Remote working · Cloud phone systems
Your business number and phone system, wherever your team works
When half your team is at home and the rest are in the office, a desk phone tied to one building stops making sense. A cloud phone system lets everyone answer, transfer and call out as the business, from any location, on any device.
The problem
Where the phones get in the way
Personal mobiles used for work
Staff give out their own numbers to customers, so calls are lost when they leave and the business has no record of the conversation.
Calls cannot be transferred
A customer rings the office but the right person works from home. Reception cannot hand the call over, so the customer is asked to ring back.
No visibility of who is available
Managers cannot tell who is on a call, away or off for the day, so calls ring out or reach the wrong person.
A desk phone system stuck in one site
Old on-site phone systems do not travel. Diverting everything to mobiles is a stopgap, and gets expensive and messy.
The fix
What a cloud phone system changes day to day
Softphone app for laptop and mobile
Make and take calls using your business number from a laptop or phone, with the same call history and contacts as in the office.
Presence and team directory
See who is available, on a call or away, and transfer calls to colleagues with one click rather than guessing.
Desk phones that work from home
Plug a pre-configured handset into any home broadband and it behaves just like the one in the office, with no engineer visit.
Call flows that follow your hours
Route calls to different people depending on time, day or who is logged in, with ring groups across home and office.
Call recording and reporting
Keep records of conversations where needed and see call volumes, missed calls and answer times for the whole distributed team.
Resilience when a connection drops
If someone’s broadband fails, calls roll over to their mobile or another colleague automatically, so customers still get through.
Keeping your business number professional
Customers should not be able to tell where a person is sitting. With a cloud system, an employee at home presents your main number or their own direct dial, answers using your greeting and can transfer calls to the office in a couple of taps. Personal mobile numbers stay private, which protects both staff and the business. It also looks far better to customers than a call arriving from an unknown personal mobile number.
It also means numbers belong to the business, not the individual. When someone leaves, their number and call history stay with the company and can be reassigned straight away. For sales and account teams especially, that is a considerable improvement on contacts living in personal phones. Reports show who handled which calls, which makes managing a spread-out team much more straightforward and fair.
Security, privacy and home networks
Home working adds questions that a desk in your office never raised: Who else uses the broadband? Is the Wi-Fi secure? Call traffic on our VoIP platform is encrypted, and apps can be set to require sign-in, so a lost laptop or phone can be locked out centrally by an administrator without touching a physical handset. It is the same discipline you would apply in the office, simply adapted for staff who work from different locations.
If your team handles personal data, UK GDPR still applies at the kitchen table. We can help you set sensible recording rules, access levels and retention periods. For regulated businesses, call recording settings can help support FCA or other requirements, with your compliance lead deciding the policy. This is far safer than relying on staff to remember to log out of personal accounts or hand back equipment.
How we roll it out for a hybrid team
We start with a free survey of your office network and a look at how each person works. Some staff need a full desk phone at home, others only an app. We then port your existing numbers, so customers see no change, and pre-configure everything so people are ready on day one. Everyone is shown what to do if something fails, so a broadband problem does not turn into a lost customer.
Where call quality depends on your office connection, we review your business internet and can recommend resilient options. Our cloud phone system is supported 24/7 by a UK-based team, and we cover the whole UK, so remote staff in different regions are looked after in the same way. Managers can add or remove people centrally, so growth or staff changes need no site visits or special equipment.
Your questions answered
Do remote staff need a special handset?+
Not necessarily. Most people use a free app on a laptop or mobile. If someone prefers a physical phone, a pre-configured desk handset connects to home broadband with no engineer visit. We can mix both, depending on the role.
What internet speed does a home worker need?+
A single voice call uses very little bandwidth, so ordinary home broadband is normally enough. Quality depends more on stability than speed, particularly on shared Wi-Fi. A wired connection to the router is better for people on calls all day.
Can I keep my existing numbers?+
Yes. Geographic, 03 and many other numbers can be ported to us, so customers carry on using what they know. We agree a switchover date and test beforehand to keep downtime to a minimum.
Is it secure for staff using personal devices?+
Calls are encrypted and users must sign in to the app. Administrators can remove access immediately if a device is lost or someone leaves. It is still wise to have a company policy on personal devices, which we are happy to help you think through.
Can we record calls from home workers?+
Yes, recording works the same wherever the person is. You decide which users or lines are recorded, who can listen back and how long recordings are kept. Callers should be told, and UK GDPR rules apply.
What if our office loses power or internet?+
Because the system is hosted in the cloud, staff working at home are unaffected. For anyone in the office, calls can be diverted to mobiles or home users automatically. This is far harder to achieve on a traditional on-site box.
What to check for a remote-friendly phone system
- ✓ Can staff use one business number on laptop, mobile and desk phone?
- ✓ Can calls be transferred between home and office users instantly?
- ✓ Is there a plan for when someone’s home broadband fails?
- ✓ Can an administrator disable a lost device immediately?
- ✓ Can we see calls, missed calls and answer times across the whole team?
- ✓ Will our existing numbers port across without a gap?
Why choose CBC
Phones, networks and security from one UK team
We are committed to giving every customer the best possible phone and networking solution for their business, then supporting it for the long term.
- 24/7 UK-based supportReal engineers, any hour, no overseas call centre.
- One-to-one serviceA named CBC engineer who knows your setup.
- Grows with youAdd users, sites or features without changing supplier.
- Customer satisfaction firstClear quotes, fixed pricing and honest advice.
Get a free quote
Tell us what you need and we will reply as soon as possible, usually the same working day.