Advantages of Using the Same Phone Number on Multiple Devices

Workplace habits and routines have evolved dramatically over the last few decades, to the point where presently some of the most desirable characteristics providing value to a business are flexibility and mobility. There are few work settings remaining where employees clock in at nine and clock out at five, and all thoughts about work are banished for the remainder of the evening. When a team member or potential customer dials the phone number of their desired associate, that communication route dries up when said associate leaves the office.

Just about all workers are presented with screens and devices all day long, regardless of whether they’re actually present at the workplace or home relaxing. Many employees are never very far out of touch with their clients, and they have multiple avenues to connect with each of them, for instance, a laptop, desktop, and a smartphone.

Even these three devices might be the bare minimum for an active employee who travels a great deal and spends lots of face time with clients, or who works routinely from home and still puts in a very productive day. This changing model of the workplace has spelled the end of the old-fashioned landline, which is simply unable to match the mobility and flexibility offered by VoIP services.

It’s almost becoming unthinkable to miss an important phone call simply because you weren’t at your desk to receive it – nowadays, an employee probably has one or more standby methods of picking up that important phone call, to ensure that no business is lost.

VoIP Supports the New Business Model

By today’s standards, the configuration of telephone systems from just a few years ago seems hopelessly inadequate. Most companies had full rooms dedicated to containing the necessary telephone equipment used by employees, and copper wiring had to be run through the walls whenever new phones were implemented.

All employees had a single phone set for inbound and outbound phone calls, and every office had to maintain a PBX box in order to realize the advantages made available through enterprise features. Most companies employed a staff or department of personnel which was dedicated solely to the maintenance of the telephone system, and bigger corporations had even larger departments to manage telephony.

All this has gone by the wayside with the advent of VoIP telephony. Those rooms full of hardware and other equipment are no longer necessary, having been replaced by a simple high-speed Internet connection, SIP-compliant phone sets, and a powerful data network. All maintenance for the telephone system is the responsibility of a VoIP service provider, and all repairs and upgrades are likewise in the hands of a host. Whenever changes are necessary, they can easily be accommodated from a centrally managed dashboard.

Same Phone Number for Several Devices

Hosted VoIP can provide much more than that, however. One of the benefits that virtually all companies make use of is having the capability of using a single phone number on multiple devices, and from multiple locations. This allows any employee to take a phone number right along with them wherever they happen to be going, whether that’s at home or on the road, or when visiting a client.

No matter where the employee might be, the same phone number can be used to make and receive calls on any device they have access to. This is made possible because there is no specific address or geographic location which is associated with a VoIP phone number, and instead the number is directly tied to a user account.

Why One Number is so Advantageous

In addition to the description above, there are several other ways that having a single number available across many devices can be a big benefit to employees at a business. For instance, it would be very difficult to maintain contact with team members and management back at headquarters without using several different devices.

Another way that the single number/multiple device models can be extremely handy is when your smartphone is lost or stops working for some reason. In the old days, this scenario would call for you to be completely out of business until the phone was found or repaired. Nowadays, you can simply use any other device you have access to for making and receiving calls, even if you have to use a desktop computer.

The simplicity of single numbers makes it far easier for customers who don’t have to remember or jot down several phone numbers associated with where you might be on different days during the week.

Having a smartphone tied to a VoIP system allows you to establish your own business rules, so that incoming calls will ring on several devices at once, or can ring at several devices in succession, in a pre-established order. Answering a call at any one of the devices breaks the chain, and allows the call to take place.

It wasn’t too long ago that when a customer called and you were unavailable at your desk, the call would go directly to voicemail and you might have missed an important opportunity. This outstanding feature of VoIP allows for a missed call to simply progress to the next identified device on the list, for instance, your home location and your laptop, so that you can remain productive, regardless of where you are.

Perhaps best of all, the single phone number to multiple device features and literally hundreds of other features which support the new mobile workplace, are all available for free on your hosted VoIP telephone system.