Even before the pandemic, remote working was on the rise with an estimated 55% of people telecommuting full-time. However, these days everyone who can work from home is working from home; if not full-time, then at least part-time. What’s more, a recent survey by Gartner found that 74% of CFOs plan on permanently shifting at least 5% of previously on-site employees to remote positions post-COVID 19, and several companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Square, Box and Slack have already told employees that, if they wish, they never have to return to the corporate office.
However, while many workers are celebrating the opportunity to avoid a tedious daily commute and work with a napping cat in their lap, some employers aren’t as thrilled because they’re running into some workforce management challenges.
Below, we highlight these challenges, and then focus on how they are easily and affordably solved with a cloud phone system:
Challenge #1: Workers are using a variety of ad hoc tools to chat with each other. Some are using Facebook messenger, some are using Slack, some are using WhatsApp, and so on. This is inefficient, insecure, and makes it difficult to track cross-company communications for auditing, compliance and quality assurance purposes.
Solution: A cloud phone system features built-in chat/SMS functionality, which means that everyone can send and receive real-time messages using the same platform. The result is greater efficiency and security, and a single system of record captures all communications.
Challenge #2: All or some employees don’t have a designated corporate phone number/extension. This wasn’t a problem when everyone was in the corporate office, but now that employees are at home, reaching them is frustrating and difficult for colleagues and customers.
Solution: With a cloud phone system, every single remote worker can affordably get their very own unique extension, which makes reaching them quick and easy. Plus, remote workers can forward calls to a landline or mobile phone, which means that colleagues and customers don’t have to keep track of multiple numbers.
Challenge #3: In the corporate office, it was easy for workers to take a look around and see if a colleague was at their desk and available. But now that people are working from home, there is no visibility.
Solution: A cloud phone system features a great feature called Presence, which enables workers to instantly determine if a colleague is available to take a transferred call or reply to an SMS — regardless of where that colleague is located. A red dot next to the colleague’s name indicates that they’re logged into the cloud phone system but currently unavailable, a grey dot indicates that they aren’t logged into the cloud phone system, and a green dot indicates that they’re logged in and available.
Challenge #4: When call center agents were all co-located in the same office or building, supervisors could see who was overloaded with work and who was idle. But now that call center workers are temporarily (and possibly permanently) spread out, performance monitoring is a problem.
Solution: A cloud phone system features a live reporting tool that allows supervisors to ensure compliance, boost performance and increase customer satisfaction by accessing real-time granular insights into daily call center operations. Dashboards are customizable, and there are separate views for supervisors and agents.
Challenge #5: Many remote workers cannot always be in their home office every minute from morning until evening — which means they could miss important calls from colleagues and customers.
Solution: A cloud phone system allows remote workers to receive and make calls from anywhere, simply by using an app on their smartphone. Also, outgoing calls display the business’s caller ID information — not the individual worker’s personal caller ID information. This is important for privacy and security purposes, and also presents a more polished and professional business image.
Ready to get the MOST out of your remote workforce? Get in touch with us today for a guided tour of our affordable, feature-rich, and future-proofed cloud phone system!
Call us at (336) 544-4000 or chat with us during business hours by clicking the chat icon on the bottom of your screen. We are a local Greensboro, North Carolina-based business with over 100 5-star reviews!