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Unified Communications:

An Essential Tool for a

Mobile Workforce

A publication by:

www.fonality.com

Of all the trends impacting the modern workplace, the most transformative may

be mobility. Spawned by a desire for flexibility and fueled by the proliferation of

smartphones and tablet computers, the growth of the mobile workforce continues to gain

momentum.

With this growth have come greater expectations. Customers expect companies to be

more accessible and more responsive than ever. Employees are using increased

mobility to give themselves more flexibility in their jobs and in their lives. Fortunately, the

mobile worker can be more efficient, as he or she can perform many job-related tasks

from the office, home or the road.

The challenge for businesses is to provide the right tools to take full advantage of

the more mobile workforce – tools that increase productivity and maximize

collaboration while containing costs.

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The State of the Mobile Workforce

‘Just Getting Started’

It wasn’t all that long ago that we first heard the term telecommuters. These were the

people who, with the right technology and the right boss, were permitted to do their

jobs at least some of the time from their homes.

How times have changed. These days employees work from wherever they are: in the

field, at a satellite office, from home when a child is sick. New office concepts like

hot-desking mean that employees can sit anywhere in the office and have everything

they need. What employees are finding on their desks is changing too. Desk phones

and personal computers increasingly are giving way to laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Forrester Research has said “we may be reaching the crossover point where your

company pays for more smartphones than employees do.” The number of tablets used

for work, the research firm says, is expected to triple to 905 million by 2017.

Forrester said, “the anytime, anywhere work trend is just getting started.”

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The State of the Mobile Workforce

Mobility Benefits Companies, Employees

Both employers and employees win with improved mobility:

Companies get:

• Increased productivity — Many employees report working more hours when they are constantly connected.

• Better recruitment and retention — Offering flexible hours and telecommuting arrangements is important to

companies worried about retaining their top talent.

• Lower costs – Mobility reduces real estate and related costs. Boosted productivity also lowers costs.

Employees get:

• Improved work/life balance — Employees who eliminate their commute even part of the time are able to devote

more time to themselves and their families.

• Enhanced job satisfaction and engagement — One survey found that 72 percent of employees say

flexible work arrangements would cause them to choose one job over another.

• Lower costs — More frequent telecommuting is a primary way employees deal with high fuel costs.

The Mobile Workforce • Full- and part-time telecommuters

• Workers who travel regularly

• Those who work in satellite offices

• Anyone who performs his or her work outside a primary office at least some

of the time

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Challenges for Businesses

Productivity

“… People who work virtually have been proven to be more effective than those who do not,”

says Kevin Sheridan, author of The Virtual Manager: Cutting-Edge Solutions to Hiring,

Managing, Motivating and Engaging Mobile Employees. But how can a company be sure?

According to Sheridan, managers of virtual or remote workers have to pay attention to critical

drivers of engagement, which can be challenging in remote environments. Recognizing and

providing feedback to mobile workers is one key to encouraging greater productivity and

increasing retention of top talent.

Visibility

“It doesn’t matter how big you are or where you’re located, being able to see what’s going

on from your office, in real time, all the time, has just made a huge change in the way that I do

business.” That’s Jay Adkins, owner of ProVest Insurance Group, an Allstate Insurance

Company affiliate in North Carolina.

Adkins credits an innovative communications system with helping him expand his business.

“The system can scale seamlessly as the business expands,” he said, “and the features have

allowed my staff and me to be completely mobile.”

PRODUCTIVITY AND VISIBILITY 5 www.fonality.com

Challenges for Businesses

Collaboration

Keeping employees connected and collaborating is critical, especially for companies

experiencing rapid growth. Salespeople in the field, customer service representatives

in call centers, and distribution personnel need centralized systems in which to add

information to customer files and share order and scheduling information.

Allowing mobile employees to connect using a variety of devices into a centralized

system increases their effectiveness and productivity while making it easier for them to

update data and customer feedback easily.

