Hot desking has become increasingly popular with the rise of hybrid work. The term originally referred to a company setup where employees could sit at any desk in the office to work, rather than having an assigned seat. The concept has since been applied to other aspects of office technology, including the communications systems.

Benefits hot desking brings to your business

In communications, hot desking is also known as extension virtualization. If your communication platform has such a feature, your employees can access their accounts and preferences on any device within the organization. When someone is working at a particular desk, they can set up their telephony extension on the closest phone, so they can easily be reached.

There are many benefits of using extension virtualization and creating a flexible setup within your communications structure. Here are a few reasons.

Reduce costs

In our current hybrid work environment, many organizations are no longer keeping a full staff in-house at all times. If your company now uses a flexible or part-time remote schedule, hot desking is one way to save on costs. Instead of equipping each employee with a desk, phone, and dedicated line, you can invest in the appropriate number of such devices based on the average number of workers in your office.

When an employee settles into a day at the office, they can quickly log in to the nearest phone. This means they’re easy to reach, regardless of where they’re sitting. Furthermore, they can also communicate quickly and effectively without having their own personal phone.

Get the must-have for call centers

Beyond the usual call center features–smart customer service queues, IVRs, location agnostic agents and advanced reporting–SMBs also need hot desking. This has become a must-have for in-house call centers.

In VoipNow for example, any phone line in the system can be virtualized. This enables call center agents to work in shifts and share the same desk and physical phone, while using their individual extension. Furthermore, creating such a virtual desk requires very little configuration. And this is another key point, especially for larger teams.

Increase opportunities for collaboration

Hot desking doesn’t just provide short-term cost savings. It can also lead to long-term growth with increased collaboration. Employees who are working together on a project can sit next to one another throughout the day without losing access to their phone lines.

This also reduces the number of emails your team sends and the number of meetings they schedule. Being able to solve various daily problems just by talking to your neighbors saves time.

Furthermore, using extension virtualization enables team members to set up their phone numbers wherever they happen to be working that day. So if one team is collaborating in the conference room for an afternoon, those employees don’t have to worry about missing calls from phones back at their desks.

Developing a collaborative workspace like this takes time and there may be some trial and error on your part. For example, make sure you give your team the space they need to work independently as well. Not everyone is most productive in an open office setting. Work closely with your team to make sure that all potential drawbacks and challenges are dealt with.

Reach your team members everywhere

Communication is the lifeblood of your organization. Yet, according to Lucidchart, 86 percent of workers experience communication failures. Furthermore, 52 percent of workers experience added stress because of these breakdowns. 24 percent of directors admit to spending a full day or more identifying the cause of communication issues and fixing the problems that stem from them.

When these breakdowns occur, projects get delayed and instructions are missed. This can easily lead to frustration because they don’t know what to do while management is left wondering what the issue is.

When using hot desking, you can reduce the likelihood of communication breakdowns. As we recently figured out together, a phone call can transform a problem into a solved business. It is significantly more effective than waiting for an email response or setting up a formal meeting a few days later. Problems can get solved faster and everyone can operate on the same page.

Communication features with benefits

Hot desking is a great benefit for your hybrid work environment. Team members can choose where they want to work based on their needs and priorities and you can make sure communication stays open. Furthermore, if you have a call center, this will improve resource usage and enhance your overall efficiency.

If you are a service provider, help your customers discover the benefits offered by hot desking to their business communications. The better they communicate, the more productive their organization will be. And increased productivity can only mean more business for you. Thus, provide your customers with this functionality and all the other useful features available in VoipNow.