Many of Fulcrum Group’s clients already have a Switchvox PBX, implemented either on-premises on in the cloud. For those you not familiar with Switchvox PBX, it’s a full featured Unified Communications system with a slew of advanced features such as remote phones/mobility, call center, call recording, and more.
Below are a few tips on how to enable your employees to Work from Home with their Switchvox phone.
Tip # 1 – Make sure your Switchvox PBX is ready to
accommodate Work from Home users.
If you’re on Switchvox Cloud, there’s nothing you need to do, it’s ready by default. If you have an on-premises Switchvox PBX, there are configuration changes that you will need to make on your Switchvox PBX and your network firewall as well. If you’re not already running Switchvox PBX version 7.x, you’ll want to upgrade to the latest 7.x version to take advantage of the latest features. Check out this article on how to ensure your Switchvox PBX is ready to accommodate Work from Home users.
Tip # 2 – Your Work from Home Users will need to make
sure their Home Network can support VOIP
Many Home Firewalls and Internet Gateways have SIP ALG
enabled, and this feature will need to be disabled. You may have to
contact your ISP for assistance. You can easily test incoming/outgoing
calls to determine if SIP ALG needs to be disabled.
Tip # 3 – Determine what kind of phone you want your Work
from Home users to use
Switchvox offers 3 options for phones – IP Desk Phone,
Windows/Mac Desktop Soft Phone (FREE), and iPhone/Android Mobile Soft Phone
(FREE). All 3 options have their pros and cons for various scenarios.
If a user is going to Work from Home for an extended period of time, and
won’t be coming into the office at all (or very infrequently), an IP Desk Phone
probably makes the most sense. You’ll likely need a Power Supply to go
with your Switchvox IP Desk Phone for use at home. If you are only
temporarily working from home, or frequently come into the office, you may want
to have user use an IP Desk Phone in the office, and a Windows/Mac Desktop Soft
Phone at home. In this scenario, users will need a Bluetooth wireless or
USB wired headset. Users who are infrequent phone users, or who simply want
access to phone functionality on their mobile phone, will want to take
advantage of the iPhone/Android Mobile Soft Phone.
Tip # 4 – Work from Home users will need to configure
their phone extension to ring their phone(s)
Users can login to their Switchvox User Portal and configure their incoming call rules so that incoming calls can ring a specific phone, simultaneously ring, or cascade calls from phone to phone. Check out this support document for more details. And check out the Switchvox User Training on how to use the various phones.
Reach out to us if you have questions about how to get
started.