Cloud telephony: the underrated work from home technology

When you hear ‘work from home technology’, what springs to mind? 

It’s highly likely that for most of you reading this, the first thing you would think of would be a video calling or video conferencing app, like Zoom. 
 
Some of you may even think of an instant messaging platform specifically aimed at professionals, such as Slack. 
 
Recent global circumstances have meant that thoughts of what is meant by the remote workforce or agile working practices are now inextricably linked to these technologies. 

But while these tools have become part of public discourse and the subject of mainstream news coverage, when used in isolation they are far from a comprehensive solution for powerful, flexible and reliable enterprise communications. 

‘Work from home technology’ should do more

Video calling and instant messaging capabilities are great, but leading edge enterprise communications should empower a team from end to end. 

For communications technology to truly empower the agile workforce both now and into the future, it must do more than simply provide a means of putting in facetime with your team from a distance.  
 
It should provide a better standard of client service, work more efficiently, and function with greater fluidity and cohesion.

Why cloud telephony should be the centre of the conversation

Cloud-hosted telephony (or simply cloud telephony) is rarely thought of as a ‘work from home’ technology.  
 
But a solid cloud telephony solution will provide all of the capabilities and assurances that a geographically dispersed team could ever need.

If we take a step back and think about what really qualifies as a ‘work from home’ technology, it is in essence anything that enables remote teams to work just as effectively as they could in the office. 
 
This means work from home technology should provide…  

• Access to the same resources one would have in the office
  
• Contactability that does not obstruct ‘business as usual’ interactions with colleagues, clients and customers 

• Accurate real-time visibility of activity status across remote teams (i.e. who is available, who is not and why) 
  
  
• Ability to adapt to organisational expansion, and sudden changes in the landscape of communication and collaboration technology 
  
  
• A dependable support team. 

A cloud telephony system, such as Cloudya, can provide all of these things. 

Extending enterprise-level capability to home workers 

A Morgan Lovell survey of office workers conducted in June 2020 found ‘IT Infrastructure’ to be one of the things workers missed most about being in the office. 
 
Migrating one’s communications channels and systems to the cloud means not only can remote teams enjoy the same crisp voice quality that they would on a desk phone, but they can also see the whole breadth of the company address book, and leverage the power of your business communications network from any location. 

More mobile, more contactable 

Cloud telephony communications software unifies all team members – across devices, time zones and locations – through one existing office or direct line number, allowing callers to reach the team member they are after through automatic call routing. 

This dramatically improves customer experience and means that communications with clients and partners are in no way impacted by members of your team working from home, on the move, or otherwise. 

Automatic call routing means callers can simply reach you through the number they know, and be put in contact with the individual they wish to speak to. No calls have to be missed, and the quality of communication is just as strong as it would be in the office. 

Presence and at-a-glance team visibility 

With all of your team connected seamlessly across any device or location, cloud telephony can also provide smart, real-time ‘presence’ features. 
 
Essentially, this means that managers and team leaders can have an accurate, at-a-glance picture of the capacity and contactability of their team, from who is engaged on a phone call to who has their status set to Do Not Disturb. 

This is especially helpful for building trust among team members, and enabling management to ensure their staff aren’t overworking themselves or spending too much time online. 

Dependable support  

A lot of the more well-known communication and collaboration tools operate on a self-service support structure, leaving teams feeling high and dry when they need help the most. 

But with cloud telephony, you don’t have that problem. 
 
Cloud telephony being a third-party service means that, generally speaking, it comes with a very high standard of round the clock, on-demand support for users that run into issues. 

Key takeaways 

The key thing to remember here is that working from home means much more than simply communicating with team members or attending virtual meetings.  
 
Agile workers need to be assured that no matter where they work from, they have access to the same enterprise-level capabilities.  
 
So, when it comes to investing in work from technology, businesses should think of the likes of cloud telephony systems, rather than a singular app.  
 

• While video calling and conferencing is a strong feature, the truth is that more capability is needed to truly empower a remote workforce. 

• Cloud telephony can extend the power of your business network to remote workers in any location, on any device, meaning they have access to the same resources and capabilities that they would in the office. 

• It also ensures that each of your teammates are easily contactable - one number for each of them no matter the device 

• Live presence features from cloud-hosted telephony give team leaders and middle management the visibility they need to have an accurate picture of their team activity, and help prevent employees becoming overworked or burnt out. 

• As cloud-hosted telephony is a third-party service, it comes with proactive on-hand support at all hours, which is more than is offered by a lot of remote collaboration tools.

You can find out much more on the benefits of the latest cloud comms tech in our complete guide.