How to Keep Employees Connected

Nowadays many companies have remote workers, and they often face difficulties associated with accommodating staff timetables while not wasting precious business hours. By enabling that workers stay connected companies can preserve the integrity of their services and operations while facilitating the stresses of remote employees. Let`s see what VoIP-enabled PBX services can offer except for cheap international calls to keep employees connected.

• Transferring voicemail to e-mail. This feature is very popular in hosted PBX. It is responsible for sending a notification to an employee`s email address when he receives a voicemail message. The voicemail can be delivered in digital format or transcribed into text. The user can also get digital voicemail and its text transcription simultaneously. The employee can listen to his/her voicemail messages at any location if there is an Internet connection, via laptop or smartphone. He is not required to dial into the office to find messages and listen to them.
• Find-me/follow me and call forwarding. An employee has an opportunity to insert alternatives landline or mobile phone numbers where he can be found if he is not at the office and can`t answer his desk phone. He can also determine how long the calls should ring at each location. Up to 3 locations can be chained up in a sequential or concurrent dialing.
• Transferring calls back. Cloud PBX has a feature which makes it possible to transfer calls from mobile or cell phones into specified extensions in the head office.  It`s an essential feature especially when mobile employees need to redirect a call to their colleagues in other departments. It can be Technical Support or Customer Service. The cloud PBX system will identify the feature code entered by the user and redirect the call to an internal extension. This feature doesn`t require installing a specific software or smartphone capabilities. Transfer-back feature can be used even on a standard mobile phone with no Internet connection.
• Smartphone applications. For employees who have smartphones running Android or iPhones have an additional opportunity to stay connected with their colleagues and customers. The app registers with carrier and is used for making outgoing calls. The party you are calling will see company`s caller ID. When the app is running the smartphone is complied with the rules which are set for that user`s extensions like call queues or membership in hunt groups.
• Soft phones. Soft phone is a laptop or desktop computer alternative to a smart phone application. It imitates functionality of phones behaving like a «clone» of employee`s physical desk unit. Remote workers are required to deploy the software and start making and receiving local and international calls. To trigger this process the user needs a suitable Internet connection and a USB headset. There is a plethora of soft phones available for Linux, Mac and PC.