Mobility
Mobility is crucial to the modern-day business with more and more companies relying on a distributed workforce spread across a number of locations, yet staff being required to remain contactable as they move around the workplace. South West Communications Group offers solutions for both on and off-site mobility, very often combining the two.
On-site mobility - On-site mobility is enhanced using DECT (digital enhanced cordless telephony) handsets that give staff the ability to move around their workplace and therefore remain contactable at all times. Base stations are strategically placed around the buildings/site to give users the ability to seamlessly roam from cell to cell using the strongest radio signal available to ensure continuity of calls in progress. DECT handsets come with the full functionality of a desktop phone, including voicemail indication and dial-by-name features, to ensure optimum efficiency is still possible when staff are on the move.
Furthermore, staff can be contacted via a desktop paging/tannoy facility available with most modern digital handsets. This facility enables announcements to be made from any system handset that will be broadcast to nominated individual or groups of extensions or to every system handset. This feature can be of particular advantage when trying to locate a member of staff, but can also play an important role as a safety feature to be utilised in emergency situations where assistance is required. Home users and remote users can be included within these groups.
Staff that work outside of reception-manned hours can appreciate the freedom of being able to access the building at any time with the addition of door phones. Members of staff (and indeed visitors) simply have to press a key on the door phone pad which will ring all designated extension handsets. On answering, possibly by a security guard, the internal extension user can speak to the member of staff or visitor to screen the access and then press a key to release the lock remotely.
Off-site mobility - South West Communications Group’s off-site mobility solutions are designed to meet the needs of all employees whether they work at head office, in a branch office, work from home or are on the move by providing them with the same set of communications tools and functions.
Staff need to be able to communicate seamlessly with customers, business partners and colleagues irrespective of their physical location. They need full access to voice, email and fax messages, corporate directories and back office applications as quickly and efficiently as if they were working in head office. This can all be achieved using IP telephony which is a cost-effective, flexible and scalable means of making calls can also be utilised by anyone working out of the office. Remote, home and mobile workers can connect to the corporate network using IP telephony via a number of methods including WiFi, leased lines, IP virtual private networks (IP-VPNs) or via the Internet, and each of these solutions have their own unique strengths and weaknesses both financially and technically.
The most appropriate access method will depend upon a number of factors including the required voice quality, bandwidth demand, number of home workers, the volume and type of usage, costs, etc. As an Internet Service Provider, South West Communications Group is well positioned to advise on the most appropriate methods of connectivity and the advantages and limitations of each.
South West Communications Group can offer remote/home users desktop IP feature phones and PC Softphone options, together with the necessary routing equipment, dependent on individuals’ requirements. The latter is used in the same way as a handset, but a software program, which enables calls to be made over the Internet, uses a general purpose computer rather than dedicated hardware. A Softphone is usually used with a headset connected to the sound card of a PC.
South West Communications Group also offers a full range of mobile solutions providing everything from basic mobile telephony to sophisticated voice and data devices. These are regarded as a business critical tool to meet the demands of a mobile workforce which needs to be able to access all forms of communication media while on the move. Mobiles are increasingly becoming relied upon not only as a means of voice contact but also for data communication, and all of South West Communications Group’s telephony solutions can include the option for a divert from office to mobile phones.
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