When we speak about flexibility in the workplace, what springs to mind? No, not yoga mats exercising at lunchtime, we’re talking about the ability to not be stuck in one place and get things done whilst on the move.
In the past, your communications system would have made life very difficult when it came to workplace flexibility. Being away from the desk phone for any reason could lead to frustrated customers and potentially new clients moving on to the next phone number as yours goes unanswered.
Traditional phone lines and PBX systems were always restricted to the office, leaving you chained to your desk. Not only this, but separate lines and systems would be required in every office nationally and internationally. That’s a lot of hardware telling your people they can’t go anywhere. Thankfully, such limited freedom is a thing of the past. With today’s communication tools, a business headache like this needn’t spoil your ‘downward dog’ pose time.
Consider the following questions to see if you need a new lease of flexibility:
Is your team often mobile?
Back when the office desk phone was the only solution, a mobile workforce would have struggled to meet customer expectations. Now they can transfer calls from the office number to their mobile devices automatically or answer directly via the mobile app no matter where work takes them.
Do your work patterns vary?
Perhaps your customers are in another time zone? Just because you are away from the office it needn’t be difficult to arrange for your call to be forwarded to another team member or reach you at home.
Do you ever take breaks?
It may seem like a silly question but even the smallest moments can result in missed opportunities. Just imagine how responsive you can be if you could always stay connected to your phone system.
With your communications system hosted offsite in the cloud, you can forward or manage calls from almost anywhere, from any device and even get your team to answer when you’re not available.
Perhaps it’s time to warm up to the idea of cloud communications and stretch your business capability?
Originally published Mar 21, 2016, updated Aug 12, 2020
