As VoIP continues to enjoy growth in the telecoms market, more and more businesses are adapting their phone services to include VoIP and move away from older PBX systems. One of the key reasons that large and small businesses alike are switching to a VoIP based system is to enable easier and better collaboration between workers, their colleagues and clients. The ease of VoIP integration, the accessibility of the systems and their ability to change to the working environments of the 21st Century, all make them the sensible option for the future of telecommunication and help collaboration throughout the business.
Accessibility
The working day has transformed dramatically in the past few years and employees are no longer necessarily tied to their desks from nine to five. Employees are connected through smartphones and tablets at both work and home with remote working becoming more popular. VoIP allows these many remote voices to communicate effectively with a central hub or to clients across the country and even the world. As long as a good internet connection exists, VoIP enables employees to work from wherever they want or from where they need to be. Collaboration only works with good communication and VoIP allows this no matter the location.
Integration
As more of our working world becomes digitalised and moves online, businesses are using more and more applications and programs to run their business operations than ever before. To get the best collaborative effort, employees need to be using the same applications and ones that will all work together. Unlike traditional business telephone lines, VoIP can integrate easily in to many applications as VoIP itself is a modern era advancement. Having a telecommunication system which can be used with other applications means that files and information can be shared easily and almost instantly which will improve the communication of ideas between colleagues.
Conferencing Expanded
Though conference calls have been used in the business world for a long time, they are quickly being outmoded by VoIP video conferencing systems. Video conferencing, as opposed to calling conferencing, allows the participants to learn much more than is said; a vital part of reading the social cues of body language is vital to understanding whether everyone has the right information and is on board with the project. VoIP calling enables employers and employees to see what is really going on but it can also cut out a lot of transport costs and loss of time. Most people share the belief that a lot of meetings are pointless and so try and avoid them unless necessary, but when you do need one, think about using video conferencing first if you need to connect with people from different locations.
Collaborative Features
The ability to adapt VoIP to any situation means that there are a lot of features which are specifically there to help with collaboration. Screen sharing can help explain information in a visual way to colleagues and can be used for training. You have the visuals on the screen but you can also explain it directly over the phone. VoIP also has the ability to record calls which can be used for training and also as a reference for later. A further great feature, which can also be added to your systems, is the ability for other colleagues to offer on-screen advice and support while others are on the phone to customers. This is collaboration at its most basic but could be the most important when dealing with customer service issues. Happy customers and happy employees all make for a happy business.
