When an employee works from home or on the road, customers usually end up calling their personal mobile. As a result, the employee’s personal number ends up with customers, calls are not recorded in any report, and if that employee leaves, the customer relationship leaves with them. A softphone solves this by putting the company extension on the employee’s laptop or mobile, wherever there is internet.
What Is a Softphone?
It is an app that connects to the company phone system just like an IP desk phone and registers an extension. The employee can make calls, transfer calls and be a member of a support queue, and customers see the company number. There are many apps for computers and mobiles; some are free and some have paid versions with more features. MicroSIP for Windows, and Zoiper and Linphone for several operating systems, are well-known examples, and some phone system vendors also offer their own apps.
Connecting Securely to the Phone System
The most important decision is how the softphone reaches the phone system:
- Over VPN (recommended): the employee first connects to the company VPN, and the phone works just as it does in the office. The phone system’s SIP port is not left open to the internet.
- Direct connection over the internet: only with TLS encryption, a strong extension password and automatic blocking of attacking IPs. This method is easier for mobiles but requires more protection.
Create a separate extension for each remote worker, even if they have a desk phone at the office, and limit its outbound calling to what is actually needed.
Setup Steps
- In the phone system, create an extension with a strong password for the employee, or, if your phone system supports it, configure their existing extension for multiple devices.
- Set up and test the employee’s VPN.
- Install the app and enter the account details. It is best for an IT engineer to do this so the extension password is not passed around in messaging apps.
- Align the codecs with the phone system so no transcoding is needed.
- Test an internal call, an external call and a call transfer.
An Important Note About Mobiles
To save battery, mobile operating systems suspend background apps, so incoming calls do not arrive. The solution is an app that supports Push notifications, or on Android, excluding the app from battery optimization. Before trusting customer calls to a mobile, test receiving a call with the screen off and the app closed.
Call Quality at Home
- A proper headset: laptop speakers and microphones cause echo and noise. A wired headset or a headset designed for calls is the safer choice; a wireless headset with an unstable connection lowers quality.
- Network cable instead of Wi-Fi when possible, or at least staying close to the router.
- Watch the upload: cloud file syncing or a video call happening at the same time in the same home fills up the upload.
Common Mistakes
- Sending SIP account details to the employee in a messaging app.
- Opening the SIP port to the entire internet so it works “just for remote workers”.
- Forgetting to disable a remote worker’s extension after they stop working with the company.
Checklist
- The connection runs over VPN, or over TLS with access restrictions.
- A separate extension with a strong password and limited permissions is defined.
- Receiving calls on mobile has been tested with the screen off.
- The employee has a proper headset and a stable connection.
- Remote workers’ calls are recorded in reports and, where needed, in the queue.
With softphones, remote workers remain part of the company phone system rather than an isolated island. ITPlus724 engineers can set up remote worker extensions on your phone system together with a secure VPN.