14 Jan The Future of Business Relies on Mobility
What does “Mobility” mean? It simply means, to be able to move freely and easily. It is quickly becoming an essential requirement in the modern workplace, between hot desking, cloud applications, telecommuting, and remote working. The future of business success relies on keeping employees mobile.
Recent statistics from GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com found that half of the U.S. workforce holds a position that can be done at least partially through telecommuting. Meanwhile, a staggering 80 to 90 percent of workers want to telecommute at least some of the time.
Employees are spending less time at their desks when they are in the office. This could be due to being on the road visiting customers or moving between conference rooms and huddle areas for meetings. In response, many companies are creating smart offices to make the workplace more inviting, increase productivity, and retain top talent.
Every employee needs access to the full in-office experience, no matter where they are and what device they use. To provide that, they need technology solutions that offer mobility. Can your company offer that to your employees?
Mobility Is Defining the Office of The Future
The future office has three components: home/remote office, mobile office, and smart office. Let’s break them down further.
Home/Remote Office: Since workers increasingly work from home, it is no surprise remote offices are becoming more common. The employees using them need full access to work email, voicemail, business files, and collaboration applications. Entry must be instant and uninterrupted.
Mobile Office: Employees who spend a lot of time traveling between offices or visiting customers live on their mobile devices. Many of these are personal, which places pressure on your ability to keep workers connected across different devices and networks. This includes when employees switch from one device to another and move across networks while on the road.
Smart Office: The future’s physical office will be a more interconnected workspace that promotes productivity and collaboration. AI-based technologies free up employees for more value-added tasks, traditional screen sharing is expanding to include video chat and image sharing, and technology delivers smart appliances and gadgets. This intelligent technology saves employees time and hassle when it comes to small tasks such as turning on lights.
How Can You Deliver a Mobile Experience to All Employees?
Most modern businesses need to support workers in all three office environments, which is challenging without the right technology. An affordable enterprise mobility solution is the answer, delivering three main benefits:
Freedom: Employees are not confined to any location and have consistent communication and collaboration experience inside and outside the office, on any device, and any network.
Consolidation: Workers have control over all their business communications, including email, messaging, and voicemail.
Better Customer Service: Individuals can always be reached, so client calls are answered promptly.
This is all made possible through technical features such as:
- A single phone number and voice mailbox with automatically updated availability.
- Dynamic extensions allow employees to connect multiple devices (regardless of make) to their desk phone, providing a single identity.
- Hot desking support so employees can make any phone – at home or in the office – their own, including the remapping of personal keys and voice mailbox access.
- Single point of access for all communications and collaboration needs, such as messaging, web and video chat, and voicemail access from almost any smartphone or tablet.
- Secure connectivity between LAN and the public internet.
- Optimization for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry operating systems.
- Location-based presence through GPS, WiFi, or Bluetooth.
- Call support for WiFi and Mobile 4G networks to transfer calls between WiFi and cellular networks for employees on the go.
- IP-based work phones in home offices are always connected, removing the need for a physical desk phone.
Companies can provide mobility to employees within all modern office environments. A unified communications solution that includes a vital mobility component gives your workers the flexibility they need to be productive and happy. Contact us to see how we can apply this type of technology to your business.