A call management app for business takes over the phone dialer, so the customer record opens as the phone rings and the outcome is filed as the call ends. That is the whole idea. Everything else follows from where the app sits on the phone.
What is a call management app?
A call management app is software on a work phone that turns each business call into a record: who called, which customer it was, what was agreed and what happens next. On Android, a good one does this by becoming the default phone app rather than sitting beside it, which is how it sees every call in both directions.
The phrase gets used for two different things, which is why searches for it return such mixed results. Operators and phone makers use “call management” for the line itself. Business software uses it for the conversations on that line.
How is a call management app different from Android call settings?
The call settings on the phone manage the line; a call management app manages the customer on it. Here is how the two compare:
| Point | Android call settings and operator services | A business call management app |
|---|---|---|
| What it manages | The line: call waiting, forwarding, blocking, caller tunes | The customer: the lead, the outcome, the next step |
| Where the record lives | The handset call log, on that phone only | The company account, synced from every phone |
| A missed call | A notification that can be swiped away | A callback in a shared queue, with an owner |
| Who can see it | Whoever holds the phone | The caller, and the owner on a web dashboard |
How does a call management app work on an Android phone?
It works by replacing the phone dialer and adding one short step at the end of every call. In Dialmio the sequence runs like this:
- It becomes the dialer. Each caller installs the app on the Android 8 or newer phone they already carry and sets it as the default phone app in one tap.
- The record opens as the phone rings. An incoming call from a known lead shows the name, the stage and the last note before anybody picks up.
- The call ends with a sheet. The caller picks a status, types a note and sets the next follow-up, in about two taps.
- Missed calls become callbacks. A call nobody answered lands in a queue with the time and the caller it rang, until somebody returns it.
- Everything syncs. Calls travel on the SIM; the records travel to the company account, where the owner reads the day per person.
The detail of each step, with screenshots, is on the call management app page.
How do I manage incoming calls with a call management app?
You manage incoming calls by letting the app identify the caller before you answer and file the call afterwards. Because the app is the dialer, an incoming call from an old enquiry opens that lead with its history, so nobody asks the customer to explain again. A number seen for the first time can become a lead from the after-call sheet in one tap, and an incoming call nobody could take goes to the missed call follow-up queue instead of disappearing into one handset.
What should a call management app for Android do?
At minimum it should do five things, and each is easy to check in a trial:
- Take over the dialer, so incoming calls and calls from the contacts list are recorded too, not only calls started inside the app.
- Capture the outcome in seconds, because an update that needs a laptop gets written from memory or not at all.
- Queue missed calls with an owner, so a miss on one phone can be returned from another.
- Call on your own SIM, so customers see a familiar number and there is no per-minute bill.
- Show the owner the day without anyone writing a report.
A call log CRM is the name for the part that merges the phone history and the customer record, and the glossary entry on call management covers the wider meaning of the term. If you are weighing an app that only counts calls against one that files them, the guide to call management vs call tracking sets the two side by side.
What is the best call management app for Android?
The best one is the one that replaces the dialer and costs your callers the fewest taps after each call. For a team of two to fifty working its own enquiries, that describes Dialmio. For a large floor that needs several lines per agent, or an inbound menu, a cloud telephony product fits better. The shortlist of Android call management apps sets the options side by side, including where each one wins, and teams who think of it as a dialer for telecallers will find the same product described on the telecalling CRM page.