Guide to Staying Connected with Remote Offices and Road Warriors

Guide to Staying Connected with Remote Offices and Road Warriors

As technology continues to free the modern workforce from the traditional desk and office, work is less about the place and more about access, and it becomes increasingly common to work remotely. According to Gartner, 84% of organizations have been employing a remote workforce. Today’s businesses are confronted with the challenge of keeping everyone synchronized with efficient communications systems when they have several office locations, traveling staff, and employees working from home.

Remote Office Connectivity Options

VoIP enables businesses to extend their communications system to remote offices over SIP-enabled devices. The deployment of a multi-site VoIP system can not only keep all dispersed branches connected seamlessly but also reduces the spiraling inter-office call costs. There are several economical branch office solutions to link remote branches to the headquarter communications platform based on the business size and number of remote sites you are looking to connect.

1. Remote Extension Registration

Remote extension registration is one of the most cost-effective ways to connect remote offices for small branch locations with only a few endpoints. Without additional hardware investments, IP phones and softphones at the remote offices can be registered to the PBX system in the main site via VPN or DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System) configuration.

2. Utilizing VoIP Gateway to Connect Remote Sites

This option is perfect for small businesses and branch offices that maintain analog voice infrastructures yet still want to leverage the power of VoIP. By using FXS gateways, FXO gateways or GSM gateways, remote offices can also enjoy free inter-office calls and use corporate trunks for both inbound and outbound calls.

3. Networking S-Series VoIP PBXs at Different Locations

Networking multiple telephony systems can be complicated considering the necessity of port forwarding, static public IP address settings, and other time-consuming configurations. However, the built-in Multisite Interconnect feature of S-Series VoIP PBX allows simple interconnecting configuration of S-Series PBXs deployed at different sites in minutes.

4. Moving to the Cloud

With the cloud phone system, businesses able to unify the headquarter with remote offices and teleworkers within a single PBX system. Everyone is connected in the same corporate directory and has access to the same communications features. Better yet, Cloud PBX also allows new users to be added without maintenance or technical staff necessary.

Learn more about these 4 available options to connect remote and branch offices.

Mobility Features for Road Warriors

Road warriors are mobile employees who are typically on the go, such as salespeople and service technicians who constantly attend trade shows, present products or services to customers, or perform on-site assistance. They embrace greater agility and often take business calls outside of traditional business hours.

Unified communications is a significant bolster to the mobile workforce, which allows them to work remotely with the same capabilities they have at their desk. The business communication system is at the palm of their hands to make sure they never miss business calls while achieving a better work-life balance.

  • Softphone: Bring Your Extension with You

Used in conjunction with business telephone systems, softphones turn mobile phones and desktops into office extensions to keep road warriors synchronized with the corporate phone system so that they are always connected. Any incoming call to their office extensions can be automatically forwarded to the devices at hand.

  • Presence: Reach Colleagues at the Best Time

Even outside the office, with the presence status, road warriors can still easily know if the colleague they want to reach is available, busy, or away. Customized presence status tells about when is the best time and how is the best way to contact someone to avoids unnecessary call attempts.

  • Ad-hoc Conference: Initiate Meetings on Your Mobile Phone

Road warriors do not have to be on-site to attend a meeting. With Linkus Softphone, you can start an instant meeting through smartphones anywhere anytime and invite any members you want. Linkus will immediately make calls to the invited parties who can then enter the meeting by picking up the call. Up to 9 participants are supported.

  • Voicemail to Email: Catch Up with Clients and Their Messages

Delivering voicemail recordings straight to the email inbox, voicemail to email is especially useful for remote working. As long as a new voicemail comes in, mobile workers can easily catch up with clients and make a response as quickly as possible, free from any geographical limitation.


Yeastar Unified Communications Solution

Linkus UC Softphone is supported on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices, which allows users to sync communication even as they switch among different devices, adding UC capabilities to both our S-Series VoIP PBX and Cloud PBX.

Download Free Linkus UC Softphone

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User Login

Instantaneously receive user login credentials via email once the extension has been deployed by the adminstrator.

Log in conveniently via any web browser for access to the user portal.

Integrations

Integrate various CRM software for better customer service and satisfaction.

Enable transcription of audio messages into text with integration of third-party transcription service.

Enable API for integration with various third-party integrations for advanced performance such as call center and hotel reception services.

System

Provision email SMTP and template settings for event notifications to be sent out.

Manage storage allocation and duration of various types of data being stored on the PBX.

Determine the types of event notifications to be sent out, and the parties receiving them.

IVR

Add various audio voice prompts to be played according to different call scenarios.

Add voice prompts on multiple levels for more effecient and precise inbound call routing.

Voicemail

Customize default voicemail settings for each user extension.

Add various voicemail messages for allocation to different call scenarios and users.

Provision specific rules to how voicemail messages are played over the PBX system for better caller experience.

Reports and CDR

All call log activities are stored, with the option of having audio conversations recorded by default or for specific extensions.

Use intuitive visual call reports, to check various call statistics over extensions, trunks, queues, ring groups, and more.

Call reports can be viewed and downloaded directly from the PBX, or scheduled to be sent via email to respective parties.

Security

Restrict a general group or specific IP addresses to prevent unauthorized access to your PBX.

Limit the number of otbound calls users are allowed to make within a time period to protect against toll fraud.

Restrict certain country codes for outbound calls either company-wide or on certain extensions.

User Login

Determine extension ranges for different functions.

Define use of different voice prompts depending on call scenarios or intended function.

Provision basic and advanced SIP settings to be used on the PBX.

Recordings

Record all calls made on specified trunks, including inbound and outbound calls.

Recordings

Record all calls made on specified extensions, conferences, or call queues.

