The Era of Working Remotely has arrived — and it is here to stay! In the foreseeable future, hundreds of millions of employees will spend at least part of their week working from a home office. In fact, Gartner projects that a whopping 51% of global knowledge workers will be remote by the end of 2021 — up from 27% in 2019
This is great news for employees who can avoid the time, stress, and cost of commuting. However, it is not great news for some employers who are running into three problems related to working remotely.
Below, we highlight these problems, and reveal how each one is rapidly and permanently solved with an all-in-one cloud business phone system from Carolina Digital Phone:
Working Remotely Problem #1: Remote Workers Do Not Have Their Own Phone Number/Extension
In the corporate environment, it is easy to give employees their own phone number or extension. But when employees are spread out in their respective home offices, things are much harder. Most employees (and their families!) balk at using the residential phone line for work purposes. Installing a dedicated home office landline is expensive — and for many small businesses, it is outright cost-prohibitive.
Our cloud phone system solves this problem by creating multiple options for remote workers:
- Remote workers can plug an IP phone into the back of their computer or laptop (or their Wi-Fi router), and instantly have their own phone number/extension.
- Remote workers can slip on a headset and turn their computer or laptop into a web browser-based softphone. And with an IP phone, they get their own exclusive phone number/extension.
- When working remotely workers can make and receive calls using their smartphone, which displays the business’s information on Caller ID — not their personal information.
Of course, employees can mix-and-match these options to fit their preferences and needs. The only expense is a minimal one-time hardware cost for an IP phone and/or headset. There are no ongoing costly monthly expenses, unlike a conventional landline that can cost $40 (or more) each month. And remote workers who use their smartphone can make/receive calls and access system features. These features incluse chat, one-tap dialing and directory from anywhere.
Working Remotely Problem #2: Remote Workers Using Different Chat Apps
Sometimes too much choice is a liability instead of an asset — and many employers are experiencing this right now when they look at the array of chat apps that their employees are using. Some employees are using Slack. Others are using Facebook Messenger. Still others are using Teams, WhatsApp…and the list goes on.
This mix of chat apps can reduce productivity and collaboration, since not everyone is on the same (digital) page. It can also lead to compliance issues as supervisors, managers and executives cannot readily access chat histories.
Our cloud phone system solves this problem by giving all employees access to a centralized, feature-rich chat app. This app supports SMS, MMS, and team messaging. Since everything is captured by the app, it is easy to access message logs for review, auditing, and quality control purposes.
Working Remotely Problem #3: Employees Don’t Know Who is Available and When
In a corporate environment, employees can physically see (or hear) if their colleagues are in the office and available. However, remote workers in home offices do not have this luxury. But with our cloud phone system, they have something even better thanks to a feature called presence.
Presence is an incredibly useful feature that displays the status of employees in real-time. As such, remote workers know if their colleagues are available, busy, or away from their desks. This is not just helpful for internal communication, but it boosts customer service as well. For example, before forwarding a customer’s call to a colleague, a remote worker can check and see if they’re available.
The Bottom Line
Working remotely is surging. Upgrading to an all-in-one cloud phone system from Carolina Digital Phone is a smart, proven, and surprisingly affordable way for organizations to reap the benefits of this shift — and avoid the risks.
Get MORE from your remote workers and drive your business forward! Call Carolina Digital Phone today at (336) 544-4000, or click the chat icon at the bottom of your screen.