But this new way of working is not without its challenges for businesses. Leaders worry about the impact on productivity and collaboration when employees are working from home, and rightly so. Communication doesn’t happen as easily in a dispersed team and, if your staff aren’t set up with the easiest and most flexible communications tools for hybrid working, then you are likely to find hybrid working a nightmare to navigate.  

The importance of business communication and the tools that enable it cannot be understated. As seen in our Chatterbox Matrix, businesses in places like Watford and Macclesfield are amongst the chattiest in the UK, meaning efficient and reliable communication tools that are easy to use will be key to their day-to-day activity. So how can businesses big and small implement hybrid working whilst retaining efficient and productive comms?

Bridging the Gap for Flexible Communication

Choosing the right tools or platforms to meet your internal communication needs is a good place to start. They can help bridge the gap being felt by you and your employees as a result of having a semi-permanent office presence. Business communication technology has advanced a lot since the days of fax machines and desk phones, which means that there are numerous options that can and will provide the solution to your hybrid working struggles. 

Cloud-based business phone systems are the next evolution of the traditional desk phone. Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is revolutionising how businesses make calls, all while empowering a remote team. 

With no need for a wired landline connection, cloud-based VoIP tools and platforms are highly flexible solutions that best enable hybrid or remote working. The agility of working from anywhere, at any time is not only made feasible for your employees but is also an upgrade on the rigid hardware of old.

Cloud-Based Communication Upgrades

Cloud-based communication tools can be a significant upgrade for your business comms thanks to the additional features these systems can offer. Though using apps and platforms does lessen the chance of missing an all-important call, if you do, voicemail capabilities are available just like on any normal landline or mobile. What’s more, some apps can even offer voicemail transcripts to save you from having to listen back to the recording.

Another useful benefit of this tech is the ability to derive detailed call analytics. VoIP systems automatically log and report all call activity across your team, so you’ll be able to identify your most prolific users, most dialled numbers, missed call patterns, or overall team performance. Productivity doesn’t need to slip without a permanent office presence, but if it does, you’ll be able to track and address the issue with ease.

And finally, if you’re not quite ready to go fully remote and still need a physical phone presence, some cloud-based phone systems can even sync up with your desk phones so that your business comms can be hybrid too.

Final Thoughts

Simply telling employees they are allowed to work from anywhere doesn’t necessarily foster a healthier, happier workforce. It’s also about adopting the right tools and technology that allow collaboration from anywhere and at any time.

The future is hybrid working and for it to succeed, it requires us to embrace a new work culture for the betterment of our employees. By retaining the very best talent with updated policies on flexibility and the tools to thrive, we can ensure hybrid working future proofs businesses for years to come.