Business Workers Remain Productive On-the-Go with VoIP

In years past, it was almost unimaginable to be able to work from anywhere away from your desk, with invisible chains basically binding you to your chair and forcing you to remain there for as long as it took to complete important tasks.

However, as mobility has completely revolutionized the way in which companies operate across the globe, we can’t help but pay a little respect to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Because the truth is, without VoIP in place, businesses would still be requiring employees to physically be present in the office each and every day, wasting crucial resources during their pain staking commute and, even more importantly, wasting time.

Business VoIP has allowed the idea of working remotely to transition from a dream into reality. In fact, at this time nearly 45 percent of the U.S. workforce has a job that can be done through working at home for at least part of the time, and 50 million employees in the United States consider home as their primary place of work, according to a recent study.

Yet as the trend of working remotely continues to increase over time due to the benefits firms see including reduced costs, increased profitability and improved productivity, certain guidelines must be followed to ensure the employee base is actually working while they are away from the office and not just merely pretending. To help you get off on the right foot when implementing a work at home program, business VoIP provider Nextiva outlined certain steps to remain mindful of.

First, communication is just as key when your employees are physically located outside of the office as it is when they are inches away busily working at their desks in the office. Although you won’t be able to take a quick walk over to ask them a question or resolve an issue, tools powered by VoIP help you to keep in contact with your geographically separated workforce at all times. Conference calls, whether they are audio or video, are a great example of how utilizing next-generation technology to interact with an employee in a short period of time gives you the ability to see them.

Next, ensuring that employees still feel as if they are a key part of your company is necessary even when they are working from home. To keep everyone on the same page and updated on what is going on within headquarters, as well as building team morale, reoccurring meetings or even activities that take place outside of work hours – such as happy hours or softball games – can bring everyone together in order to bond.

Third, continuously updating your technology can help employees working outside the confines of the office when they attempt to complete certain operations with ease. There is nothing worse than going to send a vital and time-sensitive e-mail to your boss only to realize that Outlook isn’t working. To prevent issues like this from happening, first “make sure your remote employees’ computer systems are compatible with what’s in your business and that they are using appropriate security precautions to protect against computer viruses, malware or security breaches,” the blog post stated.

Last but definitely not the least, embrace everything related to the cloud. Not only does the cloud drive flexibility and scalability business-wide, it also lets employees’ store and access important data from anywhere with a reliable Internet connection and at any time. The cloud makes it virtually stress free to assist an entire workforce in sharing certain functions such as calendars, ensuring that everyone remains in the know and can ultimately continue to help your company to grow.

Edited by Alisen Downey