We are used to dialing phone numbers in different ways – someone dials all numbers, even landlines with a city prefix, like on a mobile phone (044 4968432), and someone is used to dialing “38” before the prefix – 38044 4968432. With incoming calls, it’s also not it’s simple – landline calls come without an area code (4968432), and mobile calls come with an operator prefix. The contact center needs number translation to standardize the storage and retrieval of phones.
Telecom operators accept outgoing calls from Oki-Toki in their own format and almost never internationally.
For example, if your business grows and you open a representative office in Germany or somewhere else – the customer number without the country code will be confusing and, strictly speaking, will be meaningless.
Therefore, in CRM and ACD, all numbers must be brought to the same form, otherwise duplicate numbers are inevitable. Therefore, we recommend storing all numbers in the format Country code, area code, subscriber number, for example: +380444968432.
According to this intro, there are at least four places where number conversion is needed.
Operator Dialed Number Conversion
In the “Queues and calls” menu, select the desired Queue , section “Operator’s position”, field “Number conversion”.
Number conversion rules are comma-separated on one line. We can choose from the proposed list or register manually.
My transformation rules are: [10]/+7, [11]/-8+7, [9]/+380, [10]/+38, [11]/+3. What do they mean?
- [10]/+7 – if you dial 10 digits, for example 9534700009 – the system will substitute 7 in front of the number and the call will go to the mobile number of the Tele2 client.
- [11]/-8+7 – 11 digits, prefix 8 will be replaced by 7
- [9]/+380 – 9 digits – the system will substitute 380 before the number and the call will go to the mobile number of the client from Ukraine
- [10]/+38 10 digits 0501234567, substitute 38 before the number and the call will go to mobile Vodafone
- [11]/+3. 11 digits, 80671234567 – the system will substitute 3 before the number and the call will go to Kyivstar mobile.
Be careful not to use ambiguities like 38067[7], 38050[7]. Such a record involves adding 38067 and 38050 to any dialed seven digits at the same time, and this is impossible.
Converting numbers in incoming calls
In the menu “Queues and calls” – select the required Queue , section “Phone numbers”, area “Incoming calls”. On the “Advanced” tab, the “Number conversion” field will open.
Conversion when importing contacts
There is a separate article about configuring Automatic number conversion when importing . It describes the basic rules and validation of numbers during manual import and through the API.
The rules used are the same as the queue conversion settings. You can specify several separated by commas.
Important! If any of the phones does not match any of the rules, the number will not be added. And if all contact phones do not fit the rules, the contact will not be added. In the import window, you will see a message about this.
Converting outgoing numbers to carrier format (for advanced users)
Service providers use different number formats. Some of them, like us, require an international format of 12 digits, and others of 10. In order for service providers to accept an outgoing authorization number in the required format, it is necessary to configure number translation in the gateway. Go to the menu SIP-telephony tab Suppliers , select the desired gateway – edit – fine-tuning – Prefix and enter the rule. For example, “+3” means that the number 3 will be added before the number. And “-38” means that 38 will be removed from the number 380444968432 before the call is sent to the operator. For special cases, it is necessary to use conversion chains /-38+545456.
Additionally
- There are unique number types that cannot be converted. They need to be added as separate destinations in telephony settings. For example, a number that starts with “0800”.
- If the dialed number format is not supported by the provider, then it ends the call with SIP 403, SIP 404 responses. There is a separate material about SIP Providers from the provider in two parts.