Where have all the desk phones gone?

52% of companies have already removed their desk phones altogether, according to a new survey undertaken by analyst house Frost & Sullivan for Jabra.  Of those who hadn’t, 70% were planning to remove desk phones within the near future.

Headsets were by far the most popular device among companies that replaced their desk phones. According to the companies that have made the transition, this has already improved the work environment for their employees: from having their hands free when on calls (58%), to reducing noise in the office as a result of the improved sound quality (41%), which helps employees concentrate on the task at hand, as well as improving the engagement and collaboration with off-site workers (26%).

“What we have here is clear evidence that businesses recognise that implementing Unified Communications can be a serious cost-cutting and productivity-boosting exercise,” said Andrew Doyle, MD, Jabra UK Business Solutions. “The Frost & Sullivan research also confirms that the typical computer-and-headset or mobile device-and-headset UC set-up brings a huge number of benefits to companies via improved performance, collaboration, greater customer satisfaction and improved ease of use.”

The study also confirmed that the need to make general ‘cost savings’ remains an important consideration for unified communications (UC), cited by  57% of the companies polled, while a further 52% also listed ‘productivity increases’ as something they were looking to achieve. 42% were seeking to use UC to ‘become more agile through improved collaboration’.

Of those polled, an average of 69% of the workforce were using smartphones for business purposes, with a further 57% of the workforce using tablets.

Andrew Doyle concludes: “The productivity and cost benefits of UC, whilst key within this economically turbulent time, will also remain central to business growth once the economy stablilises and will drive smarter working practices in the future.”