One of the promises of mobility is that, thanks to handheld devices, workers can be reached anywhere, anytime. That is, if you know which number to call.
Corporate email signatures are taking up more real estate than ever, thanks to the many options for reaching workers. These options include office-phone, mobile-phone, and home-office-phone. In fact, finding the right person is often less complicated than finding the right number to reach that person. Choose the wrong number, and you end up leaving a string of voicemails, emails, and text messages – anything to get touch.
But there’s a fix for this communication mayhem -- a voice system that provides access to desk phone features from a mobile device, and gives employees a single business phone-number and voice mailbox. Mobile voice systems, which are component of unified communications and collaboration strategies, go a long way to boost productivity, increase collaboration, and speed communication. According to an IDG Research study, these benefits are significant gains offered by extending UCC solutions to mobile devices.
With the right mobile voice systems, employees can make and receive calls from almost anywhere with a single number, and quickly switch between their desk phones and mobile devices. Employees can leverage all the same call options with their mobile phones -- transfer calls, switch between calls, filter calls, and forward calls.
Mobile voice systems also help enterprises save money by enabling calls to be made over Wi-Fi -- at work, at home, or in Wi-Fi hotspots, while also addressing coverage and communication needs. Reliability is ensured because administrators can leverage monitoring and alerts on outages, and leverage troubleshooting tools to diagnose and resolve call issues.
Enterprises can ensure that their policies are met by allowing employees to log and audit calls that are made from mobile devices that use an office phone number – a feature that’s of particular importance to enterprises in highly regulated industries.
Mobile voice systems that offer one-number calling and provide mobile users with the features they’ve become accustomed to on their office phones are helping to deliver on the anytime, anywhere promise.
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To many actual users, the terms "unified communication" means two things: 1.) universal inbox, which is an oversimplification; and 2.) complexity. Key UC features enhanced by mobile, like "Find me, follow me" need to be seamless, easily set-up and understood by users. Some of this should be addressed during IT's set-up.