When employees can work from anywhere, they can do more. It cuts time spent on commutes to the office and gives employees full schedule flexibility. For example, in a typical work environment, if an employee has a doctor’s appointment, he or she must take a half-day or a full day off work. When they can work from anywhere, it opens their schedules up to working evening hours (or even from the doctor’s office!) in place of sticking to the traditional 9-to-5.

Mobility increases employee happiness—and we all know that happier employees get more done.   Happier employees also provide better customer service, and more satisfied employees have less churn.  Forbes reports that mobility can increase worker productivity by 23% and leads to an increase in the process by 30%.

Landline locked employees lack engagement

A survey collaboration between Steelcase and Ipsos found that 86% of American organizations still require their employees to be using landlines for business functions, with 80% still issuing desktop computers.  This resulted in ⅓ of the workers considered themselves disengaged. The survey theorizes that a large part of this disengagement stems from the requirement of “being chained to one’s desk” with 88% of engaged workers saying the autonomy to choose where they work is an important factor in their increased engagement.

Three Ways Cloud Communications Enables Workplace Mobility

Significant advances in technology have enabled communications solutions to not only be a serious competitor for business telephony users, but have even led to the distinct change in strategy by the incumbent landline telephony providers.  VoIP and the underlying technology of cloud communications is now just as reliable, and in some ways even more reliable than the copper wires of days gone by. Aside from the standard benefits of cost reduction, built-in business continuity and inherent scalability, there are several other ways a cloud communications solution can benefit your business – specifically in the ability of the technology to enable mobility.

• Call forwarding: This benefit is not unique to cloud communications and is a relatively “old” functionality of business phone lines.  But where cloud communications shine is in the way a call can be forwarded. User portals have become a standard benefit of cloud-based solutions, meaning your employee does not need to be at his or her physical desk to forward their phone.  If your employee finds themselves unable to get back to the office for any reason, and still want to remain productive, they can log into their extension and manually forward their phone to their cell phone. All they need is an internet enabled device, and a few clicks will enable all of their business communications to still reach them on the go.
• Mobile apps: Mobile apps, like UC Fone, take call forwarding to another level.  Mobile apps can enable a user’s Android or iPhone device to act exactly like their landline.  An added benefit is the privacy of your employee is maintained on outbound calls, meaning they can return calls from customers from their cell phone, but the caller ID will display their work extension information.  This can increase the adoption of utilizing features like call forwarding among your employees as they no longer have to worry about customers potentially abusing having their private contact information.
• Virtual Voicemail: How much more would you be able to get done if you could access your landline voicemail on the go?  The question almost answers itself. Virtual voicemail features allow you to access your voicemails either from the computer through an email of the voicemail or a notification on the mobile app.

Workplace Mobility is more than just a trend

Mobility and flexibility in the workplace have almost reached “buzzword status.”  But it is more than just a marketing phrase thrown around by cloud providers. Millennials are expected to make up over 50% of the workforce by next year, 2020.  And, according to SRHM, Millennials will not even consider a business that does not enable and encourage a flexible and mobile work strategy. The ability to manage a good work-life balance is critical to this upcoming generation, and to compete for these highly skilled next generation of workers, businesses need to take note.  Advances in technology and the adoption of cloud solutions are key to enabling a flexible work strategy, and it all starts with voice communications. Don’t be left behind. Start today.