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Jennifer Chen

March 18, 2015

Business Phone Setups: IP Phones, Mobile Phones, or Both?

Deciding on a mobile-only strategy for your business phone system can increase cost savings and remote working flexibility for your team.

Despite the increasing use of personal devices in the workplace, both remote and office workers still prefer desk phones most of the time. Even though mobile apps are convenient and can do most of what a regular phone can do, desk phones are easier to use and have a steadier connection.

It might make sense to stick to a mobile-only strategy if for example you’re a landscaping company or a real estate agent, always on the road. However, if you’re sitting at a desk answering, making, and transferring calls, you’ll probably want to get an IP phone. If you're an extremely heavy phone user, say as a telemarketer or call center rep, you may prefer a softphone.

Most companies use a combination of both IP phones and mobile phones, so employees can use their own devices, be able to travel with their business line, and have stationary desk phones at their work and home offices.

Mobile-Only Strategy

It is possible to run your entire business phone system without any desk phones, by forwarding calls to your cell phone or using a softphone.

To make calls from your business number, you can download a mobile app, or softphone, which is a software that works much like a regular phone. Customers will see your business number displayed as your caller ID when you dial out and can also reach you on your mobile phone by dialing your business number.

Learn more about the Telzio Mobile App

Respondents to a recent survey done by Software Advice concluded “ease of working remotely” as the leading advantage of using a softphone.

This strategy is also a cost-saver for businesses. By eliminating desk phones, companies save on that aspect when bringing on new employees. In addition, all harware inevitably needs to be replaced at some point down the line. Thus, switching over to mobile apps and softphones eliminates that long term cost.

Combination of Desk Phones & Mobile Phones

Most companies opt to use a combination of both desk phones and mobile phones. Desk phones are still preferred because they have steadier quality and they’re familiar.

Related: Why the Desk Phone is Alive and Well

With Telzio, users can be logged into multiple devices at the same time so incoming calls ring all phones together. Alternatively, users can create separate users for each device so they can customize call forwarding preferences (i.e. first the desk phone rings and if there’s no answer then it rings their mobile phone and so on), and since Telzio has free unlimited users, this can be done at no extra cost.

VoIP makes it easy for remote workers to have a desk phone for their business line in their home office. You can configure an IP phone for work and one at home with the same settings, extension, voicemail, etc.

Since VoIP phones work via Internet connection, you could technically unplug your IP phone and take it anywhere, plug it back into an Internet router, and there you could use your business line again. You can use your business number anywhere and easily have an integrated desk phone at any office location.

Considering employees use desk phones to make the most calls, having a desk phone at home could help productivity for employees who telecommute.

Related: What is the best VoIP Phone for a small business?

VoIP Offers Flexibility

At the end of the day, VoIP phones and mobile integration has become so easy to use and affordable, that choosing a BYOD or desk phone setup for your business phone system is hardly a decision. Telzio’s small business VoIP platform makes it easy for users to integrate all their devices so they have access to their phone system everywhere. Whether you're routing calls to mobile devices or IP phones, the setup is essentially the same.

Schedule a tour of the Telzio platform.