Many companies in today's competitive marketplace are operating on slim margins. It can be tempting to try and cut overhead spending in an effort to increase profitability, but there are some services that you shouldn't be willing to compromise if you want to maintain the integrity and reputation of your company. One of these services is call forwarding.

Here are three reasons why call forwarding should remain an integral part of your company's infrastructure, regardless of cost.

1. Call forwarding helps customers avoid voicemail messages.

When customers contact your company looking for help, they want to reach an employee and not a voicemail. According to research studies, 80 percent of callers who are sent to voicemail do not leave a message because they believe the message will never be heard.

This means that if you eliminate call forwarding, you could be alienating a lot of customers and missing out on some important business correspondence. Ensure your customers are always able to reach a live employee by retaining your call-forwarding services.

2. Call forwarding helps maintain flexible work schedules.

According to some experts, as many as 2.8 million employees work remotely for a majority of their scheduled weekly hours. If you have employees who need to perform vital job-related tasks while away from the office, then having a call-forwarding service can help these remote employees maintain communication with the home office.

A call-forwarding service can automatically send any calls received by a work number to an employee's laptop or cell phone. This feature gives your employees the flexibility they need to travel or work from home without compromising connectivity to the home office or customers.

3. Call forwarding can help boost credibility.

Many customers want to know they are doing business with a credible company. By taking advantage of the services a call-forwarding company can provide, you can increase the public's perception of your credibility in the future.

Call-forwarding services enable you to have multiple lines forwarded to a single phone. You can provide customers in remote locations with a toll-free or local number to call, ensuring that they will feel confident in communicating with your company. By increasing the perceived reach of your company's communications network through call forwarding, you can bolster public confidence in the presence and professionalism your company can provide.

Once you understand the benefits that call forwarding can provide for your company, it becomes easy to see why this overhead expense shouldn't be cut from your budget.