Insights

TFUS19 Explores How to Build Trust and Drive Engagement with Toll-Free CNAM and TFN Identity

Oct 17, 2019

Up to 90% of calls without contact information go unanswered.

Take a second and let that statistic sink in. Being able to recognize an incoming call not only provides an important competitive advantage for businesses looking to drive trust and maximize customer engagement; it helps customers capture the attention of consumers and convert prospects into purchasers.

Unfortunately, the reality of the current Toll-Free ecosystem is that there is not and never has been a centralized CNAM database that provides authoritative data to callers.

So how can we end this trend and start offering invaluable CNAM information to consumers and the greater telecom industry? Enter TFN Identity. Developed by Somos, the administrator of the SMS/800 Toll-Free Number (TFN) Registry and authoritative source on Toll-Free data, TFN Identity provides a platform that customers can trust to deliver Caller ID information from their Responsible Organization (Resp Org), a source they know and recognize. We all know that Toll-Free Numbers are an extension of a company’s brand, so why not provide the opportunity to give customers maximum visibility? 

As we learned in the TFUS19 breakout session, Take the Guessing Game out of Toll-Free Calls with TFN Identity, the independent databases currently out there lack consistent control over how brands are represented. This session’s panel asked: How can we build a trusted voice for consumers? This conversation, led by Eduardo Brazao, Somos’ Director of Business Development, included industry and CNAM professionals including:

• Chris Brunner, Founder and CEO, Telo 
• Seth Hill, Senior Network Planner, Intrado 
• Mike Schinnerer, Vice President, Product Management, Transaction Network Services
• Rajeev Veettil, CTO and Co-Founder, Rybbon 

One of the keys to building trust in voice is to align and unify our industry in a way that reinforces the value of Toll-Free. We know that businesses want to ensure that they are Making the Perfect Connection with their customers; it’s our mission to provide a trusted platform that not only facilitates this but is easy to adopt. TFN Identity aims to achieve these goals by providing an authoritative repository where brands can store their name, and have it validated by Resp Orgs. In doing so, TFN Identity benefits customers and builds trust. It provides a win-win for everyone in the Toll-Free and greater telecommunications industry. 

Interested in being a part of developing a value-add differentiator that can be marketed to your customers and the communications industry as a whole? Contact connect@somos.com and help shape the Toll-Free Caller ID roadmap! When you join the TFN Identity Beta program, you’ll be invited to help shape features and functionality that go beyond the simple display of a company name and logo.