Technology

Remote employees require resources, tools and technology to support their work, drive

productivity, and facilitate real-time collaboration, says Sheridan. He calls technology “the

glue that solidifies an organization’s virtual workforce.”

“It is in a virtual manager’s best interests to ensure all employees have the resources they

need to complete their job duties to the best of their ability,” he says.

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Promoting Mobility with Unified Communications

New Demands Bring New Approaches

Among the resources most essential to the mobile workforce are communications

technologies that foster collaboration and ensure employees remain accessible and

productive. A growing number of businesses are choosing to unify their communication

applications and services with a single vendor and a single, easy-to-use web- based

interface.

Unified communications, or UC, is built on an integrated platform to support and

enhance the wide range of communications functions necessary in today’s increasingly

mobile work environments.

Voice, data, and video communications are all managed on a single IT infrastructure that is

accessible via in-office equipment, laptops, and a range of mobile devices. Employees,

clients, and other authorized parties can transfer calls, share screens, send email

and instant messages, and access applications and data seamlessly, regardless of

where they are located.

Unified communication systems provide customer-facing employees with all the tools

and access to information they need, when they need it, no matter where they are.

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Promoting Mobility with Unified Communications

UC Applications: The Phone is Just the Beginning

Some of the more popular and useful UC applications for small and midsize businesses

include:

Phone

UC offers the functionality of the most sophisticated phone system. A business can receive

unlimited inbound and make unlimited outbound phone calls and maintain standard

functions such as call forwarding, hold, paging, intercom, and voicemail, among others.

UC systems also offer transfer between stations, even when those “stations” are

someone’s home office or mobile phone. This reduces the productivity drag of having

to track down employees to get important information. Such systems support audio

conferencing and also allow employees to have a single extension that rings both desk

and mobile phones, allowing them to receive calls efficiently, even when they are out of

the office.

Data

UC systems provide traditional email, chat, Internet access, and application support

-- just like any other computer system. However, because UC integrates traditional

phones and other devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers, phone calls

may trigger a voicemail prompt and allow the employee to return a call by simply

clicking on the message. 8

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Promoting Mobility with Unified Communications

Collaboration

A good UC system keeps employees informed of co-workers’ presence and preferred

method of communication. By checking the system’s dashboard, employees can

usually see whether the colleagues they need are available and whether it’s best to

communicate by phone, chat, email, or another method.

If you need someone and that person is in a meeting, you might be able to get the

information you need with a text or instant message rather than trying to call and

interrupt the meeting or waiting for a voicemail message.

TAKING UC MOBILE

At the heart of a unified communications system is the Heads Up Display, or

HUD, a powerful business tool that connects phones, desktops and important

business applications into a single unified, easy-to-use interface.

Fonality’s HUD Mobile extends all of the features of desktop HUD productivity

software to Apple and Android devices:

•

•

Instant Messaging

Visual Voicemail

•

•

Company Directory Voice

Over WiFi Calling

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Promoting Mobility with Unified Communications

Case Studies in UC Veteran Corps of

America

The information technology products and services firm in Illinois gives

disabled veterans a vehicle to find meaningful work. It found it needed an anytime,

anywhere communications platform.

Co-founder William Wheeler said, “With [UC], as long as someone can operate a

computer, we can put the equipment in their home, and they’re fully linked with our

system, no matter where they are. That lets us create job opportunities and grow our

business.”

VariQ

An IT firm based in Washington, D.C., VariQ turned to UC when it needed the ability

to transfer calls between a small network of employees and contractors working in

various locations.

President and CEO Ben Edson said, “UC makes us look, to the outside world, like a

cohesive organization, and allows us to work anywhere at any time. That’s a huge

advantage for small companies.”

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Promoting Mobility with Unified Communications

Case Studies in UC Amtec Human

Capital

California-based Amtec Human Capital found that as its business

expanded, so did its need to find solutions for mobile workers and various offices.

