Nowadays the whole word is in a very delicate work situation. Not only because of the consequences of confinement, but for the question of what will happen to many jobs from now on. Thinking about telecommuting as a temporary or permanent option is the usual thing to do, but we should know how to implement it in a way that benefits both companies and employees. Learn about virtual solutions that you can use from now on.
Companies and work virtual solutions
It is true that telecommuting is the perfect solution for most companies, and has even been recommended by the government in many countries. For example, Spanish Health Minister, Mr. Illa, called on companies to promote telecommuting as a measure to address the coronavirus crisis in Spain in March 2020, and several protocols were published to assist companies in their implementation of telecommuting.
Besides, we know that telecommuting works and it’s a great solution, partly because there has been an increase in the number of people telecommuting in recent years and also because of people better known as digital nomads; a type of people who use telecommunications technologies to earn a living and, more generally, conduct their life in a nomadic manner. Even if right now it is difficult to live in a nomadic manner, this concept connects perfectly with telecommuting, a solution that a lot of companies are choosing this year to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
In order to choose a solution for each company and to know what works best, we must learn the difference between telecommuting and distance working. Both are virtual solutions for working during this crisis, but they are different things. Distance working is any work activity that is done from home, without the need for virtual tools and without monitoring the employee, whereas with telecommuting, tasks are carried out at a distance exclusively by computer or telematic means and systems, so our activity could also be carried out in the company itself. The difference is above all that distance work limits us, since we cannot perform the same tasks as in the company, while with telecommuting we can perform the same tasks and monitor the productivity of the employees.
The moment we’re living right now is difficult, and we should all benefit from the internet’s advantages to make our work lives easier. It is not a good time for people in a situation of unemployment either, as the unemployment rate in the European Union rose marginally to 7.2% in July.
With this economic context, more and more people need to enter the labour market as soon as possible and for that, they must have access to the different job offers that companies provide.
The Internet also helps us in our job search, as there are digital media that make the task easier. Employment websites offer many facilities for consulting and registering for any job offer and they are usually quite fast. Social media can also be used, as many organisations form communities within digital platforms, and it is a way of achieving instant communication with professionals of interest. Another advantage of social media is the possibility of sending CVs directly to companies. One last way we can mention is to contact the company more directly, through the corporate website. Many consider it the best option, because there is usually a section on the same website for direct contact with the human resources department. It is a more direct and reliable option for establishing contact with companies.
Telecommuting and its tools
And the same way we can benefit from the internet to get a new job, we can also use it as a tool, next to other virtual solutions, when it comes to telecommuting. Thanks to the internet and to WebRTC Fonvirtual’s solutions, we don’t need any physical or virtual installation, and we can work without a problem.
To begin with, if you acquire a virtual PBX or call center, you’ll then have a powerful software that can manage incoming and outgoing calls automatically and also offers you various features so that you can control everything that happens when a customer calls your company ; you can benefit from call statistics, custom main greetings, voicemails, or the option to identify a call before picking up, among others.
Thanks to a virtual PBX, companies can improve their communications system, both in external communication with customers and internal communication between workers.
How does a virtual PBX work? Well, at Fonvirtual we use WebRTC technology to enjoy all its advantages.
WebRTC technology (Web Real-Time Communication), is an open source software developed by Google that allows our virtual PBX and call center software to be used through the browser and from any device connected to the Internet: computer, mobile phone, tablet, etc.
Thanks to this technology and the tools it offers from the cloud, we can get workers to connect from anywhere and with any device, from home with the computer, mobile, tablet… we achieve total ubiquity of workers. In addition, this benefits the company in another way, as it can hire employees from different geographical areas, and thus have an international team.
What other virtual solutions do we find? We already know that a key factor that we fear losing when we leave our face-to-face work is a company’s communication, both internally and externally. In addition to having some “control” to know when and how employees work.
And these two issues can easily be solved with our Fonvirtual solutions:
Internal and external communication
Both the virtual PBX and the call center software integrate communication virtual solutions. Communication between workers is important, especially when working from home. Thanks to communication via calls, video or chat, employees can be perfectly synchronised, they can receive and make calls from home (but with the company’s fixed line) without having to install anything. They can communicate with this same platform through internal calls, internal chat, sending and receiving files, or three-way calls.
In addition, videoconferencing for online meetings with the work team or with clients helps us to achieve a more direct and closer communication.
On the other hand, the integration of the virtual PBX with the CRM will allow workers to manage information on all customers on a cloud platform, where they will find customer files with all their information.
Control of employees’ schedules
If telecommuting is here to stay, we must adapt it to our business as much as possible. We should not lose key aspects of how our business works, and obviously, there must be control of the employees’ work even if it is done from home. But here too, Fonvirtual’s solutions have everything under control.
Fonvirtual’s virtual PBX allows workers to activate and deactivate themselves, while changing their “status” in the event of absence from work: not available, absent, coming back soon…
We have the option of having a company administrator panel, from which you can control these activations or deactivations of workers. In this way, the time they have worked is controlled and not only that, the administrator panel also allows you to monitor statistics, and control the call control reports, (how many have been received, if there were missed or unattended calls… etc). The supervisor has access to the recording of these calls, and can even listen to them in real time.
Therefore, thanks to the internet and efficient technology, companies can cope with the return to work, and implement telecommuting successfully, benefiting both the business itself and the workers. More and more companies are opting for telecommuting and it may be the perfect solution for the scenario we are facing. With Fonvirtual, companies can afford to have their employees work from home and even increase productivity thanks to tools like these and many more.
