Google Voice has updated its settings to allow for a user to change their caller ID. Launched late last year, being able to change your outgoing caller ID can be incredibly convenient if contacting clients in different regions or jurisdictions. Done within ring groups, your organisation will be able to navigate between various company numbers, if enabled by the administrator. Damson Cloud’s Fintan Murphy discusses this update and how it could help you with communication in your business.

Table of Contents

What are Google Voice Ring Groups?

Ring groups are a feature of Google Voice. This feature allows a single number to be diverted to multiple users at the same time or via a round-robin setup. The feature is sometimes called Hunt Groups on a traditional phone system. It is a vital part of any business telephony solution. The Caller ID change is a newer feature which is part of ring groups and we will discuss it in more detail below.

A useful feature in Google Voice, Ring Groups allow a single number to be diverted to multiple users.

How to Change Caller ID in Google Voice

Your caller ID in Google Voice is the number that appears on someone else’s phone. When you are a member of a Ring Group in Google Voice you can now change your outgoing caller ID to match that of the Ring Group you are a member of. This is valuable in many ways but primarily so employees can call out from their main company number. Or a local number in the region they are calling. You need to ensure that your administrator has given you access to this feature in order to access it. By default, your Google Voice number will be the one that has been assigned to you but, if you are part of a ring group, you will now be able to modify that.

If you dial a number on your device, you can switch from a drop-down to the number that is required for you to complete a call. For example, with Damson Cloud, we are now able to use our Irish number and our UK number depending on where our client is. It means that we can contact our clients with their own area codes.

Simple and easy to use, this update is also available on mobile. To access it on a mobile device, go to the dialling pad, select the drop-down menu where you can switch between your Google Voice number and your direct line. Interestingly, on mobile devices, whatever number you have used for your previous dials will be the number that appears as default. Again, to change this, all you have to do is select the drop-down to change the numbers.

Read about our Google Voice Solutions here.

Google Voice allows for caller ID to be switched on mobile devices.

Enabling Switching Caller ID as an Administrator

To be able to utilise caller ID in your organisation, your administrator needs to enable it from the backend for an end-user. To do this, go to ‘Voice Setting’ and click onto ‘Ring Groups’. From here, you can select members of your organisation that you want to give additional access for switching caller ID. Regardless of access, ring groups will still allow for multiple numbers to be diverted to them.

As an administrator, you can have any member of the organisation activated to use these numbers or you can keep it exclusive to particular individuals in your business.

You can enable ring groups in Google Admin’s Console by clicking on ‘Users’.

Why is This Google Voice Caller ID Update Important?

Running a business requires flexibility with so many teams working remotely and in different regions. Google Voice allows you to easily assign numbers and setup users with a telephone system without the need for hardware. The new caller ID feature makes this solution even more flexible especially for companies who operate in more than one region or location.

Available on mobile devices and web so far, this feature is developing fast with more regions becoming available throughout the year. We are interested to see how Google’s continues to develop its video conferencing and telephony solutions through 2021.

As a longstanding member of the Google Cloud Partner program, Damson Cloud specialises in bringing people and ideas together through new ways of working. We champion change management and digital transformation using some of the internet’s most trusted solutions, including Google Workspace, Happeo and Jamboard. To find out more about our services, check out our library of tutorial videos or our blog.