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Google Voice
In 2007, Google acquired GrandCentral, “a free service that offers ‘one number for life,’ so that one incoming call to that number gets forwarded to all your other numbers — work, mobile, home or hotel room…Landlines, computers and cellphones can all access its services.”
Since the acquisition little had been done with GrandCentral and many had feared it would be axed, much like what Google had done with the popular service Dodgeball. Those fears were put to rest with the yesterday’s launch of Google Voice.
What does this service mean for Google?
Google will ultimately tie Voice to Google Apps and and more specifically Gmail. You’ll receive calls through Google Chat, call your Gmail contacts with one click, route calls from specific numbers straight to voicemail and have messages transcribed and sent to your inbox.
Google has also added a conference calling feature “allowing conference calls of up to six participants and recording abilities. International calls can also be made through the system at very reasonable rates.”
What does this mean for nonprofits?
We’ll eventually see integration into Gmail and Salesforce, making conference calling, customer service and outreach much easier.
We’ll be able to archive information from conversations and record conference calls.
Smaller nonprofits that don’t have a space where they regularly meet can have calls forwarded to alternating designated people or to voicemail without the hassle of setting up a landline.
People without a consistent number or access to a phone, like people in the field, can messages sent to them via email or respond to messages from another phone when there’s a chance.
A more specific example, nonprofits that provide free voicemail to homeless clients for employment purposes may see a reduction in costs by promoting Google Voice to their clients.
If you’d like an invitation to Google Voice, you can send them your email address here.
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