The Business Phone has Evolved. Part 2

Will Mobile VoIP take over?

We all agree that the industry has changes and it is very apparent that a Cloud PBX solution with surrounding services is replacing legacy onsite PBX or stock Business Phones.  Aside from this shift in investment, more and more features are being enabled and included  at the desktop phone and softphone applications.   

Likely before VoIP was a serious conversation at your organization, mobile phones were used in business communications first for key executives, managers, sales persons, and remote workers.  In the beginning there were very little guidelines and tools to split costs so many companies paid the entire monthly bill and asked the employee to keep personal use to a reasonable minimum.  

As IP Business Phones improved, Mobility became the norm

As Canada adopted the first generation of VoIP solutions and Unified Communications, the desktop and conference telephones were changed out.  Softphones were offered on laptops for those road warriors as the connection into business communications.   Concurrently and independently mobile phone use also grew exponentially as it became a standard tool for business.  The Phone System and the individual mobile phone assets were used but not integrated together on an organizational level.    

Today the two worlds have evolved and the Cloud PBX has become the platform of choice and will replace single ended Business Phones.  Mobile phones developed to place free local and long distance calls over WiFi, hence the game changed again.  Now mobile application software allows users to participate in the call management, collaboration and integration to businesses systems that drive efficiency.   Depending on your type of business and employee profiles you may ask yourself if all you need are mobile phones, and forgo the IP desktop telephone.

Can you just go using mobile phones?  

Certainly a super small or start-up ventures can initially begin with only mobile phones attached to individuals. But as the business grows and employees are added your customers will expect a central phone number on a Phone System to call and need to get help via re-directed calls. A central switchboard operator or Cloud PBX directing your calls will be a sign of establishment to potential clients. Remember that mobile phones are still prone to dying batteries, getting out of coverage, and occasional voice quality issues.

Most of Canada’s mid-range and leading full service Cloud PBX Service Providers (RingCentral, Telehop, MightyCall for examples) will have a branded mobile application to place on a device to complete the Business Phone System picture. Typically this facilitates presence, call transfers, contact lists, voicemail to email and management statistics. Generally, they all have yet to recommend a total mobile deployment for Business Phones, but they also don’t sell mobile services.

Where are we now?

Cloud PBX providers so far have brought productivity and cost savings primarily via the desk-phone and softphones.   Initial integrations into Salesforce or Oracle for example were first developed without the mobile phone in mind. That methodology is also evolving as the market now expect the Cloud PBX release improvements for iOS and Android in parallel to the desktop experience.

Still between organization to organization there is a checkerboard of support models for mobile business users today.  Some companies allow employees to connect and use company resources on private cell phones. Canadian enterprises may also issue a cell phone for traveling employees to control applications, security and cost certainty of data and voice plans. Most workers are not in favor of carrying 2 devices throughout the day.

Some office workers speaking hours on the phone throughout the day will always prefer a large screen and a headset to accomplish tasks over the smaller form factor of a cell phone. They don’t want to hold a small box up to their ear all day.

The evolution continues …

As Mobile Device Management (MDM) has evolved into Enterprise Device Management (EMM) the BYOD control and split usage/billing issues are going to be addressed over time.  Device and Application Management for all business assets are becoming less of an afterthought. Likely Cloud PBX open source software will integrate with EMM in future years.

For large service providers like Rogers will promote Unison for mid-sized businesses and Bell has a dual SIM offer on some new devices. Either way, the Cloud PBX and EMM systems will need to evolve and converge together before we’re ready for ‘Mobile Only’ deployments that scale.

Cloud PBX Service Providers are offering mobile phone apps as one of their differentiating selling point.  They extend the UC features and business system integrations mobile users.  For 2019 and beyond, convenience is king, and a ubiquitous end user experience includes enabled mobile devices.