Whilst trialling the Gamma Horizon laptop soft client we decided to take a look at what other remote worker options this cloud-telephony solution might offer and we came across functionality called “Remote Office”.
Remote Office allows you to use your home phone, your mobile or even a hotel phone as your business phone. By using the Click-to-dial functionality on your user portal on your laptop, you can make phone calls from your chosen device (eg your home phone / hotel phone) and have them billed to your company. What is more you can enable return calls to come back to your chosen remote office phone.
Needless to say we were impressed and eager to give it a try.
We located the Gamma Horizon “Remote Office” function on the toolbar of the ‘Horizon’ user portal.
It is here that you enter the telephone number that you plan to use as your base or remote office number – in our case our home telephone number. And Activate.
You are now ready to start making calls. Back you go into the Dashboard tab on the toolbar
And there on the right hand side is your click-to-dial dashboard – which includes a directory into which your contacts can be loaded & located, and a free dial box that enables to free load or cut and paste in the number that you wish to dial.
We then clicked the ‘dial’ button and hey presto our home telephone rang, we answered, it dialed out and our outbound call was connected. So, what are the benefits that we could perceive in Gamma Horizon Remote Office:
- It enables regular and occasional home workers to work from home without the need for a company mobile or VPN phone
- Overcomes problems with home mobile phone coverage for those with a business mobile
- Enables any billing to be directed to the employer as opposed to becoming an expense reclaim for the user.
- You can assign a new ddi to your portal and present this as your outbound number when calling
- This provides the user with home telephone number privacy as it is not presented
- It means the outbound call does not need to go out as ‘number withheld’
- You can manage the direction of return calls to your ‘new ddi’
- Including when not working – directed to company switchboard or covering buddy for example
- Returned calls can be directed to a dedicated voice mailbox for out of hours calls
- These calls can be delivered as voicemail to email .wav attachments for ease of management
- Companies can secure sequential and local ddi’s for brand consistency and reinforcement
In conclusion, the Remote Office functionality, especially when combined with a dedicated outbound ‘business’ ddi, offers simple to use, secure, discreet and cost effective functionality for home workers.
It can also potentially be sold as part of an entry strategy in environments where existing telephony solutions are locked in, the Remote Office functionality being just one part of the much wider Horizon Cloud-telephony solution.
Adaptable for small, mid-market and larger enterprise companies alike, we feel that this solution has the potential to deliver in all markets.
