Many organisations will still answer yes to this question and supply a business mobile phone to key staff. Feeling that this is the best way of allowing them to stay connected, away from the office, on a device that is paid for by the company.
However, these portable computers aren’t cheap with handsets such as the latest iPhone costing upwards of £499 to purchase; and you still have to find a monthly call and data plan from one of the national operators in order to use it on the go. Many iPhone business plans start at over £40 a month; and whilst you do have the option to pay for the phone hardware within a contract there are a whole host of terms and conditions you will have to accept; as well as being tied in for 18 months or more. Contracts will therefore cost businesses in excess of £720 per member of staff; this operational cost can start to escalate when you multiply it by 10, 20, 30 or more staff.
Growth of VoIP
IP based business telephone systems have evolved and improved considerably over the last few years; especially with improvements to business broadband solutions that have provided the necessary bandwidth to run converged voice and data services. Hosted voice leverages the convenience of adopting cloud technology and allows businesses to break free from the restrictions of buying ISDN lines; limiting the number of calls that can be received and sent at any one time.
Improvements in Mobile Broadband
Alongside the development in VoIP there has been the growth of mobile telephony and mobile broadband. The increasing growth of Smart Phone usage has seen ‘apps’ become the most popular way users access technology on these pocket computers. The larger IP telephony solutions have an app that links the mobile phone with the business telephone system providing the user a convenient way to make business calls whilst on the move.
Adapting your business mobile policy!
Now, most staff will also have a personal mobile phone; one they have chosen themselves, for whatever their reasons were at the time. As a business owner you don’t need to know what the reasoning was; but you can make your, and your staff, lives easier by allowing them to carry around one mobile phone and still cover the cost of their business phone calls in one simple way. Make use of the technology at your disposal; make use of a business telephone app.
Moving to a Hosted System
Moving to a hosted business telephone system, for example, you will already be benefiting from predictable monthly bills based around per user subscriptions that include minutes bundles. For less than a tenth of the price of a business mobile phone contract (assumes you use a compatible IP phone system) your business can add the mobile app subscription for remote, or home, workers and mobile staff such as the sales team.
If the cost savings weren’t enough of a reason to consider this change, there are a whole host of other benefits for your business. Simplify compliance with MiFID II and GDPR through control of call recording and corporate directory data and ensure that each of your staff always present a professional interface to customers and suppliers alike.
We’d like to hear your thoughts and ideas on this subject.
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