With the outbreak of Coronavirus, we’ve had many customers asking about home working over the last week and how this can be set up on their current telephone solution. So, we thought we would outline some tips (including their pros and cons) just in case you need to consider home working in the event of an outbreak within the business or should staff need to self-quarantine and continue to work from home.
Tip 1 - Divert Desktop Phone to Mobile
Most telephone systems will allow each member of staff to set up a divert on their desktop phone to their mobile.
Pros - This is easy to do and can be done by each member of staff before they leave the office.
Cons – Each call will take 2 lines (one incoming line to the desktop phone and the 2nd to re-route the call to the mobile phone). As a result, businesses may require additional lines, if a high number of employees are working from home.
Cons – Cost of providing company mobile phones or the additional expense of staff claiming back call charges. Staff may also refuse to use their private mobile phone as they might not want customers to know their mobile number.
Cons – Calls to your main number or a specific team e.g. service or sales team can’t always be forwarded to a mobile as these lines generally have the capacity to handle multiple calls simultaneously. If they are simply diverted to a mobile phone you can only handle one call at the time and many callers will just get a busy signal.
Tip 2 - Purchase an additional IP Phone for home
Providing you have an IP PBX or cloud solution in situ, you could install an IP desktop phone for each home worker to make and receive calls whilst they’re at home.
Pros – Very easy to do as part of a cloud solution and staff can plug their desktop phone in at home. Their home broadband service must support SIP.
Pros – Doesn’t require additional lines
Pros – Calls are routed over the company’s lines and therefore, no need for staff to claim back for calls made on their mobile or landline.
Cons – If you have an IP PBX in situ, you will require some programming by your telecom provider and your internal IT team to set this up.
Tip 3 - Use Mobile Apps and/or Softphones
Many telephone system manufacturers and cloud-based providers offer mobile apps and/or softphones which make it easy for staff to work anywhere with calls being made or received via a mobile app or PC-based softphone application.
Pros – Very easy to do as part of a cloud solution with some suppliers providing the apps as part of the standard user licence, so there might not be any additional charges for it.
Pros – Doesn’t require additional lines for the cloud service.
Pros – Staff make and receive calls via the mobile app (which uses their same desktop tel number) and won’t need to let customers know their mobile number.
Pros – Calls are routed over the company’s lines and therefore, no need for staff to claim back for calls made on their mobile or landline.
Cons - If you have an IP PBX in situ, you will need to purchase the apps and licences and require some programming by your telecom provider and your internal IT team.
Tip 4 - Can’t do any of the above?
If none of these options are possible, then there is the option to quickly implement a cloud solution.
A new cloud solution can be set up quickly and help you get through the coming months. For more information on what a cloud solution can do for you please call us on 01494 833123 or download our telecom solution brochure by clicking here.
Tip 5 - Duty of care for home workers
On another note, you still have a duty of care to ensure staff are safe whilst working.Though the risks are low it’s important to know at the very least that your staff have started and finished the day safely.Which is why we have decided to offer a FREE lone worker protection service until the end of June (at the minimum) to help businesses protect staff whilst they are working at home or away from colleagues.To know more, please click here to learn about this fantastic free service. Don’t delay as there is a limit on the number of business we can set up, so this will be done strictly on a first come first serve basis.
