Remote working may impact team performance
The trend toward hybrid and home working is here to stay. With more job seekers making working remotely a permanent or partial requirement of their next career move, increasing numbers of roles are being offered with this as a working pattern option.
If working lives now seem busier or even more hectic than they once were, they are now tinged with uncertainty, like never before. The operating environment throws up all sorts of challenges, and some of these may require people to be flexible and change their working patterns at short notice.
For many people, the nature of work is intrinsically collaborative. Naturally, remote working tends to reduce personal presence, undermining collaborative processes. As the performance of individuals falls away, so does the collective performance of a team.
But not necessarily…! Here’s how Soho66 VoIP solutions do a great job of enabling dynamic remote working patterns, keeping your teams connected and performing well.
Keeping your teams connected with Soho66
Office anywhere
All calls to your Soho66 VoIP phone numbers can be answered from any location. It might be your main phone number or your direct line, or a call being transferred by a co-worker or answering service, you can take all calls as if you were in the office. With Soho66 you stay connected to your centralised voice call system – it’s like being in your office, wherever you are. Whether on a softphone, app or handset, you are available on your office number.
You can also make outgoing calls from your numbers from any location. It is one of the big benefits of VoIP. Soho66 VoIP numbers use WiFi or mobile data allowances for voice call data, so there’s no need to forward calls to your mobile number and incur the mobile call charges or have them eat up the minutes included in your call plan.
Softphone convenience
A ‘softphone’ is a software telephone for receiving and making VoIP calls on desktop and laptop computers, for Windows and Mac, which download and instal in a couple of minutes.
Your Soho66 VoIP Control Panel includes a free 3CX softphone, that comes pre-configured for each direct dial VoIP number. For Mac users, we recommend using TELEPHONE or X-LITE softphones. You can find the latest information on all our recommended softphones here.
It’s worth noting that entry-level handsets are relatively inexpensive. However, softphones let you avoid the extra expense of dedicated hardware handsets. You also avoid the need to maintain a stock of spares so you can swap out faulty ones quickly.
Mobile apps
An app is used for receiving and making VoIP calls on iOS and Android mobile devices, bringing softphone functionality to your mobile devices. You can make and receive calls through all your Soho66 VoIP numbers via the apps. The app we recommend is the GS Wave, which is manufactured by Grandstream. You can download the apps from their respective app stores via these links, iOS and Android.
Fully featured handsets
Handsets provide the traditional usability of a regular desk phone. Simply plug your VoIP handset in anywhere in the world and it works the same as if you are in your office. So if you are going to be at home and want to set up your phone to cover calls, then just plug your VoIP handset into a free ethernet port on your broadband router at home.
They also free up your computing devices for other tasks and prevent VoIP calls from being interrupted by alerts and contact attempts via other digital channels, which can be a bit of a nuisance.
The handsets we supply are manufactured by Grandstream, who are the makers of the mobile app VoIP softphones we recommend. This supports intuitive use, should you switch between the two.
Remote contact centre agents
Should the remote and hybrid working ambitions for your business extend to operating a contact centre we can also help. Quvu, our stablemate contact centre solution is just the ticket for connecting individuals in separate locations to work together as a contact centre team or teams.
Quvu allows you to manage your teams of agents remotely. See who is on calls, listen in to calls, and get real-time data and stats on all calls handled. You can also see sales made, call backs, demos booked and much, much more.
Discover the Soho66 difference today
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