CEO Scott Kuethen said a new communications system from Fonality cut costs and made

employees more productive. “People feel trusted. They’re diligent and hard-working when

they’re working from home. When I consider the system, it’s more than just a set of

features. The communication allows us to coach people more effectively, wherever they

are.”

Fort Lauderdale Insurance Services

Florida property and casualty insurance agent Mike Burke went looking for a replacement

phone system after a hurricane. He was introduced to Fonality by a colleague who had

had experienced tremendous success in increasing his business.

“I travel extensively, and being out of the office makes it difficult to keep an eye on the

productivity of my employees -- before I had Fonality,” said Burke. “The call reporting

features allow me to review the number of inbound and outbound phone calls, length

of calls, dropped or abandoned calls, how quickly calls were answered – all critical to

understanding the productivity of my office.” 11

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Considering Options

UC Features Foster Mobility

With unified communications, users get a number of features that benefit mobile

workers:

Unified Messaging (UM) — Merges voicemail, email, and fax into one simple solution.

Voicemail is converted to email and can be “read” through the audio on a computer and

the user can call back selected parties in any order. Users can also have the voicemail

translated into text and sent as an email or even a text message to their smartphones.

Device/phone number mobility — Users can take their office number to another office or

location using a softphone (voice application that runs on a computer) or handset. This

allows them to not only take all of their preferences with them, it also helps the

business save cell phone minutes.

Find me/Follow me — Extensions can be set to ring a desk phone two times then attempt

to reach them on their cell phone, home phone, or ring all phones at once.

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Considering Options

Deployment models

Businesses can take advantage of unified communications by implementing a

cloud-based solution or through a traditional on- premise model:

Cloud-Hosted — A phone system without technology and equipment to manage: that’s

what a public cloud deployment provides. It goes by several names – Voice over Internet

Protocol, hosted, virtual PBX – but it’s the full-featured, no-hardware-required option.

On Premise Hybrid-Hosted — This deployment model — unique to Fonality —

delivers a best-of-both-worlds scenario, allowing businesses to manage voice on-site

and communications applications in the cloud. This model works with existing carrier

contracts, so there is no need to cancel agreements with T1 or SIP providers.

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Considering Options

What Mobile Users Should Expect

Mobile and home-based employees deserve the same communication features and

functionality as their counterparts in the office. Fonality’s Heads Up Display Mobile, or

HUD Mobile, has taken mobility to a whole new level.

Mobile workers can:

• Log in and out of queues as needed

• Never miss another prospect call

• Instant message with colleagues

• Conference in sales support staff

• Record calls on the fly.

Business owners get:

• Single-touch call routing

• Quick access to audio voicemails

• Access to entire company directory

• Views of employee productivity

• Ability to call out from the office number.

MOBILE

BUSINESS

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Considering Options

Choosing a Provider

Companies looking to leverage unified communications to support our increasingly

mobile workforce should consider three key areas:

Ability to meet current needs. The UC platform needs to support the tech- nological functions

your employees need and use each day. Your provider should have excellent customer support

and give you a reliable roadmap for rolling out your UC platform with minimal downtime.

Flexibility and scalability. Your UC provider should work with you to devel- op solutions that meet

the needs of your business, based on its current size and communications practices, but that don’t

include expensive add-ons that your employees won’t use. Look for a provider that has tiers of

service and can easily upgrade your company to the next level when growth demands.

Features to better support mobile workers. Plenty of companies promise a mobile communication

experience that’s the same as it is in the office. HUD Mobile is the only solution that delivers on that

promise, and none of the oth- ers come close. They can make and receive calls, but none has the

presence, chat, and contact center visibility via mobile offered by Fonality.

Fonality provides business phone systems and contact center solutions designed exclusively for small and

midsize businesses. Fonality is the only provider that can deliver the same user experience in the cloud and on-

premise, with innovative features that help small businesses save time, communicate more efficiently and reduce

costs. For more information, visit www.Fonality.com or call 877-FONALITY.

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www.fonality.com

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1-877-FONALITY

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