skills beyond a provider who simply works from home.
Sharing of skills and ideas; As the team has grown, they are able to keep abreast of the latest techniques, designs and approaches to website creation. Uplift in skills means the websites we produce today are our best ever. If this is something you’re interested in, call and talk to our media managers about how they can help your business online.
4. Smart VoIP
As our business has been growing significantly over the years, so have our customers' businesses. We often deal with new start ups on our number sales and, as these businesses have grown, we wanted to provide the next level of telephony solutions such as office landlines, phones and broadband.
We continue to offer and supply traditional phone lines. However, in recent years Smart VoIP has really been breaking the mould on how to provide IP telephony solutions into offices, home users, busineses and call centres.
Smart VoIP, brings together all the great things that a large office phone system allows, along with the huge benefits of running services in the cloud. This leads to cheaper business phone lines, calls and broadband, plus wider, more feature-rich call management solutions. To be frank - it is just brilliant and the future of business phone systems.
We supply, install, maintain and support business IP phone systems across the UK on our award winning IP networks.
As a communication business we love to talk and understand how we can help you communicate with your customers more effectively.
Call our friendly team today on 0345 0178 179
Trusted Partners Agreement
