As companies are incorporating unified communications technologies in to their workplace, there is becoming less of a need for employers to supply their employees with company mobile devices for times that they are away from their desk handset. With mobility-enabled UC services, employers can now have their employees use their own smart phone or tablet.
With products like the Mitel Unified Communicator Mobile, users are provided with a single phone number and voice mailbox for both their handset and their mobile device. The process of linking the two devices under one phone number is called “twinning.” Here’s how it works:
“An incoming call will simultaneously ring both your extension and the twinned device. The device that you use to answer the call establishes a voice path and the other device will cease to ring… Even though you are not at your desk but on the road, you can call and communicate as if you were in the office.”For employers, the BYOD phenomenon (which, today, is really more of a common practice than it is a unique trend like it was from 2008 to 2010) is incredibly helpful. According to Galen Gruman, blogger for InfoWorld, adopters of BYOD are seeing real ROI and an increase in employee productivity, particularly in customer service and client relationships. Companies that ditch the practice of purchasing mobile devices for each employee and turn to mobile-enabled UC services save 30-40 percent on their monthly communications costs on average.
What’s even better for employers utilizing BYOD practices is that their employees are using app-savvy devices that they actually want and will pay for out of their own pocket for personal use, anyway. According to Gruman, other employers are even paying for some of the mobile usage costs “to encourage more employees to adopt iPhones, iPads, and Androids than otherwise would – to grow the pool of highly connected, highly effective information workers.” Even so, the subsidies these employers provide cost much less than the purchase and upkeep of addition mobile phones for each employee.
At Maverick Networks, we’re seeing a steep increase in mobility application purchases from our customers and clients. Some are even converting to mobile usage only, ridding their desks of the traditional handset equipment. Recently, we had a ShoreTel Mobility Router installed, allowing our own employees to utilize mobility applications over the company’s Wi-Fi network (instead of their own service providers that might not have the best service indoors). So, not only do we now have the option to go completely wireless in-office, personal cellular charges are considerably decreased as we use our phone at work.
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| Our shiny, new ShoreTel Mobility Router! |
Still don’t quite get it? Imagine your work phone – you can send and receive phone calls, listen to voicemail, transfer a call to another person, call multiple people at once for a conference call, set numbers to a speed dial system so that you only have to push one button to reach them on the line they’re currently using, and probably a lot of other useful and (we think) awesome things to help make your phone interactions swifter and less complicated. Well, imagine being able to do all of that, but from your smart phone. That, friends, is the beauty of mobility, and the reason so many businesses are turning to BYOD protocol.
So if your company is in the market to upgrade your phone system, maybe it’s time you think about chucking out some of those bulky black boxes with the curly chords and letting your employees’ personal devices do the same job. Visit our website to talk with a sales rep about how we can help you get to where you want to be with your telecommunications system: http://www.mavericknetworks.net/.
For some helpful tips on how to manage BYOD phone usage within your company, click here.
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