Posted by onsip.team at 01:57 PM EST
Being on the road is no longer an excuse for being out of the office. Keeping on top of things on the road or in the air requires tools that keep you informed, organized, and in touch. Last time, we mentioned online CRM and noted that among its many strengths is your ability to pull up customer information anywhere you have internet access. With the 'net, you can take the rest of your office with you, no matter where you go. Here are two more tools to help you do that:
Voice Over IP (VOIP): Voice Over IP is basically just using your internet connection to transmit audio in real time, just like using a telephone. It has a number of key benefits over standard telephone and cellular services. The bulk of these stem from using a
virtual PBX to manage your calls. This allows you to, among other things, change hunt groups and call routing at the drop of a hat through a web page, have a single number ring at multiple locations simultaneously, and track all your phone traffic through automated reports. It also allows you to treat locations that are geographically scattered across the contiguous 48 states as if they were all at the same location. A client who calls the main office in San Francisco can talk to an agent in Chicago or Seattle just as easily as they would someone across the hall. Having VOIP means you're always in touch, and your clients can always reach you.
Google Docs: Google Docs do for your online documents what online CRM does for your client resources. With your standard array of documentation software, such as spreadsheets and word processing, Google Docs allows you to save and share your work online. This means everyone in a scattered organization can access it, and it also means that you can pull it up on your laptop. So when the client calls over your VOIP service about your last billing report while you're in an airport halfway across the country, the numbers you need are a mouse click away.
Photo Credits: JoF, jimmyharris.
