The rise of the Smart Phone has been dramatic. It seems like everyone has one of these devices these days, and nearly every single Smart Phone owner raves about their device. Smart Phones certainly represent attractive and powerful telephony technology. Not only are they sleek and stylish, Smart Phones also provide a huge range of features and applications which you can take with you everywhere you go. While Smart Phones have presented a superior alternative to previous mobile phones, does that mean they stand to replace all telephony devices?
For example – do Smart Phones offer a superior alternative to Stationary Handsets within work environments?
General Technology vs Specialized Technology
From a quick glance Smart Phones appear superior to Stationary Handsets. This glance can be very deceiving. The reason Smart Phones appear so impressive is the fact they are very powerful examples of general technology. That’s to say they are devices which are capable of performing a wide range of activities. On your Smart Phone you can browse the web and send emails, you can chat with your friends, you can get directions to the nearest Chinese food hole-in-the-wall, and you can even make phone calls.
On the other hand Stationary Handsets represent specialized technology. Even though their technology continues to evolve and offer new and improved features, the technology’s evolution all revolves around a single main function- handling large quantities of telephone calls as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Specialized Tasks Required Specialized Technology
A piece of general technology, like a Smart Phone, is great when you want to perform a lot of functions with a single device. When you leave your house for the night and need to manage your entire social life while you’re on-the-go a great piece of general technology like a Smart Phone will work wonders.
Yet, the debate between Smart Phones and Stationary Handsets doesn’t revolve around employees who need to potentially deal with all possible contingencies at one time. It revolves around a very specific set of circumstances and needs- operating business VoIP phone lines in a fixed work environment.
The more specific the task the more specialized technology holds the edge over general technology. When it comes to choosing a phone system for your work environment remember: all that matters is how well that system performs in your specific environment for the specific set of functions your business requires.
And when you approach your decision with that mindset it’s clear the specialized technology of Stationary Handsets provide an edge over the general technology of Smart Phones.
The Main Benefit of Stationary Headsets
In our rush to drool over flashy technological advancements we’re quick to forget the most effective features within any given piece of technology are often the simplest and most low-tech. When it comes to Stationary Handsets their most important feature is the fact they are fixed in one place. This is a feature no Smart Phone will ever provide, and its benefits deserve explaining further.
Efficiency is of the utmost importance when you or your employees are handling a large volume of calls. It is crucial that your employees are able to quickly and easily access their phone lines with a minimum of potential confusion or fumbling around. Part of this elegant usage comes over time with practice and experience. The longer your employees use any telephony system the more graceful and efficient they will become with that system.
But the real key to an efficient telephony system is stability and predictability. Your employees will quickly develop the fastest possible method and the greatest level of comfort with your telephony systems when they are fixed in one place.
When using a stationary handset for your businesses’ telephony needs your employees will develop an unconscious understanding of where the system and all its features are, which means they won’t have to think each time they pick of the phone, transfer a call, or otherwise utilize the system. This unconscious, totally fluid and incredibly effective relationship with a telephony system can only be developed when that system is in a fixed physical location.
We can talk endlessly about the other features stationary handsets provide over Smart Phones (such as the fact they provide a clearer and more reliable signal, the fact they’re compatible with both hosted voip and hosted PBX) and we can talk about the fact stationary handsets are adopting the more important functions which Smart Phones offer (such as chat, video, Google, and a full integration between these systems and desktops), but at the end of the day it’s this simple feature of Stationary Handsets which makes them the superior choice for your business’ telephony needs.