Unified Communications and Mobility – The Death of the VOIP Handset Part 1

Unified Communications and Mobility – The Death of the VOIP Handset Part 1
Nearly one-third of US homes don’t have land lines. 50% of those households, ages 25-29, don’t have land lines. A new Gartner Report says that, by 2012, 23% of workers using corporate mobile devices won’t even have a desk phone.

This makes sense to me. It seems as though corporate trends always follow household trends. I haven’t had a land line in my house for years. I’m deploying that same strategy here at Inflow Communications. Inflow Communications’ work-force is virtual and completely mobile. We use ShoreTel VOIP, Data Center Collocation, Terminal Services, SIP Trunking, Lifesize Video Conferencing, smart phone integration, Instant Messaging, and other technologies to maintain effective communication and collaboration with each other and our customers at all times. We use what we sell.

So back to the business phone system handset – I believe it will soon become obsolete. We have ShoreTel VOIP phones on our desks, but my extension, voicemail, email, and Direct Dial Number (DID) is always tied to my Smart Phone. I’m rarely at my desk. My employees, however, can “answer” calls into our business, see all other employees’ presence (on the phone, do not disturb, etc), transfer calls, conference, etc. It doesn’t matter if they’re on a VOIP phone, smart phone, IP Soft Phone, analog land line, etc. All telephony controls and tools are distributed to whatever device they’re on. Our engineers can answer ACD calls into our support queue and respond to our customers immediately anytime, anywhere in the world.

We’ve been doing this for a long time. But now the mobility story is changing again – and it will never be the same. Tune in to my next blog to learn about ShoreTel’s latest advancement in smart phone integration.

Travis Dillard is the President of Inflow Communications, Inc. Inflow Communications is a Portland, Oregon-based company that designs, deploys, and supports enterprise-class VOIP, business phone systems, and Unified Communications solutions to businesses throughout Oregon, Washington, and California.