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2020 has been one of the most challenging times for modern businesses. Now, Europe is in the midst of the second wave of COVID-19. England, France, Germany, Belgium, Greece, and Ireland have all entered full lockdown mode. The time to act is now. In this blog, we have outlined some practical ways businesses equip their daily communications in these uncertain times to help you get prepared for the second lockdown.
Businesses are rethinking how they stay connected
Remote working solutions are not one-size-fits-all. Every business has its own unique needs. Here are 4 typical ways to connect your remote-based employees and customers.
#1 Let Employees Take Desk Phones Home
Taking desk phones home is a straightforward way to retain inter-office communication functionality. Because the VoIP phone system transmits voice data over the internet, rather than traditional landlines, it can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Under this circumstance, businesses will require a VPN connection within their corporate network and have desk phones re-configured so that employees can plug and play their desk phones at home directly. VPN (Virtual Private Network) allows your staff to securely connect to your office through an encrypted tunnel from their desk phones.
#2 Adopt a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) Policy
According to PC Matic’s research on COVID-19 Work from Home Trend, 61% of remote employees were using personal devices as their primary method to access company networks. Without bringing desk phones home, you can also take your own mobile phones and desktops to make and receive business calls with your office number by installing a softphone app. Besides that, all the features that you have on desk phones to manage calls effectively, such as transfer, hold, mute, and record, are now accessible in the form of an app. Some softphones also work more like unified communications platforms and come with collaboration features to improve productivity, making it more powerful than desk phones.
#3 Businesses are Opting for Cloud Phone Systems
The cloud-based phone system has become one of the vital lifelines of business continuity. Cloud adoption was highlighted in a new survey by Centrify which revealed that 48% of enterprises accelerated cloud migration plans to support remote working.
Other benefits of cloud phone systems include:
- Reduced upfront investments and maintenance costs
- Little technical expertise and administrative requirements
- Quick installation and flexibility to adapt to changing needs instantly, and more
#4 Collaborate Virtually and Stay Engaged
The adoption of collaboration tools, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, has surged in response to the pandemic. In late October, Microsoft just announced that Teams had reached 115 million daily active users.
The shift to remote working is likely to become more permanent. COVID-19 has proved a catalyst to embrace a new approach to work and tomorrow is going to be very different. It is time to reimagine and future-proof your digital workplace now.
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Source
https://www.yeastar.com/blog/second-wave-covid-19-preparation/?
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