The workplace as we used to know has forever changed as remote and mobile workers become the norm, not the exception. Along with the workplace, the laptop-toting road warrior has been replaced by more smartphones and tablets. These users no longer power up a corporate laptop to read email, check the status of an order via instant messaging or hold an important video conference with a key client. With more organizations embracing bring your own device (BYOD) programs, these mobile employees are using mobile unified communications applications on their personally owned devices to get their jobs done.
The influx of mobile devices has been unprecedented. IMS Research expects that smartphone sales will increase from 420 million worldwide in 2011 to more than 1 billion in 2016. The number of tablet systems is also rising at an exponential rate:
Market research firm Frost and Sullivan projects that shipments of business tablets reached 600,000 units in 2010 and will grow to 49.1 million in 2015.
BYOD compatible phone systems provide employees with more flexibility. “Today, only about one of every five white-collar employees works solely in the office,” noted Andrew W. Davis, an analyst at Wainhouse Research. By connecting a personal mobile device with a cloud communications, hosted phone system, employees can make calls from their device that will show as a call coming from the company office. No matter where your employees are, all communications with customers are controlled by a standardized phone number – there is no need to give out separate number for cell or home office.
BYOD enabled cloud phone systems allows employees to receive calls on multple locations – office, moible, home, and etc. You can choose to have calls ring to your office phone and your cell phone, simultaneously or in sequence, to allow you to pick which one to answer. Despite receiving and making calls from multiple linked devices, each employee only needs one number, making it a cinch for customers and other employees to get in touch.
To put it simply, the way in which we work has changed. Mobile workers account for over 75% of the U.S. workforce and about 3 million people in the U.S. telecommute. When this unprecedented level of mobility is combined with the increasing adoption of smartphones and tablets, BYOD makes sense. Employees already own the tools they need to keep in contact on the go, so it’s only logical that they use them. By allowing employees to use their own devices, you can reduce costs, as well as increase flexibility and productivity.
