Managing Your Business from the Cloud

With more remote workers, how do you stay connected?

Cloud-Based Phone Systems Make it Easy to Take Calls Away From the Office

How is your business handling the shift to more remote workers and virtual events? If you’re still relying on piecemeal technology and old equipment, your setup can be hurting productivity and employee relationships. With so many cloud-based solutions now available, setting up a remote-friendly system is easier and more affordable than ever.

The Value of Remote Work

Even before 2020’s sudden move to remote work, some parts of work have always taken place out of the office. Whether that was checking emails and messages after hours on your smartphone and taking emergency calls while on vacation, or jobs that were already full time or part time work from home such as freelancers, needing the ability to connect while out of office is not new.

What is New: The Scale of Remote Work & the Tools Available

This U.S News article sums up many of they main pros and cons of remote work companies have tried to balance, including flexibility to work when you’re most productive but there’s less separation between personal and work time and space.

As Michelle Singletary points out in her article for The Washington Post, remote work options give companies a competitive edge when an employee’s personal life changes and in-person work isn’t possible. Creating a flexible schedule that works with their needs prevents valuable employees from leaving the workforce. As she claims, “Flexible work shouldn’t just be a crisis go-to. It should be a permanent employee perk.” A survey of 1,500 hiring managers by Upwork estimates that within five years, 22.9% of employees will be working remotely full time (double the rate before 2020).

Not every business is ready to go fully remote, however – many still believe in the benefits of in-person work and collaboration. One Fast Company article argues that calls for the end of office work were premature because those human connections are so valuable. Not every employee wants to work remotely either – a survey of 3,000 workers by Global Workplace Analytics shows that only 19% of North American workers (and 16% globally) want to work remotely permanently; most participants in the survey prefer a hybrid option.

And of course many jobs cannot be done remotely including retail, hospitality, parts of healthcare, construction, and more.

What You Need for Remote Work

One thing has become clear though: remote work is possible, and practical, for many workers as long as they have the technological means to do it. This includes reliable internet access at home, equipment including computers, phones, or headsets, and the space to set up a workstation.

The Key to Better Remote Work: Cloud-Based Phone Systems

However your business approaches remote work, one key piece of infrastructure will make everything from checking in on the weekends to connecting multiple office locations and remote employees easier – a cloud-based phone system. Calls between coworkers, answering inbound calls, and making outbound calls should all be just as easy to handle whether you are sitting as your desk in the office or using a laptop for remote work.

VoIP Phone Systems & SIP Trunking

Using VoIP (voice over IP) and SIP trunking (a protocol that allows VoIP to work) helps your phone services to work over the Internet instead of traditional phone lines, giving you more control and flexibility in your system. Desktop office phones designed for Internet use can plug in directly using Ethernet cables instead of phone lines, or softphone programs and apps can be run on computers and smartphones.

Virtual Meetings

Video conferencing programs facilitate face-to-face meetings with remote workers and meeting attendees, while chat and messaging programs can help employees easily communicate alongside email programs.

Ease of Future Growth

All together, these types of cloud-based phone systems create a more nimble and flexible system that can adapt to changing business needs. Adding a new phone line is as easy as getting a new phone, adding new licenses to your software programs, and plugging into the Internet; a much easier and cost-effective process compared to expanding your phone capabilities by installing new phone lines and power supplies.

Stay Connected to Your Business with These Tools

So how does a business set up these flexible, cloud-based, remote-worker friendly VoIP phone systems?

Dial800’s BizCloud® options are designed flexible, customizable business phone services:

For current Dial800 customers, new BizCloud® solutions integrate directly with your existing toll free numbers, call tracking, and routing setup. New customers can choose from BizCloud® plans that include powerful CallView360® tracking.

Ready for the Next Step for Better Cloud-Based Business Services?

Staying on top of modern communication technology can help businesses respond quickly to changes in the workplace and stay connected. If you’re ready to take the next step, contact Dial800 today to set up a demo to see how cloud based phone systems can work for you.

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