A friend of mine works for an IT software training company. They don’t have an office. Each member of the 10-strong team works from home and communicates via email and Skype. With some black humour he refers to it as more of a ‘cell’ than a company, making it sound like something out of a spy movie.
As an idea though, it seems to be working. Colleagues are able to report on activity and plan successfully. If a meeting room is needed, then one can be hired. Documents are held in the Cloud, applications accessed via a VDI (virtual desktop interface). The cost of a centrally maintained premises and equipment requirement has been reduced significantly and the savings put back into the business.
When asked which application he used most he replied that Skype was the tool that proved to be most useful. Being able to chat via broadband and avoid the need for line rental or mobile costs was essential for keeping up-to-date and making sure costs were low. This was all possible thanks to Voice over IP (or VoIP).
The history of VoIP stretches back some forty years, but its development into a widely used application has only occurred in the last decade. VoIP offers a great alternative to more traditional voice communications, like desk phones. VoIP solutions for business takes communication a step further than Skype by offering familiar features such as voicemail, extensions and automated answering.
VoIP is therefore enabling the worker to go mobile and not just from a home office, but out and about too. For example, you can use your own internal extension on your smartphone; host or join a conference on the go and check reports and statistics on calls and usage.
If you’d like to find out more about to incorporate VoIP into your IT then you can ask us at our contact page.
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