Mobility and bring your own device (BYOD) are two mega trends that have dramatically changed the way business is conducted. It is now possible to work from anywhere using a personal device such as an Android (News - Alert) phone, iPhone or tablet such as an iPad.
Businesses are taking advantage of these trends, and they are rolling their own mobility solution in many cases by leveraging the features delivered by hosted VoIP. Commonly used are voicemail to e-mail, unified communications, video conferencing, Web collaboration and anywhere access.
E-mail continues to be the central clearinghouse for many business professionals, and voicemail to e-mail helps make voicemail integrate with this central clearinghouse. Voicemail to e-mail sends voice messages directly to e-mail for easy access and faster response to important messages. Any Internet-enabled device can take advantage of it.
Central to many homegrown mobility solutions is the unified communications system. Unified messaging provides a central location for all communications channels, including email, fax, voicemail and messaging, which makes it easier than ever to exchange information, regardless of location. This lets workers take their communication with them no matter where they travel, and it masters what otherwise might be an overload of different communications channels.
Face time has always been important for business, and this is no different in the global, Internet-enabled economy. But what is new is that businesses of all sizes can have face time easily through video conferencing. Video conferencing creates a conference room without walls that employees can use from anywhere given the now ubiquity of video solutions for smartphones and tablets.
Another component that is being rolled into mobility solutions is fax. Yes, fax.
Cloud-based fax solutions are quickly replacing traditional fax machines as the way to share paper documents. This e-fax technology uses the Internet to send and receive faxes to email. With any web-enabled device, an employee can access faxes from remote locations.
Web collaboration is an important part of mobility solutions. Web conferencing is a contemporary Internet-based approach to collaboration that includes not only video and audio, but also extends to a variety of features that enable more enhanced interaction through the desktop. Online meeting services are being leveraged to build teamwork, partnership and collaboration among users both inside and outside organizations.
The ability to get work done regardless of location is a key component of business mobility solutions. Businesses can route inbound calls to other destinations and make outbound calls from a personal mobile phone under their business identity. Simultaneous ringing can be set to ring all lines at once, and sequential ringtone can be set to call listed numbers in a specified order.
Put it all together, and it is easy for businesses to develop mobile solutions that take advantage of the mobile devices of their employees, ensuring they can keep up in today’s on-the-go society.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey