Challenges with Teleworking and Regular Phone Calls

Should a BYOD policy be implemented?

Author(s): Ena Ishikawa
Date: 1-Mar-2021

After the implementation of teleworking, some companies are realizing that their current phone system has become an obstacle in preventing them from operating smoothly. For those that implemented teleworking after the State of Emergency Announcement by the Japanese government back in April 2020, most are doing rather well utilizing telecommunication tools such as “MS Teams” or “Zoom” for web meetings, voice chats and text chats, instead of using traditional telephones.

These types of tools work great for communications within the company and with partner companies that you already established good relations with, but there is no guarantee that all of your business partners are equipped with or able to telecommunicate in the same fashion. Furthermore, for situations like getting emergency requests or reminders from clients, answering quick inquiries, or trying to contact an employee who should have been online but is not, the fact that in these circumstances traditional phone calls are still needed poses quite a problem.

In that sense, no matter how many Web Meeting or Chat Systems are implemented into a work environment, the need for traditional phone calls is still very much a reality.

For companies that already started teleworking, some employees who were not assigned a company cell phone might start to use their personal phones for work. In the industry, we refer to this practice as BYOD (Bring your own device), and it has its own set of challenges.

For the BYOD problems that might occur during Teleworking, let us categorize them.

Problems with Privacy
- Due to the sudden implementation of Teleworking, companies might have to resort to a BYOD policy, although some employees might not feel comfortable using their own smartphones for work.
- When the company implements BYOD and uses PBX or IP-PBX to transfer calls, some employees might feel their privacy is being invaded due to their personal cell phone numbers showing up in caller id or call logs.
Problems with Cost Management
- Problems with cost management like phone bills, due to private calls which will also appear on the same phone bill when BYOD is implemented.
- Extra cost due to call transfer fees.
- Due to planned or limited budget, the company is unwilling to put money into buying more smart phones for employees.
Problems with Operation
- When getting a transferred call from the office PBX, the receiver is unable to view the actual caller’s ID & info, due to the fact that the call is being transferred from the office.
- Missing a business chance when the receiver missed a call that was call transferred (“Caller Unknown”).
Problems with Security
- Due to many applications being installed independently, the problem of privacy and security increases. There is a possibility that of the many applications being used, some might not be secure and trustworthy enough to protect important corporate information.
- Accidentally syncing files from work to private cloud services.
- Information leakage through private SNS.
- If a MDM which can be used to remotely erase data and block access is not implemented, your company device could be at a higher risk of leaking important information when a device is lost.

So, what are the options available for you to deal with and solve the above problems? Depending on the business, everyone’s problems are all different and unique. eSolia can help you solve each and everyone of those problems.

With our experience and knowledge, we will provide you with fast services and fast solutions, so don’t hesitate to give us a try…

Ask eSolia!

eSolia can help you to implement Telework, from consulting to installation and rollout of the ancillary systems involved.

Please do not hesitate to Contact Us.