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4 Ways Your Distributed Team Can Benefit From Call Forwarding

Advances in technology have made it possible for businesses and their employees to work from different locations with ease. For most companies, being present in the office and using office equipment is no longer the only option. With voice over IP, BYOD, quick and easy video and audio conferencing, and more, it is easier than ever to manage distributed teams. In this post, we will look specifically at how a business call forwarding service can benefit remote or distributed teams.

What are the Challenges of a Distributed Team?

“Distributed teams” refers to business teams that work from home, different locations, remotely, etc. These teams are “distributed” across different locations and do not necessarily work out of the main office.

Distributed teams or remote working teams are a growing trend in 2022 year amidst the “great resignation.” However, not many businesses were equipped to comfortably switch to a work-from-home process. But for companies using an advanced or virtual phone system, this move was easy. And one reason for that is the call forwarding feature.

What is Call Forwarding?

Call forwarding is a small business phone service feature that lets you forward incoming calls to any location, number, or device. This way, you can easily route calls to specific agents and employees no matter where they are. So, who can benefit from call forwarding?

  • Distributed teams
  • Remote working teams
  • International teams
  • Traveling employees

4 Ways Call Forwarding Can Benefit Your Distributed Team

Call forwarding keeps you connected even outside the main office. All you need to do is connect your device to the internet and your VoIP service. And then, you can easily turn this device into a business powerhouse. Here are the top benefits of using call forwarding for your remote team:

1. Forward Calls Geographically

Calls can be forwarded to any geographic location. And so, you can have calls routed to local employees as well as international employees that are providing customer support to your international clientele in their own time zones. This means that users and remote employees have flexibility and are not limited to one location.

2. Forward Calls to Any Device

A call forwarding service will let you route calls to any device such as a computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, VoIP phone, etc. This means that if one device fails or is stolen, employees can quickly use their own device to continue doing their job. It also means that users and employees are not limited to one device in the main office.

3. Set Up Forwarding Rules That Will Benefit Your Distributed Team

Call forwarding from a virtual phone service provider comes with useful routing rules and strategies. The most common routing and forwarding strategies include:

  • Time of day routingForward calls based on time. You can have calls forwarded to remote locations during off-hours to match the location’s time zone. You can also have calls forwarded to specific locations and devices over the weekends.
  • Select country routing – Forward calls from different countries to specific locations.
  • Voicemail to email – Send voicemails to your email as a recording.
  • Fax to email – Send important faxes to email.

4. Change Forwarding Strategies Anytime

The best part of such a service is that you can change the forwarding settings as and when needed. Forward calls to the main office when everyone is present. Or, forward calls to remote teams when remote working is applicable. Either way, you can change these rules as and when needed to make a system that works best for your business.

Get Call Forwarding for Your Small Business Today

A call forwarding service can help your business maintain connectivity and productivity even when teams are distributed and working remotely. Getting call forwarding is easy. You can sign up on our website and start forwarding calls to locations and devices as needed. Call us or chat with our experts to learn more about this service today!

8 Key Points That Any Bring Your Own Device Policy Must Have

The rise and comfort of remote working have led to employers considering the different ways to allow remote working without losing employee productivity. In this post, we will look at Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy and what important elements to include when creating one.

Building an Effective BYOD Policy: 8 Key Points

A Bring Your Own Device or BYOD policy refers to the work policy of allowing employees to use their own devices instead of company-sponsored ones. This policy is known to make employees more productive and efficient as they would be using devices and applications they are familiar with. Furthermore, such a policy paves the way for an easy switch to remote working, if need be. Lastly, it can also help companies save on yearly costs that would otherwise be spent on purchasing and maintaining equipment.

Here are some important elements and rules to keep in mind when creating your own Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, as suggested by IBM Security:

1. Create Policy First: Then Purchase Technology

The first step is to start creating your BYOD policy before purchasing any technology, even mobile device management or MDM tech. BYOD policies affect almost every team or department in the office: IT, HR, legal, security, and employees using the devices. Therefore, rules of use should be determined beforehand.

