VoIP allows small businesses to cut costs and enhance their efficiency by using the internet for their telephony needs. Either with or without video (more on this later) there are plenty of reasons why these networks lend themselves ideally for managing a remote team. Be it a home working colleague or a salesperson out on the road, the advantages offered by VoIP are quickly being understood by forward-thinking small businesses looking to enhance their efficiency across the board. Here are some of the ways why these are especially good when it comes to managing teams which require plenty of remote out of office working.
1) VoIP Makes Remote Working Far Easier
Businesses are adopting remote working practices not just because it is cost-effective to run smaller central offices. Thanks to VoIP and the packaged Service as a Software (Saas) remote workers can now be just as efficient – and probably even more so – working outside of the traditional office space. The big limitation with remote working has always been the lack of accessibility to central office networks and the ease of communication with colleagues.
Placing your network online with VoIP allows users to connect via the cloud to everything they would need within their office, from documents and databases through to video conferencing with their team members. Calling someone in a different office is now just as easy from home as it is from an office desk.
2) Flexible Working Conditions = Improved Performance
Ever wondered how much time employees waste waiting for calls to be returned from customers, suppliers, or external agencies? Why not allow them to incorporate their working practices into a more flexible working pattern that allows them to take their work wherever they go? Plenty of research and countless ‘real world’ examples demonstrate that allowing employees to work in their own environments can substantially enhance their productivity and teamwork. The latter is a key point because it removes the inevitable ‘office politics’ that tend to arise when you have people working together for long hours five or six days each week.
People work better together when they are comfortable and allowed to focus simply on the task in hand. Employees save on travel costs and expenses while businesses can save enormously on keeping smaller premises and facilities. VoIP office network management makes all of this possible for small and medium-sized businesses.
3) Greater Managerial Flexibility
VoIP systems are fantastic for easily scaling up or down your operations as needed. If your business is experiencing an upsurge then you can include new employees (be they temporary, permanent or freelance) on your system within just a minute or two. Should a campaign come to an end and you need to cut back on employee levels then you can simply remove those access privileges – perhaps even configure your VoIP system to do this for you at a specified time. A straightforward process that used to require all kinds of administrative application can now be performed literally with just a few clicks.
As VoIP networking can be performed anywhere with a broadband internet connection you can have team members working around the clock from pretty much anywhere in the world. If you are looking to outsource aspects of your operation to more cost-effective locations then VoIP is now the industry-standard method for accomplishing this. Your sales teams, management, ownership and basically anyone else you choose can have access to their data anywhere. All you need to do is formalize their devices with the network and they are ready to go.
4) High-Quality Employee Monitoring
Companies who opt to make use of the many advantages offered by allowing flexible remote working still need the security of knowing that their employees are working as arranged. There is a level of trust involved that even the most open minded management team are still naturally going to be wary about. For this reason, you need to be certain that everyone is meeting their required targets – and this is another way VoIP can provide enormous assistance.
Employees tend not to like the idea of being ‘tracked’ and it is essential they understand that is a fair compromise for allowing them the additional flexibility and savings involved with remote working. You should use your VoIP to monitor their movements throughout the network and overall performance related to the requirements of the business. For example, if you are using remote call handlers you can check that they are suitably available and responsive. VoIP allows for calls to be listened in-on for performance tracking and training (remember to notify them first). Many companies who use VoIP primarily for managing their internal telephony do so just for this feature alone.
Final Thoughts
These four reasons should apply for any business looking to adopt a VoIP network to assist with their employ of remote working practices. From a managerial/strategic perspective, the benefits of using these technologies are quite simply groundbreaking in the ways it can improve your bottom line performance. When effectively implemented your employees will not just perform better but that additional happiness ought to assist with the retention of key members. By no means whatsoever does incorporating remote working compromise effective teamwork or business spirit – if anything it enhances it in ways which are potentially enormous for improving the scale and success of the company.