As technology continues to free the modern workforce from the traditional desk and office, work is less about the place and more about access, and it becomes increasingly common to work remotely. According to Gartner, 84% of organizations have been employing a remote workforce. Today’s businesses are confronted with the challenge of keeping everyone synchronized with efficient communications systems when they have several office locations, traveling staff, and employees working from home.
Remote Office Connectivity Options
VoIP enables businesses to extend their communications system to remote offices over SIP-enabled devices. The deployment of a multi-site VoIP system can not only keep all dispersed branches connected seamlessly but also reduces the spiraling inter-office call costs. There are several economical branch office solutions to link remote branches to the headquarter communications platform based on the business size and number of remote sites you are looking to connect.
1. Remote Extension Registration
Remote extension registration is one of the most cost-effective ways to connect remote offices for small branch locations with only a few endpoints. Without additional hardware investments, IP phones and softphones at the remote offices can be registered to the PBX system in the main site via VPN or DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System) configuration.
2. Utilizing VoIP Gateway to Connect Remote Sites
This option is perfect for small businesses and branch offices that maintain analog voice infrastructures yet still want to leverage the power of VoIP. By using FXS gateways, FXO gateways or GSM gateways, remote offices can also enjoy free inter-office calls and use corporate trunks for both inbound and outbound calls.
3. Networking S-Series VoIP PBXs at Different Locations
Networking multiple telephony systems can be complicated considering the necessity of port forwarding, static public IP address settings, and other time-consuming configurations. However, the built-in Multisite Interconnect feature of S-Series VoIP PBX allows simple interconnecting configuration of S-Series PBXs deployed at different sites in minutes.
4. Moving to the Cloud
With the cloud phone system, businesses able to unify the headquarter with remote offices and teleworkers within a single PBX system. Everyone is connected in the same corporate directory and has access to the same communications features. Better yet, Cloud PBX also allows new users to be added without maintenance or technical staff necessary.
Learn more about these 4 available options to connect remote and branch offices.
Mobility Features for Road Warriors
Road warriors are mobile employees who are typically on the go, such as salespeople and service technicians who constantly attend trade shows, present products or services to customers, or perform on-site assistance. They embrace greater agility and often take business calls outside of traditional business hours.
Unified communications is a significant bolster to the mobile workforce, which allows them to work remotely with the same capabilities they have at their desk. The business communication system is at the palm of their hands to make sure they never miss business calls while achieving a better work-life balance.
- Softphone: Bring Your Extension with You
Used in conjunction with business telephone systems, softphones turn mobile phones and desktops into office extensions to keep road warriors synchronized with the corporate phone system so that they are always connected. Any incoming call to their office extensions can be automatically forwarded to the devices at hand.
- Presence: Reach Colleagues at the Best Time
Even outside the office, with the presence status, road warriors can still easily know if the colleague they want to reach is available, busy, or away. Customized presence status tells about when is the best time and how is the best way to contact someone to avoids unnecessary call attempts.
- Ad-hoc Conference: Initiate Meetings on Your Mobile Phone
Road warriors do not have to be on-site to attend a meeting. With Linkus Softphone, you can start an instant meeting through smartphones anywhere anytime and invite any members you want. Linkus will immediately make calls to the invited parties who can then enter the meeting by picking up the call. Up to 9 participants are supported.
- Voicemail to Email: Catch Up with Clients and Their Messages
Delivering voicemail recordings straight to the email inbox, voicemail to email is especially useful for remote working. As long as a new voicemail comes in, mobile workers can easily catch up with clients and make a response as quickly as possible, free from any geographical limitation.
Related: A Day in the Life of an Agile Worker with Linkus
Yeastar Unified Communications Solution
Linkus UC Softphone is supported on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices, which allows users to sync communication even as they switch among different devices, adding UC capabilities to both our S-Series VoIP PBX and Cloud PBX.
This Post Has 2 Comments
I’ve been using Linkus for long and it’s really a convenient App.
The Linkus Mobile app, works great, without the need to fill username, pass, domain etc
Just scan the QR & it will register at once
in addition, the FQDN has a great value for inter-branch offices, No port forward, no router setting, fully secure
Thanks Yeastar