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Unified Communications Featured Article
March 31, 2008
Survey Shows Unified Communications Can Provide the Flexibility to Drive Productivity
By Avaya (News - Alert) has released the findings of a new survey revealing that most small businesses agree that productivity suffers when an employee is out of the office unexpectedly. Despite this believe, few have actually calculated that cost.
For those who have estimated the impact when an employee can’t get into the office due to bad weather or personal needs, the cost of lost productivity is calculated as potentially approaching $20,000 annually.
“Most people today are already working away from their primary place of employment at least part of the time, whether it’s at home over the weekend, on the train on the way to the office, or in an airport waiting for a flight,” said Chuck Wilsker (News - Alert), president and CEO, The Telework Coalition, in a Monday statement.
“Small businesses are definitely beginning to recognize that their employees can be productive wherever they are – as long as they have a laptop, high speed Internet and a phone and the right features to be truly productive while working from home. Having the right technology is key to creating a plan that enables employees to work remotely.”
Unified Communications (News - Alert) (UC) is one technology that can drive more flexible styles of working that blend with an employee’s home life and ultimately help small retain those employees, maximize their productivity output and avoid missed business opportunities.
Avaya introduced UC for small businesses earlier this month at VoiceCon 2008. The company’s applications package is designed to enable employees to work from home, extend a desk phone’s functions and features to mobile devices and supports full time teleworkers.
"Flexibility is the ultimate asset that small businesses depend on," said Ray Boggs, vice president of Small/Medium Business and Home Office Research at IDC (News - Alert), in Monday’s statement. "But this is only made possible by technology that lets staff work how and where they prefer.”
“Advanced solutions like Unified Communications lets small firms collaborate and communicate in ways that let them compete effectively against bigger firms. Support of remote workers makes possible the kind of sales and customer support once found only in the largest firms,” Boggs added.
Limousine Eighteen Ltd. and All Occasion Transportation are two ground transportation companies that rely on Avaya UC for Small Business applications on their Avaya IP
Office solutions to manage their customers more effectively and efficiently, as well as continue providing the personalized service that helped build their businesses.
“The benefits and payoffs are simply this: we do everything better, smarter and faster than ever before,” said Marc Shpilner, in Monday’s statement. Shpilner is president of Limousine Eighteen, which is based in Boston and has 21 employees.
“Plus, I’m able to hire great people who might not be able to travel to our headquarters. I now have two excellent reservationists who work from home as if they were in the office, with full access to our headquarters-based reservations system for around-the-clock coverage. That was a huge change for us, but it proves location doesn’t necessarily matter when it comes to employee productivity.”
All Occasion Transportation is based in Providence , R.I. and serves 600 cities worldwide. The company supports 52 employees during its peak season of May through October.
“Our business expanded steadily so we’ve really outgrown our downtown headquarters, but we don’t want to invest in relocating until we have a better idea of where the economy is headed. With IP Office, we’ll be able to delay that decision, because our managers have flexible work arrangements that make the most of the space we have,” said Eric Weiner, president, All Occasion, in Monday’s statement.
“For instance, I share an office, but if I’m expecting a sensitive business call, I can answer my incoming calls on my mobile phone and step outside to take the call in private. Our manager of the new wedding transportation division works from home full time, with an Avaya IP phone and VPN software at her house.”
“And almost any one of our managers can work remotely when they need to, simply by connecting to IP Office through their home or cell phone. It’s all so easy, which is a good thing – because as a small business, we don’t have the time or inclination to be technology experts,” Weiner added.
Trevor Gruenewalk, vice president, North American channels, small and medium businesses, Avaya, the survey show that when a company’s concerns about technology are addressed, most are prepared to offer their employees much more flexible working options. Now, Avaya is offering these ‘big business’ capabilities at a ‘small business’ price.
Avaya understands that one of the organization’s biggest challenges is attracting and retaining qualified individuals. If a valuable employee is shunned for missing work for whatever reason, he or she loses motivation and productivity is lost. This cost is added onto the cost that has already been created by the absence.
