1 IN 3 BUSINESSES WANT CONVERGED FIXED/MOBILE VOICE SOLUTIONS: INDEPENDENT UK SURVEY
Companies of all sizes are in the market for new ways to streamline their fixed line and mobile phone use in their quest for greater business efficiency through flexible working.
According to a recent survey by technology ezine The Register, a third of UK businesses are looking for converged solutions in order to cut through the complexities of having at least two phone numbers and two voicemail boxes for each employee. The dual number approach also potentially puts an unwanted cost and a time onus on callers who face the quandary of which number to ring first to track someone down – and often do both.
DITCHING THE DESKPHONE?
Simply abandoning the deskphone, however, isn’t a ready option for all organisations. The Register found that around 20% of the smaller companies in their poll were already completely or predominantly using mobile phones as their main communications method. Some sectors are further along this path than others. Businesses in IT and communications are – perhaps unsurprisingly – leading the way in deciding to go ‘fixed line free’.
But the bigger an enterprise gets, the more value it is likely to place on the value of having a single number and a central answering and call routing facility for its customers. Ninety five per cent of the major enterprises questioned by The Register continue to have fixed phones in their offices. They recognise the important cost advantages of an easily accessible and omnipresent channel that means that internal calls and voice conference calls are made over landlines rather than mobile-to-mobile.
SMARTER NUMBERS FOR SMARTER WORKINGMany customers are, however, looking to their Communications Providers for fresh methods to improve the ‘contactability’ of their people. It’s an important consideration when companies implement flexible working and location independent programmes. Despite the green issues and despite the cost issues, employers still ask the question ‘will the company and its customers be able to get hold of you?’ And there is no doubt that flexible working and mobile working continues to gain momentum. In two years time it is estimated that around 50% of Western Europe’s working population – 90.8 million – will be working on the move (Source: IDC). READ BETWEEN THE LINES
BT Wholesale can offer you an effective unified communications management solution to meet your business market’s growing demands and provide new opportunities for revenue growth.
Available as a white-label, sell-through product that is managed end-to-end,Smart Numbers gives companies a cost-effective way to allocate one fixed line number to each employee. Calls and voice messages to that number are then automatically sent to whatever network and device an individual happens to be using on a particular day and wherever they are. The system is highly flexible, accommodating PSTN, mobile, IP and VoIP calls and delivering them to fixed phones, web terminals, WAP mobiles and PDAs. Call management becomes simpler and more effective for users too. Smart Numbers uses web-based tools to give on-screen alerts of incoming or waiting calls, access to click-to-dial company phone lists and information on the location and availability of colleagues, even when they are working remotely.
Rationalising the contact numbers for each individual in this way potentially removes the guesswork and speeds up access for their callers. Smart Numbers also removes the need for employees to make their personal mobile number or their home phone number public knowledge.
Find out more about Smart Numbers on btwholesale.com
The Register: ‘Fed up with disjointed telephony?'
(13 September 2007)