In a 2014 case, a California employee filed a lawsuit on behalf of customer service managers against his employer (essentially a class action lawsuit on the subject!) that was not reimbursed for expenses related to the use of their personal work-related cell phones, for alleged violations of labor regulations and unfair business practices, as well as declaratory actions and legal sanctions. The California Court of Appeals agreed that there was and ruled (meaning it`s now the law): business-related appeals are your company`s intellectual property. Text, voicemail audio, and transcribed voice messages are often kept for future reference. The company has these results of business interactions. Even if the content is not sensitive, contains trade secrets, or business planning, metadata related to the call or messages can lead to a data breach. When you use your personal phone number for work, your personal device suddenly has an influx of business contacts mingling with your friends and family. SMS and voice messages from customers and employees are interspersed with your personal SMS and MMS. Personal numbers are not intended for business. They are uncomfortable, ineffective and even dangerous. On the other hand, once you drop off your work phone, the company takes responsibility for future incoming calls or business interactions. Customers who call your work phone number will contact another employee.
This transfer is a smoother transition for you and your former employer`s clients. The ByOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend continues to grow as more and more companies use remote work. BYOD means that employees use their personal devices such as mobile phones or laptops for business purposes, rather than receiving corporate hardware. Depending on your organization, your BYOD strategy may include some restrictions on the use of your mobile phone. Some social media apps, as well as features like GPS, can be considered invasive to phone data, prompting your business to ban its use. If you frequently use these features on your phone and can afford a second device, you should consider buying a separate phone only for business purposes. You may be tired of hearing about cybersecurity, but it`s an area where you need to be careful. If your smartphone has ever been used for an online payment, all a hacker needs to get your credit card information is your phone number. All your automatically saved passwords for personal and business accounts are also easily accessible. Being a professional is more than your degree or the suit and tie you put on for work. It means being organized and efficient in your business. This is also reflected in the way you interact with customers and even colleagues.
A business phone will help you maintain a certain level of professionalism in your greetings and voicemail instructions. You can always leave official instructions that are in line with your company`s interests. IT can implement a cell phone policy to centrally lock and manage their smartphones. Any application required by the employee can be installed remotely on the company`s mobile phone. A business phone helps you manage your calling credits and data plans. You can easily set and manage a monthly budget for these subscriptions. COPE (company property, personally activated): The company provides the employee with a mobile phone, but the employee can customize the device and use it for non-work related purposes. Provide an automatic receptionist. Instead of calling you directly, a robocall reaches a voice menu and gets stuck until it expires. Virtual phone systems use cloud technology that allows you to tailor each parameter specifically to your business.
This allows you to set up blacklists to automatically delete specific calls and use multiple incoming lines for your virtual number, so that if one of them is blocked, customers can still pass. One of the fundamental ideas behind a business phone number is to maintain privacy without compromising accessibility. This idea is embodied above all by the intelligent routing of calls. You can simply configure the system to forward calls to you and your employees, based on the caller`s time, day of the week, and number. Being accessible to your customers is a real thing. It`s great to be able to respond quickly to calls during office hours, but customers shouldn`t be able to reach you whenever they want. Entrepreneurs work hard, but you are entitled to some kind of work-life balance. You can receive business calls at any time, especially if you work for a global organization that spans multiple time zones.
And if you don`t stick to strict business hours when working from home (or mute your phone), your personal and family life could suffer. Learn how Dialpad`s business phone system puts your trust first to ensure complete security of your account. With a separate business number, you can distinguish between business and personal calls and handle them with the attention and professionalism they deserve. You`ll never be surprised by a business call you thought was personal. A dedicated business phone speeds up and simplifies business interactions through automation. Calls to an industry may have different editing standards than personal calls, text messages, or voice messages. You know the first two options, but if you don`t know much about virtual phone numbers, you`ll find a crash course here. Either way, the 3 options are safer and just better (to varying degrees) than using your personal number. Some BYOD policies require employees to erase data from their phones when they leave the company. It is possible that this could lead to the loss of personal information such as phone numbers, photos, and text messages.
Try talking to your company`s IT department to see if you can safely back up important personal data before erasing all data on the device. Since they connect through your enterprise extension, you can see that the call is coming from the company`s system, so you don`t blow the image when you answer. The only thing these modern phone systems and apps can`t do is make sure your dog doesn`t bark during your company meeting – that part is up to you. A business phone will help you look professional. In summary, employers must compensate California employees (indiscriminately) for cell phone use when employees need to use their personal cell phones for business purposes. .