There was a time when the idea of the teleworker was met with the challenge, "how do I know my staff are really working to full capacity and efficiency?" As the Internet and business technology have evolved, the concept of the teleworker has become the greatest single productivity and cost control opportunity for any business, of any size. This is beyond just field sales, as more and more companies are moving office workers to their homes in an effort to reduce the cost of maintaining facilities, and expand operations without adding more overhead or other growing costs. The question is now, "How do you set up efficient and effective remote teleworker support?"
For years, the teleworker solution was Virtual Private Networking and Windows login accounts. In theory, the idea works, but in practice, the technical overhead was a limiting factor. Modern, Unified Communications solutions that leverage VoIP technology not only increase the capacity of the systems, but they also afford greater control over access and functions. The first order of business is communications. Just because an employee can access his or her Windows account, does not mean that employee is connected to the office. A well implemented Unified Communications solution not only connects the teleworker as though he or she were in the office, but also adds far more functionality that just a phone number. Email, instant messaging and video are fully integrated, as are documents and collaboration.
Using advanced Unified Communication solutions, any phone number with a Direct Inward Dialing (DID) number can become an extension on your company network, which is the best part. This provides vital flexibility and can be extended to mobile access as well. When coupled with collaboration and document management, your entire staff can work from anywhere and the only loss is the coffee budget. This means being able to staff up when the office is full, expanding operations without planning for expanding facilities, and greater access to talent. The cost savings of these technologies is well established, and the benefit to productivity and capacity is an important gain to any company of any size.
For this much power, one might assume that it would involve a huge investment of time and capital, but this is a myth. Existing business infrastructure can be integrated, while the solution can be up and running in a very short time. The cost of implementation is effectively zero as many companies realize an immediate ROI by migrating from costly old phone systems and service to more cost efficient and effective VoIP based services. In addition, as overall expenditures and maintenance costs will drop and over time, the savings continue to mount. The only thing needed is the decision to move ahead while finding a partner or distributor who has a flexible Unified Communications solution ready to go. Start up time can be less than a week to achieve full functionality. Teleworkers are valuable assets, and the solution to connect them should not cost more than what they are paid. All businesses should employ a solution such as this, and the time to evaluate one is now.
As the premiere provider of innovative unified communication and mobile business solutions, Zultys empowers businesses to collaborate efficiently and effectively. Zultys MXIE technology integrates and manages all local and remote communication functions in a single interface, bringing together all aspects of voice, messaging, video, email, and fax.
