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. 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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Unified Communications:
An Essential Tool for a
Mobile Workforce
Apublication by:
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2. 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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3. 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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4. 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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5. 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
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6. 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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7. 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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8. 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.
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9. 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:
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Instant Messaging
Visual Voicemail
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Company Directory Voice
Over WiFi Calling
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10. 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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11. 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.”
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12. 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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13. 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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14. 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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15. 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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16. Visit our website at
www.fonality.com
Or give us a call at
1-877-FONALITY
For more information about Fonality