The roving sales reps at my company have something to be happy about. We recently updated our phone system to allow them to use the full resources of our office phone system from their cell phones. All information that they receive at the office is instantly transmitted to their mobile phone no matter where they are. This has greatly simplified their lives in a big way. Our regional reps used to have to check in at the office by phone several times throughout the work day in order to get their messages. This was necessary because our old phone system simply didn't have the modern features to allow our reps to effectively communicate with our clientele from the road. With our new system in place, all calls are transmitted directly to the sales reps. if the call isn't connected, the caller can leave a message or transfer to another extension. Of course, as with any modern phone system, the rep will have access to his or her messages from any phone. Additionally, our reps can use their cell phones as a fully capable office extension. Anyone calling would think that the reps are right at their desks.

Best of all, I can completely monitor the transaction status in real time as the reps are able to place orders directly to our servers, right from their cellular phones. If you run a business with roving representatives, new technology in business phone systems can provide your employees with greater access to office resources than ever before. Of course, as with any new technology, the costs must be weighed against the overall present and future benefit. I have found that the innovations we implemented with our new business phone system have saved time and money and now make it possible for my reps to spend more effort on our customers and less effort checking in at the office. As a matter of fact, each rep in the company has mentioned their satisfaction with the new system, some on more than one occasion. To me, that's what business telephone technology should be all about... helping companies improve the way they do business by facilitating easier ways of communicating.