A record that quietly goes stale
When a business had analogue lines, each number lived at an address because the copper did. With hosted voice, a number follows a user, a handset or an app, wherever it happens to be. The address held against that number for emergency calls is whatever was entered when the number was set up, and it stays that way until someone changes it.
Customers move office and tell you about the new broadband, but not that forty numbers should now show a new address. A company opens a second site and moves a team there using existing extensions. Staff work from home on softphones. Each change is small and normal. Each one leaves the address record a little further from reality.
Your team knows this matters. What they lack is a list of which numbers are at which address, and a routine for keeping it right.
Your obligations here, and what your hosted voice supplier requires of you, are set by the regulator and your supply agreement. This article is about the record keeping that lets you meet whatever those require. What the right process is for your business is for you and your adviser.
Why the addresses drift
- Addresses are entered once, at provisioning, by whoever set up the numbers.
- Office moves are handled as connectivity projects, and number addresses are not on the checklist.
- Numbers are reassigned between users and sites by customers themselves on their admin portal.
- Remote workers and softphones make 'the address' a question the customer has to answer.
- Addresses are updated in the supplier's system, which is separate from your own records.
Why a register is worth having
| Situation | What the register gives you |
|---|---|
| Customer moves office | A list of numbers to update, ready to action |
| New site opened | Prompt to confirm which numbers are there |
| Customer asks what is recorded | A clear answer, number by number |
| Supplier asks you to confirm records | A current list with confirmation dates |
| Staff member leaves your team | The process does not leave with them |
The aim is not to make judgements about how your customers use their phones. It is to make sure the record you hold reflects what they have told you, and that you have asked them.
The register and routine we build
- Every hosted number is listed with its customer, the address currently recorded with your supplier, and the date it was last confirmed. Where the supplier has an API, the recorded address is read directly.
- Customers' site addresses are held on their account. Numbers whose recorded address does not match any known site are flagged for review.
- Office move and new site orders include a step that lists the numbers affected and asks the customer which should change.
- On a schedule you choose, each customer's administrator gets a short confirmation request: here are your numbers and their recorded addresses, are they still right? Changes they send come back as tasks.
- Updates made with the supplier are recorded with who made them and when, so the register and the supplier's record stay in step.
- A report shows numbers never confirmed, confirmations overdue, and changes waiting to be made.
How often to ask customers, and what to do about remote workers, are policy questions for you. The tool follows your decisions.
What your team has afterwards
A current list of every number, its recorded address and when it was last confirmed. A routine that runs without anyone remembering it. Office moves that include the address update as a normal step, not an afterthought. And, if anyone ever asks, a record showing when you asked each customer and what they told you.
Customers also get something useful: a clear list of their numbers and where each is registered, which many of them have never seen before.
Signs your records need attention
- You could not list every hosted number with its recorded address today.
- Office moves do not include updating number addresses.
- Customers have never been asked to confirm their records.
- Address updates are done in the supplier portal with no record of your own.
- Remote working has never come up in conversations about addresses.