Remote and hybrid work, devised during the pandemic so businesses could keep going, is here to stay. While some companies might want everyone to come back in, plenty of employees would rather not commute and enjoy not having to navigate in person office politics. In addition, plenty of companies have discovered that remote and hybrid employees cost less.
However, companies that commit to the remote hybrid workforce discovered they needed to prioritize seamless communication both between employees and between the organization and clients, regardless of where the staff is physically located. Newly developed technology enables people to communicate and collaborate effectively from anywhere.
More Channels For Communication
The quest for seamless communication starts with understanding that communication systems must provide two vital features:
- Compatibility with a wide range of devices
- Automation of key communication functions
For instance, NoContractVoIP can design a system that allows people to use a standard desk phone, their smartphone, a legacy phone with an adapter, and a workstation computer. All of these devices can use the same extension, if needed, allowing a team member to get their calls anywhere. The person making the call doesn’t have to track the team member down, because that extension works on all those devices simultaneously. That level of flexibility is absolutely critical in any environment that includes off-site workers.
It’s a part of the telecom industry’s push towards Unified Communications, a communications philosophy that ensures call attempts connect to the right person immediately and through the use of automated software instead of requiring people to spend valuable time finding the recipient and connecting the call. Part of UC is also ensuring call settings match up with calendars, to allow calls anywhere in the world during working hours and directing calls to voicemail during off hours.
Automatic Accountability
Whenever an organization decides to allow remote or hybrid workers, managers present legitimate concerns about productivity or collaboration suffering for it. No, managers don’t expect to babysit their employees, we’re all adults here, but can an employee effectively manage their workload without the structure of the office? Will people get left behind in virtual meetings, and their input ignored, because they don’t use the programs as well?
Current technological development ensures that productivity and collaboration improve even over in person numbers. For starters, tech designers today understand the “Norman Principle”. In effect, the Norman Principle says make design intuitive. It started with a designer of public spaces who figured out that if you put a handle on the “pull” side of a door and a push plate on the “push” side of the door, people didn’t even spend time thinking about what action they needed to take. Subconsciously, they just did the appropriate thing. Apple iPhones represent the first piece of tech that used that principle to its fullest, but the iPhone’s popularity ensured that it would spread like wildfire in the tech sector.
Monitoring
Remote and hybrid VoIP systems, such as used in contact centers for instance, can easily provide supervisors with extensive insight. Managers easily monitor the same metrics and reports as with an on-site system.
For instance, when employees log in or out, when they take breaks, how many calls they take and the duration of those calls, the number of text messages, the number of website chat messages, and the number of email messages they handle, and their success rate in those interactions. Remote scheduling systems display how many calls and appointments each team mate is handling, how their compare to their peers in terms of KPIs, and even when hardware is malfunctioning. Team leads get the information they need, and callers aren’t aware that the “call center” is geographically distributed.
Without a central location, businesses can recruit job seekers from a much wider area and pool. Employees can work in different time zones, allowing more coverage throughout the day while accommodating employees’ desired schedules. The company can get the best prospects instead of just looking at the locally available ones.
Sufficient Support
Any company looking to go hybrid or remote needs to team up with the right partner. Employees usually can’t set up their smartphones, and onsite IT staff often can’t integrate communications software with other business systems. So, many businesses turn to a managed service provider such as NoContractVoIP. We create and provide service for custom business telephone systems that run over the Internet. We also provide 24/7/365 United States based tech support for our clients.
Our responsive, in-house team of project managers, tech support people, and specialists ensures that we deliver a bespoke experience to each and every one of our client businesses. We set up equipment, provide APIs to link systems, and our systems are easy to scale up or down on an individual, granular level. We’re happy to accommodate a variety of programming changes as complimentary addons to our services.
Ready For A Top Notch VoIP Business System?
Here at NoContractVoIP, we create custom business phone systems that offer a full suite of hybrid and remote solutions for your telecom needs. Your success is our success.
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Looking for the finest stress-free custom business telephone systems? Contact us or call today at 866-550-0005!