Most of the country have been working from home at some point over the last year. Whether you’ve managed to do that successfully and seamlessly will depend on the technology your company has available. It will also depend a little bit on the setup you have at home, but there are various ways to make and receive calls from your business when you’re away from the office.
A deskphone
Lots of people still prefer a deskphone and this is entirely possible when you’re working from home. If you have a Cloud telephony solution, you should be able to take your deskphone from the office home with you and plug it into your router. You will probably need a power supply, or a little PoE switch, but this shouldn’t take up too much room. It’s also possible to work wirelessly using a WiFi dongle so you’re not stuck working next to your router. This is a great option if you just want to get on with it and you don’t want to have to get to grips with new software.
A softphone
A softphone uses your telephony software application to convert your laptop or PC into a phone for you. When calls come in, they ring on your laptop and you’ll use the application to answer the calls. Once you’ve answered you will have the same facilities you have on your deskphone to allow you to transfer, put the caller on hold or conference in a colleague. We’d recommend you use a headset and that you check it’s compatible before purchasing. This will give callers a better experience and give off less background noise. An ideal solution if space is at a premium at home.
Mobility
Most telephony solutions now allow you to set up an app on your smartphone to log into your extension. Like with the softphone option, you’ll have all the in-call options you would normally get from a deskphone but it allows you to work anywhere. If WiFi isn’t available then it will use your mobile phone’s cellular data. This is a really flexible option for when you’re out and about. You’ll never miss a call again!
Divert
The most rudimentary way of working from home is to set up a divert from your office number to your mobile or landline at home. This generally works fine depending on your telephony solution. Some systems offer the option to set up a second ringer or external assignment, whereby when your office phone rings, so does your mobile. This is a good quick solution with no requirements for software or any extra hardware, but for a longer term measure, we would recommend you look at one of the other options.
Your business may choose a variety of these options, and at Cranberry, our staff use different methods depending on what they’re comfortable with or where they’re working at the time.
