It’s a question we get asked here at BVoIP rather regularly. The answer is we are definitely seeing a noticeable uptick in softphone
only deployments. That means, they are using their mac, windows, android, iPhone, or windows mobile device as their extension rather than a desk phone or some other physical device.
The reality is as a younger workface becomes the "norm" this is the expectation moving forward. It’s the whole BYOD paradigm where you can be anywhere and on any device and do your job. I can think of a few names of projects that are noteworthy that are softphone only deployments one of with it our friends from IT Glue sister company to BVoIP partner Fully Managed.
At IT Glue, every individual in the company has a Mac. That’s right no Windows machines in sight! Also, the entire office is WIRELESS! There is no massive cabling going to every desk, office, cube. They completely buck the trend from physical phone and hard line to every desk right?
You have to take some things into consideration when going softphone only…
Device Performance
If your device or workstation is running poorly then you will absolutely have a bad experience with softphones. Real time communications are not forgiving if the resources you want are not there.
Connectivity
If you LAN or WAN connectivity (wired or wireless) is suspect, you will also have a bad experience. In the words of Chris Day, CEO of IT Glue, “don’t cheap out on the router/firewall or wireless access points make an investment and move on” (It was close to that line I promise).
Headsets
If you plan to have good solid audio especially if working off a desktop or laptop have a solid headset. Noise cancellation is the new “norm” especially if you are in a confined space with people close to each other.
Stay Current
If you are on aging software that could also pose a problem. Try to stay relatively close to the current available OS for your mobile or desktop machine.
