Solutions for Flexible Work Environments

One of the biggest challenges for businesses today is to provide greater flexibility for a modern workforce that demands working arrangements that respect employees’ personal time and working habits. Many companies are implementing the use of personal devices (BYOD) or including mobile VoIP deployments through virtual PBX to empower workers to maximize productivity and efficiency.

Today, VoIP over mobile phones is growing and evolving. A hosted VoIP solution, enabling employees to make and answer calls from a range of devices, allows employees outside of the office to continue using their business phone line from their smartphone or tablet.

The flexibility that mobile solutions provide is getting a lot of attention throughout small, medium and even large enterprises; hosted PBX and unified communications solutions within the corporate landscape are being increasingly adopted.

Thanks to new developments and greater flexibility in the workplace, employees today often have the freedom to choose their own technology and to work remotely. The Guardian post, “Using Technology for Flexible Working,” in fact, points out that “the key to this operational freedom lies in the wealth of communications and technology tools at their disposal, which range from Web and video conference calling, to online document sharing services and instant messaging.”

These days, device flexibility and work mobility are key to the success of a business as they can improve morale, increase job satisfaction and strengthen employees’ commitment to the organization. When flexible working options and work-life balance initiatives are introduced in organizations, attendance rises and staff turnover is significantly lower. A work-life balance is believed to be a winning formula for satisfied, productive workers. A company that offers flexibility can prevent employees’ burnout, poor morale, lack of motivation and high attrition.

However, a post on Gadget, an online South African magazine on consumer technology, office hi-tech and general gadgetry, reports what are the doubts that businesses have when it comes to these new technologies. Concerns are not just of technical nature (safety of data, stability of connection, and availability of resources) but also extend to the human side—will employees feel more isolated? Will teamwork suffer?

The technical challenges are especially worrisome for businesses migrating to VoIP-based systems; companies have the responsibility of ensuring that data is not compromised as an incident could jeopardize their efficiency, quality of service and professional image with obvious consequences for their competitive edge.

These are reasonable concerns, but businesses well know that flexibility and mobility are essential in today’s work environment not only to retain and attract talents but also for growth and increased revenues. To ensure that a shift in working behavior and setting up flexible working initiatives do not compromise business integrity, the following three key steps, listed in the Gadget post, can offer a business a means to sustain its success over the long term.

Step one - Unify Communications: Opt to integrate all fixed, mobile and desktop communications services into one ‘unified’ platform, accessible from any device. Keeping it simple is key for better control.

Step two - Enhance Collaboration: Go for a unified communications and collaboration approach, combining channels such as VoIP, cloud services, IP telephony and hosted PBX, with an emphasis on communication tools can be used to keep employees’ dialogue going.

Step three - Ensure Security: Greater mobility that offers greater flexibility demands the implementation of proper security practices within the VoIP environment. Therefore, it is crucial once installing the equipment to ensure that one puts in the proper security features and patches to prevent breaches for the systems. It helps to know how secure VoIP is, and what sorts of vulnerabilities exist; this is vital in keeping an organization successful and maintaining clients’ trust.

Edited by Alisen Downey