Reassessing Office Culture - The Demise of The Desk Phone

(NewsUSA) - People used to just pick up the phone and resolve work issues on the spot. Today, employees have to choose from among many different communication channels - emails, texts, video calls, chat windows, messenger apps and many more, especially for those who work remotely.
Over the past decade, smartphones and the cloud-based app ecosystem have changed everything about the way we work and live. People have become accustomed to working anytime, anywhere and staying in touch using their own personal devices, customized to their own precise preferences.
Meanwhile, the lonely desk phone sits idly by, collecting dust. Many professionals consider the desk phone an antiquated communication tool that no longer meets the needs of the new mobile workforce.
According to research by IDG, unused phone systems are costing companies an average of $8.1 million per year. Related studies project that three out of four US workers will be mobile only by 2020.
To help businesses everywhere lower their fixed costs and go mobile, one company is reshaping the way small business owners and their employees communicate through an app that transforms employee mobile phones into a full-featured business phone system.
The Spoke Phone app makes it easier to get people talking in real time so they can solve problems faster, strengthen the internal company culture and promote company growth.

Other benefits of the app include:
* It's simple: too many features confuse employees. Spoke Phone has just the core features companies need, and nothing they don't.
* It promotes more business. Spoke Phone gets employees and customers talking more in real time, solving problems faster to help your businesses grow.
* It saves money. Companies retain more money, employees love the freedom, IT loves how simple it is.
* It works on any network. Employees can use a smartphone on any phone network or with any carrier - either their own phone or one you provide for them.
* It links employee phones together into a single business network. You can transfer a call from your mobile phone to others on your team and get customers talking to the right people in no time.
Every small company has unique needs. Whether your company has teams of remote workers, or just a few local employees. small businesses can change their operations to make the workforce more productive and happy, and without the added expense of a desk phone.

http://about.newsusa.com/article/reassessing-office-culture---the-demise-of-the-desk-phone

Managing Technology To Keep Mobile Workers Happy

(NewsUSA) - Walk into any coffee shop and there you'll see them - the freelancers, hunched over their laptops at corner tables, talking furtively into their earphones, fingers flying across their keyboards. They might be employees working remotely or contractors securing a new deal. The world is their office and their phones are universal remotes for professional services.
Welcome to the new normal - the 24/7, 365-workday, in which many of today's employees default to their mobile devices for most essential business tasks.
Given these changes, it's no surprise that the statistics support even more growth in this area.
In fact, the number of mobile workers in the U.S. will rise from 96.2 million to 105.4 million over the next five years. By 2020, mobile workers will account for nearly three-quarters (72.3 percent) of the U.S. workforce, according to new research from the IDC. By 2025, more than 70 percent of the workforce will be millennials, who grew up with cell phones and can't live without smartphones.
Among the driving factors of these tech trends, the foremost is that millennials are more at home in the digital world of mobile devices, social media and cloud-based everything.
To keep these workers engaged, businesses of all sizes are investing in the latest technology to help them be more productive, generate revenues and keep costs low - both now and into the foreseeable future.
Spoke Phone represents the next generation of millennial-friendly phone systems, taking mobile technology to the next level.
Small businesses can download the Spoke Phone app to transform employee mobile phones into a central business phone system in three minutes or less.
More than just a virtual phone system, Spoke is a platform that makes it easier for millennials to make and answer more calls. Small businesses are deploying Spoke Phone to solve problems faster, enhance company culture and scale up the business at their own rate.
The benefits of the Spoke Phone app include:
* Simplicity. Small businesses don't need and don't want to pay for too many unnecessary features. These only confuse employees and hurt productivity. Spoke Phone supports just the core features that small businesses want, and none that they don't.
* Connectivity. Spoke Phone encourages more connections between employees and customers, laying a strong foundation for business growth. It also masks the employee's personal number on outbound calls to keep employees safe.
* Lower Fixed Costs. There's no hardware to buy, no servers, no wiring and no IT required to keep it running. Companies spend less and employees love their freedom.
* Flexibility. Spoke Phone runs on top of any network. Employees can use a smartphone on any phone network or with any carrier - either their own phone or one you provide for them.
* Professional. It's easy to transfer calls to anyone on your team. You can transfer a call from your mobile phone and get customers talking to the right people in record time.
The traditional work model is long gone; the world and the workforce have already gone mobile.
The world's best mobile tech saves money, keeps millennials engaged and turns up the dial on productivity.
Welcome to the future of work.
 http://about.newsusa.com/article/managing-technology-to-keep-mobile-workers-happy