How a VoIP Phone System Can Enable Effective Remote Working

Working from home has, for many, become the norm over the past six months and, with a VoIP phone system, businesses have found themselves well-equipped for creating an effective remote workforce in the current crisis.

Here’s how VoIP makes that possible.

VoIP Apps

When you’re working remotely, everything can feel a little strange, so anything that makes achieving a normal, productive workday easier should perhaps be made a permanent addition to your digital workflow. With VoIP apps, your staff can use their personal devices to take and make business calls, saving themselves the difficulty of configuring hardware IP phones.

Since apps are available for every popular operating system on the market (both desktop and mobile), Yay.com and other good VoIP providers make it easy for your staff to work the way that suits them best - wherever they are. If they prefer to make calls from their mobile device, then they can take and make business calls on it too. If, on the other hand, they find their smartphone a well of distraction, they can use the desktop version and lock their phone away until the day’s end.

VoIP Collaboration Features

Even with staff packed together in an office, it can sometimes be difficult to get Steve from marketing to walk down the hall to collaborate with Priya from sales. The same characteristic of a business phone system that solves this issue will also come to the rescue when all of your staff are working remotely.

Collaboration features like BLF and conference bridging help to break down the barriers of communication no matter where your staff are located. BLF will allow employees to see at-a-glance which of their colleagues is available for a quick call, whilst conference bridges will help to stage formal meetings.

In addition to such voice-based features, instant chat messaging and video conferencing are fast becoming the norm with VoIP providers as the market transitions to favouring Unified Communications providers. Such services open the floodgates on collaboration, making it just as easy to send a quick idea to a co-worker as to hold a video meeting with co-workers and business partners around the world.

Online VoIP Management Dashboard

When you and your staff are working remotely, it helps to know that the power to manage anything and everything related to your business phone system is right at your fingertips. VoIP offers you such power; since VoIP phone systems are located in the cloud, there’s no need to call a technician when you need to manage your phone system. Instead, with an intuitive and easy-to-use UI, you can manage everything from your web browser - this is the beauty of hosted PBX systems.

What’s more, Yay.com allows its account holders to denote user roles and permissions in granular fashion. This way, you never have to worry about someone with access to your account having too much control without your say-so. Business-critical functions like call routes can remain safely locked away for only select account administrators to tweak and change.

Caller ID Selection

It’s understandable that, especially during times of uncertainty, drastic changes sometimes need to be made quickly. When it comes to brand reputation, however, the way in which your customers perceive your business is hugely important. Even if your employees are working from home, it helps to maintain an air of imperviousness to communicate to customers that yours is a business that can be relied on no matter what.

Some might worry that calling from home with personal devices could appear unprofessional. This fear is not unfounded. Today, more people than ever ignore calls from numbers they don’t recognise. If your customers and clients see an incoming call from an unknown number, they might make themselves unreachable at a time you may need contact with them the most.

Thankfully, with a huge library of business phone numbers and the ability to select your outbound caller ID from any number associated with your account, Yay.com and other good VoIP providers make it possible to mask that you’re calling from home. As far as your business contacts are concerned, you’re calling from the office, just as you always have.

Conclusion

Working remotely is likely to be commonplace going forward. Workforces are adapting to the new mode of working and are finding that VoIP and other internet-based communications services are the only real options if businesses are to remain competitive.

A good VoIP phone system will offer everything you need for your staff to continue to communicate and collaborate effectively. From VoIP apps, giving you and your staff the freedom to work with the devices that suit you best, through to instant chat messaging and video conferencing services and voice-based collaboration features, VoIP can help your staff continue to win even in difficult trading conditions.

If you’re interested in finding out more about what a VoIP phone system could to for your business, brush up on your knowledge with our What is VoIP guide, sign up for your free VoIP trial today or contact us directly.