Landlines at work

[AleisterCrowley]

"Accountancy giant PwC is doing away with landlines at office desks, with all staff expected to only use mobiles by the end of the summer"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44654802

Wow, cutting-edge stuff PwC !
But, ermm, I haven't had a landline on my desk for about five years. I think the only ones in the building are at security/reception
Meetings - dial in from mobile, or use Lync full audio/screenshare. Assumed this was the same in most large businesses.

[dionaeamuscipula]

We have landlines which were put in about 10 years ago. Its unlikely that we ever replace them. Not all staff have mobiles. Personally I like a big hands free handset on my desk but then I'm a dinosaur. The cost is pretty minimal.

About 75% of incoming calls are recruitment consultants or FX traders cold calling.

DM

[Ashfordian]

We have landlines which were put in about 10 years ago. Its unlikely that we ever replace them. Not all staff have mobiles. Personally I like a big hands free handset on my desk but then I'm a dinosaur. The cost is pretty minimal.

I thought this until I started working directly in the IT telecoms area a couple years ago. The infrastructure needed in businesses to accept a call via a landline is huge and over the long term this costs. Especially as communication methods are/have changed and with the technologies available as suggested by the OP.

It's similar to how we see/use these a lot less since the introduction of e-mail

[AleisterCrowley]

Eeeh, I remember them.
No emails, just an in tray full of the blighters...

[Slarti]

"Accountancy giant PwC is doing away with landlines at office desks, with all staff expected to only use mobiles by the end of the summer"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44654802

Wow, cutting-edge stuff PwC !
But, ermm, I haven't had a landline on my desk for about five years. I think the only ones in the building are at security/reception
Meetings - dial in from mobile, or use Lync full audio/screenshare. Assumed this was the same in most large businesses.

Nature of my work I went to many companies, large and small all over the country in the last year or 2 and I've never seen this.

Also when I asked opinions here (or was it at Motley) about disposing of my landline and only having mobile, the biggest argument for keeping landline was customer perception "I wouldn't do business with a company with no real world number" was the gist of more than one response.

Slarti

[mike]

Also when I asked opinions here (or was it at Motley) about disposing of my landline and only having mobile, the biggest argument for keeping landline was customer perception "I wouldn't do business with a company with no real world number" was the gist of more than one response.

Slarti

Totally agree with this. My company recently received a Purchase Order from a new customer with only a mobile number given. Couldn't contact the right person, couldn't transfer me when ringing in - the company seemed a shambles. Maybe it was their implementation, but needless to say a note was put on their file - "do not open credit account for this customer."

Appearances do matter
Mike

[AleisterCrowley]

We've still got a main landline number and an online directory so anyone phoning in from the outside world can get transferred to relevant person.
It's us worker drones who only have mobiles, and we rarely get external calls.

[didds]

All our "desk phones" are VOIP now. I even have a desk VOIP phone as well as my company mobile at my remote base a.k.a. my home 80+ miles from the office

didds

[Leothebear]

What about at home? I keep mine because mobile reception is patchy in these parts of Ye Olde West Sussex.

[AleisterCrowley]

Yes, useful to have one at home in case of network outages etc.
I've got a landline, but only use it to find my mobile. It's normally down the back of the sofa.

[Chrysalis]

My employer doesn’t provide mobile phones (though in reality it would be tricky for them if you didn’t have one). So they can hardly take the landlines away. I use mine infrequently, but regularly enough for both internal and external calls that it would be difficult to do away with.

[gryffron]

Modern PBX systems provide all sorts of facilities not yet available on mobiles. Such as Smart routing, Call parking, group ringing, and most significantly, centralised recording.

I can see why a company might want staff to use mobiles, but they'd be losing a whole heap of the centralised features. Surprised none of the PBX manufacturers have caught up with this yet. Having a mobile slaved to the PBX when you are in the office would give all the power of both.

Gryff

[Lanark]

My employer is taking away all mobiles and spending £300,000 on a new telephone system with VOICEMAIL!!

Why yes I do work in the public sector, how did you guess?