Rather than simply giving employees a business mobile and letting them loose, they might actually benefit more from using a softphone app on their mobile devices and computers…
What is a softphone?
Softphone essentially means a ‘software telephone’ – hence the name. This could be an app on your laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
Softphones are programs that allow you to use your computing device in the same way as a regular phone, making calls, answering, and transferring incoming calls.
The main benefit being employees can handle all the usual calling functions through their computer – and won’t need to bother with an additional mobile number to work effectively.
Even ignoring the benefits of staff not having to give their actual number out – whether business or personal – to business contacts, using a softphone has plenty of other perks, too!
Want the short version? Click here. Or keep on reading to discover the most significant benefits for staff using softphones instead of their business mobiles…
Complete control
If your staff use their business mobiles to make and take calls, what happens to all that important information when staff leave, or they’re forced to take significant time off due to illness?
Thankfully, many softphone apps can remotely wipe business-critical information, ensuring your business stays on the right side of any GDPR implications, and that partner or customer details don’t get lost either, as everything’s stored in the cloud!
Softphones also help protect the business during employee illnesses, holidays and once they’ve left. Rather than calling a person directly who’s absent or has left the business, softphones can ensure a member of staff answers each call – whether that’s by redirecting calls automatically, or when queues reach a specific level.
Finally, when calls come into employees directly from their phone number, they won’t be added to any internal statistics tracking, for example, client engagement to complaints, time on calls to call volume and others.
While not ‘the end of the world’, decision-makers can’t make the best decisions without all the available information, and those missing stats may skew the results.
Reduce complexity and costs
While business mobiles are crucial for those who are always on the road or must be contactable, they’re not strictly essential for every employee, even those that regularly work from home…
Account managers, IT support, customer service, and finance teams, for example, may need to be able to receive, transfer, and make calls while they’re working, wherever that may be.
Thankfully, rather than spending a fortune on mobiles for each team member, this is where a softphone on their devices is likely the best solution to reduce the total cost for the business! And with everyone using the same platform for all their communication, it’s far easier to update customer and partner records, keeping them accurate with records of every call!
Softphones remove the need to source (and pay for) more business mobiles, for staff that may only work from home occasionally, while also ensuring they can focus on one device for all their tasks!
A mobile softphone app is an excellent tool for someone who works from multiple (or single) locations on a laptop or at a desk all day. Whether teams are based in London, working from home, or in a coworking space in Barcelona; softphones are just as effective as mobile phones – perhaps even better!
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Keep Consistent
If your company has a telephony solution that uses the same vendor app for computer softphone and business mobile, it will likely look and feel the same regardless of device.
Having the same interface and features means your team can enjoy uniformity across their communication applications, making it easy to switch between them, if need be. Plus, softphones ensure the highest productivity, as staff already understand the interface, having used it on other devices.
There may still be employees who need both options. In fact, a combination of mobile and desktop apps is the most common business phone solution for most companies, as nine out of ten users need to be available on mobile while working from their computer.
The softphone is perfect for support functions
Just as the mobile is small and flexible for those who are often on the move, the softphone suits those who need to have a clear overview of their work during calls.
For departments such as IT support and customer service, as well as functions such as finance and HR, the softphone provides significant benefits, giving you better control of calls and colleagues.
At the same time, it is easy to integrate into a CRM system, which allows you to quickly access information about the caller, which means that as a PBX function, the softphone has no competition!
Choose Voxone
If you want your team – and your budget – to work smarter and harder for you, then choose Voxone! It’s one of the simplest UC solutions to use, with all the functionality your team needs…
Voxone just works. That’s because Voxone is powered by Voip Unlimited’s Tier-1 voice network that boasts industry-leading reliability and audio quality!
Your team will get apps for all their devices, with the same UI, meaning productive, contactable staff wherever they may be.
All communication channels – voice, video, messaging and more – all in one place, to save time and keep staff on task!
Admin features enable you to craft the perfect caller experience and offload busy lines to other staff if necessary.
Plus, you can schedule opening and closing times for all your lines, so staff keep a work/life balance, and you can cater to staff illnesses, holidays and the like.
If that’s the cost-effective, seamless simplicity you’d like your team to enjoy, get in touch and we can discuss all the ways Voxone benefits your business.