The spread of Covid-19, known more commonly as the Coronavirus, has seen widespread repercussions across the globe. Italy has seen Europe’s biggest outbreak, leading the Italians to go into a country-wide lockdown, restricting travel and public gatherings. Thankfully, the UK has managed to keep a comparative lid on the virus so far. Initially the “contain stage” for as long as possible but then “delay”, where sensible, straightforward measures are being taken to try and stop the virus from spreading further.
There have been closures at schools, GP surgeries and businesses across Britain. In the weeks ahead, more of these situations are likely to pop up as the number of infections here rises. To try and reduce the strain put on the NHS if there is an outbreak, some experts are already recommending that people who can work from home should be.
The UK’s chief medical adviser, Chris Whitty has said that it’s likely people will be asked to self-isolate for seven days after showing mild symptoms, including working from home — potentially within the next 10 to 14 days. Doing this would delay the peak of the spread, making it easier for health services to cope.
For many people, working from home is a dream; it removes the commute and you can create your own comfortable, unique workspace. But for many businesses, the threat of employees self-isolating is a real problem. There are some simple pieces of advice to follow, like getting employees to take their work laptops home with them every evening in case there is an outbreak.
But businesses will want to take extra steps to brace themselves for the potential impact of having your workforce away from the office for potentially two weeks. Yet if your business is on a VoIP system, it can help keep people working at home.
How would VoIP keep employees connected?
If your employee has a broadband connection at home, they can take a VoIP handset home, plug it into their home internet connection and it will retain the same phone number. That means clients ringing in will still get through to the correct person, without the need for rerouting or handing out personal mobile numbers.
If employees have to self-isolate suddenly, then VoIP has a wide range of fantastic call handling features. These can include easy transferring to route calls where they need to go, automated receptions to direct people to the right departments and even emergency messages telling people a change in opening hours or operations. All of these features can make your ability to communicate that much more robust.
The VoIP app can also connect mobiles into the system and make video calls easy, allowing for meetings to still take place while everyone is at home!
Long-term benefits
Situations like the one thrown up by Covid-19 are unusual, but as well as added flexibility, VoIP systems have genuine long-term benefits for businesses too:
• Once a VoIP system is set up, you’ll see costs drop almost immediately. It uses the internet connection, so it reduces costs on multiple phone lines, eliminates the need to pay for added services like video calling, plus if your business makes calls to overseas, long-distance charges are reduced.
• As your business grows, adding new lines and numbers is easier with VoIP than traditional systems.
• You’ll be ahead of the curve as BT plans to “switch off” all the country’s traditional phone lines by 2025.
If you’re worried that Coronavirus could impact your business and you want to make it easier for your employees to work from home, give us a call on 01237 420010.
