Even in light of recent travel concerns, businesses have increasingly been looking for opportunities to cut down on the travel of their employees, while at the same time maintaining the level of collaboration and important sense of connectedness that face-to-face meetings can afford. The advent of new, affordable communications solutions – such as cloud-based video conferencing, cloud voice, and file collaboration – over the past several years has helped to usher in a new era of the way people work; addressing both the cost and productivity interests of employers, and the ever-increasing desire/expectation of employees to have greater flexibility of where they work.
Telecommuting Has Been Surging for Years
The ability to work remotely may be more important to employees than how much they get paid. A survey of job candidates found that 40% consider schedule flexibility a top factor when making a career decision.
In addition to what employees desire, organizations see the advantages as well. Remote workers reduce the space they need and the overhead for it. Companies also can choose from a wider pool of applicants if they don’t all have to be based in one city.
Delivering on flexibility can be a means to retain employees because they feel as though they have a better work-life balance. Telecommuting may also result in fewer sick days as sick workers won’t come into the office and spread their illness.
Businesses are looking to technology to ensure remote teams have the tools they need. And the most urgent of those is a communications system that’s consistent, easy to use, and budget friendly.
Cloud Communications is a Must-Have for Remote Workers
No matter where your employees are, they need access to a reliable and convenient way to communicate. A cloud communications and collaboration platform that includes business phones/voice, video conferencing, chat, file sharing and archiving, and more makes telecommuting efficient, reliable, and productive, allowing your employees to connect at any time, from anywhere, to each other and customers.
Further, they can truly collaborate on projects by instantly entering a video conference, sharing files, and enabling multiple users to edit and comment in real time. It’s the same type of exercise that previously could only be done around a conference table. Now, this flexibility provides your team with a way to work more efficiently and effectively.
It’s also extremely affordable. Much more so than legacy phone systems, which require dedicated equipment and hardware. With the cloud, you only need a reliable Internet connection and a desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
More Benefits of Cloud Communications for Remote Workers
Working on the Go
Cloud communications solutions allow workers to be on the go, which is especially attractive for those in positions such as sales where travel is commonly inherent. With the cloud, they have access to communications tools just as they would at home or the office.
Cloud systems can integrate with smartphones so that individuals can stay connected to incoming phone calls, new tasks, and more.
Central Hub for Information
One of the biggest hurdles in a remote workforce is defining central hubs for information. Organizing documents and data on a cloud communications platform offers employees the ability to do this. With accessibility and one source of truth, there’s not a constant back and forth via email, where documents are edited individually. With a central hub, you won’t miss any edits or comments and you’ll experience more seamless workflows.
Improved Productivity
Cloud communications platforms are designed to help workers get more done faster. They allow instant communication, so team members can get feedback and make decisions sooner. There’s also the time factor. If an employee has the ability to work from home a few days a week, they cut out the commute. They have more time to focus on projects without distractions.
Better Reliability
With cloud communications solutions, you’ll have much better communication quality and reliability. Because it works on the cloud, it’s not in danger of being out of commission because of hardware failures. Plus, most cloud providers have strong uptime percentages and can reroute calls in the event of an outage.
Enhanced Security
The cloud is a very secure way to communicate and share data. The data remains private and secure in a SOC 2-audited cloud. The system is always updated to the latest version, hindering the ability for cyber-attacks. Because your employees will be accessing their cloud platform via a VPN, you can ensure that everything stays within your protected environment rather than worrying about whether an internet source is a secured network.
Empowering a distributed workforce with cloud solutions is a win-win for all parties. See why cloud communications solutions are ideal for either establishing or supporting remote teams by learning more about Intermedia Unite
The Intermedia Team
Intermedia helps businesses of all sizes connect better – through voice, video conferencing, chat, contact center, business email and productivity, file sharing and backup, security, archiving, and more – from wherever, whenever. And, as a partner-first company, Intermedia goes to work for our channel partners to help them grow their revenue and maximize their success.
March 10, 2020
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