The Most Important BYOD Policy Factors to Consider:

When creating your BYOD policy, consider the following factors:

  • What devices will be supported and accepted for use? Who determines device use, employer or employee?
  • Who will pay for data usage? Will there be a stipend or will the employee be responsible for expenses?
  • What security measures will be implemented?
  • What apps will be allowed and which ones forbidden?
  • What resources and services can employees access on their devices?
  • What data will be collected from the employee’s device?
  • What will your Acceptable Usage Agreement (AUA) consist of?

2. Plan to Keep Personal Info Private and Separate from Company Data

Since a BYOD policy allows employees to use their own devices and apps, it is important to pay attention to privacy. Big data is so large that it’s raising privacy and ethical issues for major corporations around the world. In this case, keeping personal information private and separate from the company’s data is necessary.

Make your privacy laws easily accessible and help your employees and users understand what data will and will not be collected from them. For example, personal emails, contacts, text messages, call history, etc. Furthermore, help them understand why you are collecting what you are collecting and how it benefits them.

The next step is to keep personal and professional data separate. Important and valuable corporate data, documents, and other files must be protected by your IT team. This is helpful in the case of an employee leaving the company; IT can quickly wipe information from the employee’s devices and keep company data safe.

3. Decide How to Manage Data Usage

Whether or not you are paying for the plan, you will want the managers or the users to be able to track how much data they are using. Furthermore, you will want to be upfront about in-network and roaming charges while also tracking them or providing warnings for excessive use.

Make sure users understand how the data plan works and how to effectively use data. There should be a system of checks and balances. Use data to elevate employees, not penalize them. Help them understand the importance of WiFi and to use it whenever available.

4. Make Enrollment Simple

Use technology that is user-friendly, simple, and does not involve complex procedures. Include instructions and troubleshooting advice in your emails or text messages. Also, let them know who they can connect with in case they encounter an issue.

Make the enrolling of devices and users secure and easy to follow. For example, users may receive an email or text link. When they click on this link, they will be led to a webpage where they can register their MDM profile for a device. Here, they will also be able to read and accept the user agreement.

You want to be able to quickly enroll devices — even in bulk — while providing users the ability to enroll themselves. You can add a layer of security by enabling a basic one-click authentication method.

5. Offer Self-Serving Options

One of the main advantages of a BYOD policy is the ability to reduce the time spent on troubleshooting or contacting the help desk. For this, you want to help your employees or users help themselves. Easy passcode recovery, geo-locating for locating lost devices, being able to quickly wipe a device to protect corporate data, and so on, are a few ways to help employees as well as your business while ensuring efficiency throughout the processes.

6. Enable Easy Configuration

An important part of successfully running a BYOD policy is being able to configure devices quickly and easily. The best solution is configuring devices over-the-air for optimization. Your platform or system should give the employee everything they need such as access to email, contacts, WiFi, VPN, relevant documents, apps, virtual phone numbers, etc. You may even make a note of applications that are unacceptable or include data usage warnings.

7. Monitor Devices for Usage

Now that you know how much data will be allowed and the stipend or budget allotted for usage, monitor your employees’ usage to ensure they do not go beyond the allocated amount. Furthermore, monitor how they are using their data. Some circumstances to watch for:

  • Attempting to disable management
  • Attempting to jailbreak or root a phone to get paid apps for free
  • Not complying with the security policy
  • Using apps that are not allowed or unaccepted within the policy

Some ways to battle devices that do not comply with your BYOD policy is to use your MDM solution to selectively to wipe their devices or to send warning messages. You may also choose to make additional adjustments based on what you are seeing.

8. Using Call Forwarding for Communication

Lastly, BYOD policies work very well along with call forwarding. A call forwarding service allows users to use their devices to make and receive business calls. You can use call forwarding to keep your team or office connected even when they are working from home or traveling. This way, your employees are reachable through inexpensive communication while continuing to be productive.

Create Your BYOD Policy Now

Keeping the above points in mind, take time and consideration when creating a Bring Your Own Device policy for your workplace. For call forwarding services or to learn how call forwarding can support BYOD, call us or chat with our experts today!