Paging and Intercom

Create different types of paging and intercom broadcast groups for selected extensions.

Set a time schedule to automatically start your broadcast.

Maintenance

Check for and download firmware upgrades to ensure that your PBX is always up-to-date.

Perform back-ups to prevent data and settings from getting lost.

Perform troubleshooting on your own to debug.

Conference

Pre-set conference settings and dial-in passwords for security, and allow internal users to send conference invites to external parties.

Speed Dial

Create multiple speed dial numbers to respective external numbers frequently used for outgoing calls.

Speed dial is activated when the set prefix (default or customized) is dialed.

Ring Group

Create multiple ring groups and determine custom ring strategies and failover settings for each.

Call Queue

Create different call queues with specific ring strategies and failover settings.

Static agents permanently answer calls in queue, while dynamic agents can log in and out. Allocate different extensions to each group.

Determine what actions are to be allowed for Mangers or Agents to manage on the Queue Panel.

Call Control

Have calls received on specific SIP trunks routed to designated extensions or destinations within the PBX.

Set-up dial patterns so that outbound calls are routed to their intended destinations.

Determine how calls are routed and received at different times of a day.

Contacts

Store, retrieve, and share company contact details easily on your PBX.

Organize company contacts into dedicated phonebooks and determine accessibility rights to extension groups for each.

Bulk import a list of contacts instead of having to key details in individually.

Role and Client Permission

Pre-defined user roles within the PBX are conveniently available for allocation, or create your own set of permissions.

Restrict users from viewing specific extensions, departments, or extension groups with Extension Visibility.

Allow or resrict specific users from managing or viewing certain company contacts

Auto Provision

Pre-defined setting parameters specific to respective IP phone models are conveniently available for easy set-up.

IP Phones can be quickly provisioned to your Yeastar PBX with just the pre-defined template and device MAC address.

Trunks

Register multiple SIP trunks on a single PBX as needed.

Different types of trunks can be created, Caller ID can be customized.

Extensions

View, deploy, add, and remove user extensions within your PBX system.

Configure default call and user settings for individual extensions.

Customize allocation of user extensions to specific ring groups.

Portal Login Page

Receive your administrator log-in credentials and set-up guide via email.

Log-in on any web-browser to get started with PBX set-up.

Installation Wizard will guide you through basic configurations.

User Login

Access all company contacts made available to you by the administrator.

Create your own personal contacts list for easy reference and dialing.

Bulk import contact details for convenient data entry.

User Login

Access and manage user settings for softphone application and voicemail.

Manage call routing and presence status for your individual extension.

Retrieve or download your personal call logs and recordings.

User Login

Receive your log-in credentials and set-up guide via email, sent by your admin.

Log-in on any web-browser to get started with PBX set-up.

Configure contacts and personal settings from the web portal.

Auto Provision

Add, remove, or modify IP phone settings from your web interface.

Upgrade IP phone firmware conveniently from your PBX.

Upload various default setting parameters specific to respective IP phone models for greater convenience during set-up.

Contacts

Store, retrieve, and share company contact details easily on your PBX.

Have detailed contact information for your vendors and clients conveniently stored .

Bulk add a list of contacts instead of having to key details in individually.

PBX Monitor

Monitor the status extensions, whether they aren idle, in use, or unavailable.

Know whether your SIP Trunk running properly, or experiencing problems.

Monitor the number of call conferences currently running on your PBX, and their individual durations.

Maintenance

Check for and download firmware upgrades to ensure that your PBX is always up-to-date.

Perform back-ups to prevent data and settings from getting lost.

Perform troubleshooting on your own to debug.

Call Detailed Report

All call log activities are stored, with the option of having audio conversations recorded by default or for specific extensions.

Filter by date, time, or extension number to retrieve specific call logs or recordings

Playback call recordings directly from the PBX or download to store externally.

Event Center

Determine what events and logs are to be recorded and/or have notifications sent.

Specify particular notifications to be sent to respective authorized personnel.

User Permission

Set up vaious groups of users for allocation to certain sets of access rules.

Determine what features a certain group of extensions can or cannot access.

Determine if users can access, play-back, or download call logs and recordings from the pbx.

Security

Restrict a general group or specific IP addresses to prevent unauthorized access to your PBX.

Determine specific the range of SIP ports for connection between your PBX and endpoints.

Restrict country codes for outbound calls either company-wide or on certain extensions.

Voice Prompt

Upload and designate customised audio recordings at multiple levels of a call journey.

Upload recorded music to fill the silence that would be heard by callers on hold.

Upload customised voice prompts to create a professional call experience.

General

Customize general call preferences either company-wide or for individual extensions.

Set-up feature dial codes for convenient user navigation to specific call features.

Determine how voicemails are retrieved, and also upload custom voicemail recordings.

Call Features

Add multiple automated responses to be played at different phases of a call journey.

Designate specific extensions to ring concurrently based on an external caller's dial pattern.

Customize messages and waiting times to keep external callers engaged when put on hold.

Call Control

Have calls received on specific SIP trunks routed to designated extensions within the PBX.

Set-up dial patterns so that outbound calls are routed to their intended destinations.

Determine how calls are routed and received at different times of a day.

Trunks

Register multiple SIP trunks on a single PBX as needed.

Provision SIP trunk settings and dedicate them to particular extensions.

Bulk add DDIs on each SIP trunk, for allocation to an individual or groups of extensions.

Extensions

View, deploy, add, and remove user extensions within your PBX system.

Allocate and deploy specific extension numbers to respective users via email.

Set-up default ring and presence status settings for individual users.

Deal One View

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View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

Deal One View

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

Deal One View

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.

View cases created for a Deal in One View.