A few quick points about the future of the Land Line….
My how times have changed. When I was growing up we had one phone shared amongst my parents and my 6 siblings – our only direct connection other than mail to anyone outside face to face Today chatting, texting, video, and mobile calls are done simply, quickly, and easily from our mobile. But what’s the future of the land line?
“I hardly ever use it” is the response I often here from employees. The reality is though customer calls still need to be channelled, monitored, and managed and this is done through a business phone system. And this capability is not there with mobile phones.
Here are a few other points to consider based on leading providers in this space;
- Represents the business; For most businesses, the 8-digit office number is the representing number of the business. Many businesses also don’t want a mobile, especially a personal one, to be the only contact for their company which it often is after long standing relationships with customers.
- Data access; The lines are getting blurred on VOIP based calls and mobile calls as mobile/data reception continues to expand.
- No more clunky phones: The name “landline” itself is a misnomer. The office number or “end point” goes with you wherever your mobile phone goes. Your mobile phone can also be your handset, as is your PC, laptop, Chromebook, tablet or any other device that can host the app and receives the Internet. Receive an “end point” call on your laptop and late for a meeting? Transfer the call to your mobile and walk and talk.
- Dial from any of your office numbers; Leading UCaaS providers as they are called – that is, unified communications as a service, will allow you to dial from any number of office locations from your mobile through their respective app. Trying to develop business in Brisbane? Call to and from a Brisbane number from any device anywhere, anytime.
- AI; With AI developing all the time it will allow the capture of voice analytics which is proving increasingly valuable for areas like quality assurance, customer experience and compliance.
Integration – Employees don’t want more apps. They want more functionality within an app. Integration to CRM and other core systems saves times and automatically captures valuable information. Also, leading providers combine messaging, on demand high-def video and phone within a single interface – again, less clicks, better collaboration.
No Technology – the final great piece in this integrated cloud model is you have multiple services, eg. zoom, teams/slack, and an on-premise phone system, integrated into one both consolidating services and removing any IT footprint other than your device and Internet connection to access it.
Food for thought.