One Number – Multiple Devices. Why that’s Important Today

The modern business organization has changed quite a bit over the last 50 years or so. Businesses can no longer rest on their laurels or history. Mobility, agility and flexibility are the names of the game now. Long gone are the days when employees clocked in at nine in the morning and left at five in the evening. Once you got home, you could forget all about work until the next morning.

Now we are surrounded by devices and screens throughout the day. We are never out of touch with colleagues or clients for more than a few minutes. At the very minimum, an employee might have a personal smart phone, a computer at their desk, a laptop for travel and even a business phone for work calls.

What does this changing mobile landscape mean for organizations? It means that old-fashioned landlines can no longer keep up with the demands of modern workplaces. PSTN based desk phones are not flexible and cannot adapt to the digital world. If you’re not at your desk to answer a call, you miss what would have been a valuable business opportunity. Even with voicemail and other related features, phones were not very flexible.

Hosted VoIP and What It Can Do for Your Business

With the traditional business phone system, companies often had closets or entire rooms filled with telephony equipment. You had to run wiring through the walls wherever you wanted phones. Each employee had a single device on their desk to make and receive calls. Each office had to run and maintain their own PBX box to benefit from enterprise features. Most organizations had at least a few people dedicated solely to maintaining the phone systems. Larger corporations used to have entire departments for the same purpose!

Hosted VoIP replaces all of that. No more hardware, software, dedicated space for phone equipment etc. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection, a robust data network and a few SIP-compliant phones. The hosted VoIP vendor takes over the maintenance of the business phone system for you. Repairs, upgrades and changes are all handled by the provider. Adding a new feature or changing the configuration for existing users doesn’t take much time. Everything is easily accessible through online dashboards.

One Number – Multiple Devices

So far so good but hosted VoIP goes beyond the bare minimum that organizations require. One of the biggest benefits of using VoIP is the ability to use the same number everywhere. An employee can take their phone number with them, no matter the location. They may be working from home today, on the road tomorrow and working from a client site the day after. Throughout this time they can use the same number to make and receive calls on any device of their choice.

This is possible because VoIP numbers are not tied down to a particular address or geographic location. Instead the phone number is tied to a person i.e. the user account. So it doesn’t matter where you are, you can still use your phone number. The terms ‘home network’ or roaming don’t have any meaning with VoIP since your physical location doesn’t matter anymore.

Why Does Your Business Need This Feature?

There are several scenarios – increasingly common today – where this feature will come in handy for your business. Many jobs today require employees to travel. It doesn’t always have to be to a different city or country. Some workers don’t even have a desk in the office anymore, they simply switch between multiple client sites throughout the work week. If you don’t have the ability to use the same number across multiple devices, how can such employees keep in touch with clients, colleagues or their team members?

Phones are the lifeblood of any organization. If your phone stops working, how can you get through the rest of the day? Previously this used to mean that you can’t get back to work until your phone was fixed. Now you can simply answer calls on any other device within reach, even a desktop computer!

Another benefit of this flexibility is that customers no longer have to remember a whole bunch of numbers for each of the different locations you work at. Users can set rules so that incoming calls will ring all of the devices at once or one at a time in a predetermined order. You can simply answer the call on any one of those devices. With traditional phone systems, callers had no option but to leave a voicemail if they couldn’t reach a person. Now voicemail is the last resort.

Perhaps the best part of these new features is the fact that most of them are free. Unlike old school phone carriers, VoIP vendors will not nickel and dime you for everything. So go right ahead and make your business more efficient with VoIP.