VoIP Mobility and Remote Employees

Businesses with workers in the field have always had to deal with ways to keep in touch with those employees and to make it easy for customers to reach them. This includes sales representatives, delivery people, technicians out performing repairs and many others. With more employees working from home all or part of the week, it becomes even more important to have convenient mobile communications.

Fortunately, VoIP (Voice over IP Protocol) communication is the most mobile-friendly option available to businesses today. It provides an unending list of features and capabilities that make staying in touch with mobile and remote employees easier than you may have thought possible. These features effortlessly deliver the communication options critical for today’s mobile workforce.

Here are just a few examples of how VoIP supports mobility:

1. Provide a consistent, professional experience to your customers and prospects.

   When a customer or prospective customer calls your business, you want that caller to be given immediate attention. Whether a prospective buyer or a customer with a question or problem, dealing with the call quickly and professionally enhances loyalty and boosts sales.

   With the Presence Management capability in VoIP, calls that come into each employee’s assigned number or extension can automatically transfer directly to that employee wherever they are located — in the office, at home, or on the road.

   The call transfers are so seamless that it appears to clients and prospects that the employee is right in the office.

   Sales representatives typically have many deals working simultaneously and are on the road a majority of the time. Presence management can be set up to have every call to them ring at their office, on their mobile phone, and to their home office simultaneously. Regardless of where they are at the time, they’ll never miss a call.

   Here’s another example of how VoIP can support your business in this mobile world.

   Imagine a customer of yours sending an urgent email to place an order at the last minute. Your employee who usually handles orders is away on vacation. With the VoIP text-to-speech feature, the employee can listen to her email on her smartphone. Then she can dial into the corporate system and locate another employee who can place the order. If there is a question about the order, the second employee can use instant messaging (IM) to contact you. Even if you are in a meeting, you are able to quickly answer the question over the IM, so the sale can be completed.

   In the past, this capability was available only to large businesses. With VoIP, businesses of all sizes can enjoy this sophisticated feature that makes your business look even more professional. This VoIP Presence Management feature lets you:

   • Be reachable 24/7 from a single number to all your numbers (home, mobile, business).
   • Help make sure prospects reach you or your sales people in one call.
   • Ensure customers are served quickly and consistently.

2. Help employees be more efficient and productive.

   Because VoIP is an Internet-based communication system, your employees can make and receive phone calls anywhere in the world. They can use audio and video conferencing to organize and attend your internal business meetings, make sales presentations, or conduct training remotely.

   If your business has call center agents or inside sales representatives, they can work from anywhere with a sufficiently fast Internet connection.

   Even when you or your employees are not in the office, you can:

   • Check the availability of others in your business.
   • Know when other employees do not want to be disturbed.
   • Easily communicate by instant message (IM) with anyone on your team.
   • Use your mobile phone to access all voice messages that come into your business. • Integrate your address book into the system for up-to-date number reference.
   • Get real-time call alerts online.
   • Connect your smartphone to your PC and your phone system.

3. Control costs and gain management insight.

   VoIP even makes it easier to manage your business. You can rely on the system to route calls through the least costly path, saving your business money. In addition, VoIP lets you log a record of all calls. This gives you some insight into how your employees are managing their time and also about the number of contacts made with customers, vendors and others.

   VoIP helps you prevent missed calls that are important to conducting business. It helps you achieve the almost effortless communication necessary to run your business effectively and to ensure you and your employees can be attentive to the needs of clients and prospects. It’s a smart way to keep a competitive edge.