More flexible options can provide options for the employee as well as the organization. When unified communications technologies and applications are put in place, employees have more flexibility and can focus more direct time on company business. The company benefits from increased productivity.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
For those who have estimated the impact when an employee can’t get into the office due to bad weather or personal needs, the cost of lost productivity is calculated as potentially approaching $20,000 annually.
“Most people today are already working away from their primary place of employment at least part of the time, whether it’s at home over the weekend, on the train on the way to the office, or in an airport waiting for a flight,” said Chuck Wilsker (News - Alert), president and CEO, The Telework Coalition, in a Monday statement.
“Small businesses are definitely beginning to recognize that their employees can be productive wherever they are – as long as they have a laptop, high speed Internet and a phone and the right features to be truly productive while working from home. Having the right technology is key to creating a plan that enables employees to work remotely.”
Unified Communications (News - Alert) (UC) is one technology that can drive more flexible styles of working that blend with an employee’s home life and ultimately help small retain those employees, maximize their productivity output and avoid missed business opportunities.
Avaya introduced UC for small businesses earlier this month at VoiceCon 2008. The company’s applications package is designed to enable employees to work from home, extend a desk phone’s functions and features to mobile devices and supports full time teleworkers.
"Flexibility is the ultimate asset that small businesses depend on," said Ray Boggs, vice president of Small/Medium Business and Home Office Research at IDC (News - Alert), in Monday’s statement. "But this is only made possible by technology that lets staff work how and where they prefer.”
“Advanced solutions like Unified Communications lets small firms collaborate and communicate in ways that let them compete effectively against bigger firms. Support of remote workers makes possible the kind of sales and customer support once found only in the largest firms,” Boggs added.
Limousine Eighteen Ltd. and All Occasion Transportation are two ground transportation companies that rely on Avaya UC for Small Business applications on their Avaya IP
Office solutions to manage their customers more effectively and efficiently, as well as continue providing the personalized service that helped build their businesses. “The benefits and payoffs are simply this: we do everything better, smarter and faster than ever before,” said Marc Shpilner, in Monday’s statement. Shpilner is president of Limousine Eighteen, which is based in Boston and has 21 employees.
“Plus, I’m able to hire great people who might not be able to travel to our headquarters. I now have two excellent reservationists who work from home as if they were in the office, with full access to our headquarters-based reservations system for around-the-clock coverage. That was a huge change for us, but it proves location doesn’t necessarily matter when it comes to employee productivity.”
All Occasion Transportation is based in Providence , R.I. and serves 600 cities worldwide. The company supports 52 employees during its peak season of May through October.
“Our business expanded steadily so we’ve really outgrown our downtown headquarters, but we don’t want to invest in relocating until we have a better idea of where the economy is headed. With IP Office, we’ll be able to delay that decision, because our managers have flexible work arrangements that make the most of the space we have,” said Eric Weiner, president, All Occasion, in Monday’s statement.
“For instance, I share an office, but if I’m expecting a sensitive business call, I can answer my incoming calls on my mobile phone and step outside to take the call in private. Our manager of the new wedding transportation division works from home full time, with an Avaya IP phone and VPN
software at her house.”“And almost any one of our managers can work remotely when they need to, simply by connecting to IP Office through their home or cell phone. It’s all so easy, which is a good thing – because as a small business, we don’t have the time or inclination to be technology experts,” Weiner added.
Trevor Gruenewalk, vice president, North American channels, small and medium businesses, Avaya, the survey show that when a company’s concerns about technology are addressed, most are prepared to offer their employees much more flexible working options. Now, Avaya is offering these ‘big business’ capabilities at a ‘small business’ price.
Avaya understands that one of the organization’s biggest challenges is attracting and retaining qualified individuals. If a valuable employee is shunned for missing work for whatever reason, he or she loses motivation and productivity is lost. This cost is added onto the cost that has already been created by the absence.
More flexible options can provide options for the employee as well as the organization. When unified communications technologies and applications are put in place, employees have more flexibility and can focus more direct time on company business. The company benefits from increased productivity.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
