Back in the day, every employee was tied to a desk or used a shared communal phone to talk to colleagues, suppliers or customers.
Companies invested in fixed desk phones as a “One-Size-Fits-All” approach to telephony because most employees worked in an office.
When mobile networks became available, senior employees were issued company-paid mobile phones so they could communicate and be reachable away from the office. These were very expensive and so only a few employees were given them.
Not long after that Unified Communications became the latest business communications innovation, which introduced business calling using VoIP from either a laptop or a mobile App.
While the quality of calling with VoIP is OK when in the office or on a fast, stable WiFi network, often the quality is poor if the user is moving around or in a remote location.
If you consider today’s workforce, that situation is more the norm than the exception. There are many more hybrid and frontline employees who have jobs which either require them to be on the move all the time, or who are often working from home or other locations where there is no stable, fixed network.
It’s far too expensive to give all these employees a company smartphone, so most have had to make do with whatever the IT department gives them.
Let’s take a look at some typical job functions and their need for good quality communications solutions, which offer integration into the company UC platform, a good user experience and which won’t break the bank.
Use Case #1: The Roving C-suite
The top executives in today’s typical enterprise are always on the go – visiting customers, speaking at events, touring facilities, presenting to investors or attending board meetings. In other words, they are away from their desks much of the time.
Even when they are in the office, these executives rely on mobile phones extensively so that they can be reached instantly, whenever an important business issue arises.
Typically, they are given company-issued mobile phones. This has the drawback that their mobile business number is different from their office number and customers or other employees cannot always reach them quickly or they do not have the number that the executive has with them.
While the expense might be justified because of the role, it does mean they must carry a business phone as well as their personal device. If they are out and have forgotten to take their business phone, they could miss a critical business call.
Executives demand the highest quality communications on the move – even when they are traveling abroad from their home country. They need an intuitive, streamlined voice service and the ability
Use Case #2: Hybrid Middle Management on the Go
Many mid-level managers now operate in a hybrid mode, working in the office and from home and they frequently travel to meetings or visit company facilities or customer sites.
Providing middle-managers with company mobiles and plans is very expensive for the business, especially if they travel internationally. They can’t always open their laptops to join a conference call or make a simple voice call from their car if they are out on the road.
Many organizations suffer from bill shock because of the complexity of international roaming tariffs. It’s not possible for any organization to control this easily with typical plans.
One solution has been to give them UC apps on their personal mobile phones. These apps are hard to use for voice calls and deliver poor communications quality because they use the cellular data channel. Research shows the vast majority of users ignore these apps when they go to make a call, so they end up using their personal phones.
Middle managers need a single device that allows them to communicate reliably and easily, no matter where their assignments take them, whether to another country or working remotely. And they need a plan that eliminates roaming fees to counteract bill shock.
Use Case #3: Distributed Knowledge Workers
Many companies hire highly qualified and accomplished knowledge workers and permit them to work remotely or in hybrid style. It can become an attractive perk that makes it easier for these companies to recruit the best knowledge workers.
Often these knowledge workers are involved in providing services and support to customers. That requires their communications to be recorded and retained, for compliance with regulatory requirements or for customer service quality assurance.
Sometimes they are given company-paid mobiles which are not integrated with the call centre or UC system and calls with customers cannot be controlled or analyzed.
In some cases, these workers have been required to use UC apps that can route their communications to the company UC platform for recording or monitoring. But the apps are not intuitive and can be hard to use. Because they are using VoIP, the apps can have poor call quality, which can lead to an inferior employee and customer experience and the inability to use AI and analytics in post-call analysis.
These workers need a mobile device and business number that is tied into the existing company UC platform and back office systems. but that does not require any apps or special steps. They need that device and service to provide top quality communications for collaboration and customer calls anywhere they happen to be working.
Use Case #4: Deskless Workforce
In some industries a large proportion of workers do not have desks at all. They may perform their duties in a warehouse or on a factory floor or in a production facility. They may move around a company facility or between different facilities.
These workers can be hard to reach because they are not near a desk phone. Very often, a shared, communal phone is their only link to the company communications system. If a worker needs to be reached or call somebody, they have to stop what they are doing and go to this phone, affecting their productivity.
To overcome this problem, some companies have deployed expensive, specially-built on-campus systems like DECT to keep these employees in the communications loop. DECT only works when these employees remain in range and on campus, it is notoriously unreliable and it is now very old technology which is no longer supported.
These workers need an inexpensive, easy-to-use device that roves with them and that ties them into the corporate UC platform, even when they are off campus entirely. They need a device that allows them to be reachable without stopping their tasks so productivity can be maximized.
Use Case #5: Frontline Workers
Many companies employ hundreds or thousands of frontline, mobile workers. These are repair technicians, delivery people, in-home service providers, sales people on the go, healthcare workers and many more.
These workers are not often given company-paid mobile phones, because the cost of the devices and plans are very significant to the business. Using the UC app on their personal phones is an option, but the app is often ignored, as it is too difficult and unreliable to use for basic voice calls. So typically these workers use their personal mobile phones, which not only heightens personal risk, but confuses clients and customers because it uses an unrecognizable personal number. Calls are not recorded, so when things go wrong it is impossible to trace the communications.
Frontline workers need to be able to communicate using a company UC number, not their personal numbers associated with their personal phones.
In many companies, calls need to be recorded or monitored for customer service quality or to meet regulations. Sometimes this means that the outbound number a worker is assigned on a mobile is the call centre number. That is so that incoming calls to customers present a recognizable number, the one which they originally called.
Many companies are also starting to apply AI analytics on these communications, which is not possible if they are external to the company UC or call centre platform.
Frontline workers need a single device that allows them to communicate intuitively using the native phone dialer, without special apps or steps to make a basic phone call. The device should work everywhere while ensuring communications are integrated with the call centre or other corporate systems.
Covering the Use Cases
What these use cases illustrate is that most companies consist of many different styles of working. These work styles require a much more flexible approach to communications than old-school desk phones, company-issued mobiles and UC apps can provide.
That’s where Tango Extend with UC integrated eSIMs comes to the rescue.
Mobile Unified Communications with Tango Extend allows you to install a business eSIM on any business owned or personal mobile phone and turn it into a Universal UC Endpoint that works with any corporate communications platform.
These eSIMs allow the addition of a business line to any smartphone or ruggedised device. Most commonly used in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) personal phones, it allows personal devices to operate with a separate company controlled business line with all your IT-controlled desk phone and compliance features. This does not affect or interfere with the use of the personal phone as a personal device and no device management software is required to use it.
With this solution, workers in any role can use their own phone’s native dialer and place calls with the company identity or use calling features just like they would have with a desk phone in the office. They can even share the landline number with their office phone, if they have one.
For the top executives on the go, Extend enables them to carry a single device while ensuring they can use the company numbers and be always reachable for business.
For middle managers who travel to other territories, Extend features a single plan that covers 40 countries, allowing them to roam without bill shock.
The distributed knowledge workers can now have a single phone that ties them into the corporate platform and compliance systems without any apps, allowing them to work hybridly while ensuring calls can be tied into the CRM or compliance systems.
The deskless workforce now has a device that allows them to be linked into the communications when on the factory floor, in the warehouse or even off campus. They can communicate without stopping their work to go to a shared phone.
The frontline workers now have a simple way to communicate using company numbers and identity while carrying a single device. Ruggedized options are available to ensure the phone is ready for whatever the frontline working environment can throw at it.
Get in touch today to learn how Tango Extend can turn mobiles into Universal UC Endpoints that can provide better communications for every work style in your enterprise.
