Adapting to the Modern Workplace
In this fast-moving age of ever evolving technology and expanding business needs, being able to remain adaptable can be a lifeline for a business. The ability to be able to pivot and respond to swiftly changing situations can ensure that your employees can remain productive, and that your customers can still be served.
Sometimes this means changing how you work. As jobs become more mobile, so too have the applications and software used for day to day operations. This has opened up new ways for employees to engage with their workload and improve their workflow.
One aspect of this has been not just how people work, but where. Many companies have started to introduce work from home policies or are working while traveling. This creates new variables to keep track of when addressing performance expectations.
A particular variable has been figuring out how to handle phone usage for business operations, and how to allow employees to work from home while also not cutting them off from telecommunications. Especially for businesses where phones are an important part of day to day operations, their usage has been the hurdle for many companies interested in allowing for a mobile workplace.
Traditional landline phones don’t really allow for this and implementing company cell phones can be a costly expense. For companies whose business relies heavily on the use of phones, this is a problem. Thankfully, there are solutions.
Used by many companies today to provide a solution to this conundrum, VoIP phones have opened new doors regarding how we work. By harnessing the power of the internet, companies that would have once been bound to the office can now truly take it with them anywhere. This has allowed for a new wave of flexibility and shifting focus towards allowing employees to remain efficient no matter where their office is.
There are many applications of VoIP for out of office work. Let’s take a look at them and give you an idea of how you can mobilize your work force and keep them in contact with one another.
Using VoIP to Work From Home
Working from home has become something of a necessity for many organizations. Whether it is having employees that always work remote, having people work from home certain days of the week, or keeping your workforce home during times of crisis, keeping clear channels of communication is important.
VoIP phone services have allowed for that in a few ways without sacrificing any sort of workplace efficiency.
Bringing Your Phone with You
Perhaps the most direct way that this works is by allowing employees to take their IP phone with them when they are transferring to a work from home setup. By doing so you can take advantage of all the things that using the IP phone can do at an office, in your home! This includes:
- Keeping the same phone number for incoming calls
- The ability to plug into your modem and have the phone function as though you were in office
- Direct functionality for directing calls, paging coworkers, transfer calls, etc.
By being able to setup work phones remotely, employees are able to keep the network of connections they have in office, without having to change or learn any kind of new communications methods. After setup is complete, phone communications can resume as normal, and teleconferencing internally and externally should see very little in the ways of noticing anything has changed.
Using Cell Phones as Mobile Workstations
More and more, cell phones are becoming advanced pieces of technology with almost limitless applications. They have impacted how we communicate, how we search, and how we work. Business application suites like Office 365 have mobile versions, and many companies with mobile workers incorporate cell phone usage into their strategy.
This can also work for business phone usage, as VoIP technology has advanced to the point of being able to be used on cell phones. Numerous apps have been made available to facilitate this, with the ability to access a VoIP network from a software application.
One such software, Bria, allows you to do this while also keeping the same business phone number, so that you can receive incoming calls and make outgoing ones as though you were using that phone.
This app in particular also allows for usage of contact lists, call forwarding, as well as all the other features you would typically associate with having a VoIP phone in your home, all from the power of your cell phone. You can also do so via a wi-fi signal, so that data charges are not applied.
While not a total solution, this allows for companies to have mobile VoIP setups without having to haul around their IP phones from place to place.
Work from Anyplace, at Anytime
One of the big issues that can occur during periods of remote work is location. If an employee is traveling to someplace new, or in more dramatic cases traveling abroad to another country, there can be big problems in establishing contact.
Additionally, there are situations where a candidate might come along that is a perfect fit for everything your business is looking for but is not local to your company.
Thankfully VoIP technology has been able to provide solutions to these situations as well. Through the use of IP phones and the ability to video conference alongside other digital means of communication, you can ensure that no matter where an employee is, they are able to communicate and interface with the rest of the company.
Reduce Stress in Critical Situations
During times of crisis or increased stress, finding comfort and ways to keep things calm can dramatically improve a work environment, no matter where that environment is.
With the relative ease of use, and the plug-in and go nature of them, IP phones and VoIP services can make sure that your employees aren’t having to deal with added stress in an already tense situation. If they are working at home, they can get set up and start working without having to worry about complicated installations or troubleshooting procedures.
This way they can focus on attaining some normalcy during the event, and work with their team to keep productive. Each company is a team, and no matter the size, its important to take care of your team members.
VoIP can allow for work so that employees are not forced to take time off or be let go due to an inability to facilitate their employment while this emergency prevents access to their main workplace. No matter the business, how flexible it is will determine its longevity in the years to come. If you are not already looking into ways that you can make your company and employees more mobile, now is the time to start.
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