This article is more than 1 year old

Could you give up your desk phone?

Cutting the cord

Mobile Workshop Mobile phones are now pervasive in the business environment. Love them or hate them, there’s no getting away from the fact that many of us are using them as an integral part of day to day communications.

Most of mobile phone users, however, also have a phone sitting on their desk, and are routinely juggling two separate numbers and physical mechanisms for both incoming and outgoing calls, which while we have got used it, is far from ideal.

From a business perspective, there is also the cost of maintaining and supporting two lines, and two sets of equipment. Then we have the old chestnut of human nature, dictating that people will by default gravitate towards the most convenient option if they don’t have to worry about the cost, which in turn leads to mobile phones being used for outgoing calls when a perfectly good fixed line is sitting just a few feet away.

Against this background, about one in three organisations we talked with in a recent Reg survey told us they either had or were considering mechanisms to get their fixed and mobile telephony working better together. This took various forms, and we'll pick up on some of the options later in the week in our mobile clinic.

In the meantime, though, with creative calling plans for small businesses (including free calls between employees in the same company) and the increasing purchasing power of large organisations that continuing to drive down rates, is there a case for simplifying everyone’s lives by just getting rid of desk phones and switching purely to mobiles? It’s not a new idea – the industry calls it ‘fixed mobile substitution’ – and there are various services and solutions that can facilitate it, e.g. hosted PBX offerings from operators.

But would you or your organisation entertain such a move and go completely cellular? Perhaps you have done so already or are investigating options. Maybe there is a case for implementing the approach for selected users only.

Whatever your experience or opinion, we’d like to hear your views on the cost, value and practicality of ditching the desk phone, so let us know what you think in the comment section below.®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like