Times have changed. Modern workforces have become decentralized. It’s now common to have entire departments staffed by employees working from multiple locations – many even working from home. To keep these employees productive while also staying connected, new modern tools are required. While that legacy PBX system worked well for years, today it takes a fundamentally different type of business communications system – one designed from the ground up – to integrate all your remote and mobile workers with the in-office teams.
Must-Have Productivity Tools for Modern Business
Modern businesses require a specialized set of tools to stay connected to coworkers and get work done. Accessing a big presentation file during the flight to a conference, conducting a team status session from the den and handling a customer issue from the road are all examples of typical work scenarios faced by today’s workers. All of these situations require communication tools that go beyond the desk phone.
Take a look at the five top tools you can deploy now to overcome common challenges like these. These advanced features will also boost the productivity of all your employees —whether they’re in the office, at home, or on the go.
1
MOBILE SOFTPHONE
Today’s workers are using mobile devices more than ever; so why not turn that into an advantage for your business? Employees want to route work calls to their mobile phones so calls can follow them anywhere with a single number. What’s more, workers want access to the same features they get on their desk phones, including conferencing, call forwarding, and call parking. A secure, well-designed mobile softphone app is the easy answer. It’s quick to set up and works on almost any device, transforming a smartphone into a virtual business desk phone. When users call out, customers and partners see their business number on the caller ID, and users get quick access to their work voicemail, full-featured conferencing, and the ability to juggle calls as easily as they can with a desk phone.
2
DESKTOP APP
A well-designed mobile app will seamlessly sync with an associated desktop app, so workers can make calls using their computer as they would with a desk phone. And just like the mobile app, the desktop app shows them voicemail transcriptions and displays whether or not their coworkers are available to receive calls. Plus, a desktop app goes beyond phone calls to offer instant access to video/web conferencing and team chat. Employees can easily see if their coworkers are available, on the phone, out of the office, or offline with simple presence/status markers.
3
VIDEO CONFERENCING
Studies have shown more than 90% of communications involve visual clues. That makes collaboration harder when you’re not in the office. HD video conferencing offers an excellent way to get together in the same room even when that’s not possible. It can also help you have more face-to-face interactions with customers, while saving on travel costs. Ideally, video conferencing should integrate with the user’s mobile and desktop apps and make it easy to invite participants and launch a conference with the touch of a single link.
4
TEAM COLLABORATION AND CHAT
Need a quick answer from a busy coworker, or simply want to remind them that others are on the conference call? Team messaging lets you chat in real time with one person or a group. You can also share files to make it even more collaborative. When work can happen in a noisy café or a pin-drop-quiet office, team chat is one of the most useful productivity tools available today, so make sure you equip everyone on your team with this essential feature. When it’s integrated with a mobile and desktop app as part of a cloud business phone system, you can quickly see who’s available to meet and who’s offline, so you can elevate a chat session to a conference call or video conference with the press of a button.
5
FILE SHARING AND FILE BACKUP
File sharing software gives users quick and easy access to all of their data from any device. When you’re using your laptop in the office, or your mobile phone on the go, it’s easy to share files with customers, partners, and colleagues for improved team collaboration. What’s more, with the right solution, all of that important data – and work – is automatically backed up. A secure file backup solution will also protect your data against theft or corruption by screening for malware and ransomware. Plus, when file sharing is part of a business cloud phone service, you save the cost of third-party services like Box or Dropbox.
GIVE YOUR
EMPLOYEES EVERY
OPPORTUNITY TO
BE PRODUCTIVE
Traditional on-premise PBX systems were designed to support physical, in-office employees. However, modern workforces increasingly work from outside
of the traditional office setting – and frequently use mobile devices. This puts a strain on on-premises systems, rendering many of their features and functions as obsolete.
With the latest cloud-based communication and collaboration tools, you can make sure all your employees stay connected and productive – from anywhere. You’ll find that the benefits of these tools extend to all your employees, your customers, and to your bottom line.