A member of staff is working from home, or out visiting a client, and a customer calls the office number. What happens next? If the answer is "it rings out, or goes to a mobile that doesn't show the business number", you have a gap in your phone system that is costing you calls and making your business look disorganised. Softphone and mobile apps for VoIP solve this, but only if they are set up and checked properly. Here is what business owners and managers need to know.
What a softphone actually is
A softphone is simply an app, on a laptop, desktop or mobile phone, that behaves like the handset sitting on someone's desk. It connects to the same VoIP phone system, uses the same business number, and gives access to the same features: transferring calls, putting someone on hold, checking voicemail, and seeing who else in the team is available or on a call.
The difference from a normal phone is that it runs over an internet connection rather than a phone line, and it can run on a device the person already carries around. Staff dial and answer exactly as they would at their desk, and the person calling in has no idea whether the call was picked up in the office, at home, or on a train platform.
Why SME teams use it
- Staff keep their mobile number private. Calls go through the business number, not a personal mobile, so people are not forced to hand out their own number to clients.
- Nobody misses a call because they are out of the office. Calls can ring on a desk phone and a mobile app at the same time, or be set to follow a person based on their working hours.
- It supports hybrid and field-based working properly. Sales staff, engineers, or anyone who splits their time between sites can take and make business calls wherever they are, without needing a separate mobile contract or call-forwarding workaround.
- Costs are predictable. Calls go over the same VoIP plan rather than racking up mobile minutes, and adding or removing a user is a quick configuration change rather than a new SIM and handset.
What to check before relying on it
Softphones are a genuine improvement for most SMEs, but they do rely on things outside the phone system itself. Before you roll them out to remote or on-the-go staff, check the following.
Internet and mobile data quality
Call quality depends on a decent, stable connection. A member of staff working from a spare room with poor broadband, or driving through an area with patchy 4G, will drop calls or sound unclear. Test the app in the locations your staff actually work from, not just in the office.
Battery and background behaviour
Mobile operating systems are aggressive about closing apps running in the background to save battery. Make sure the softphone app is set up correctly so it still rings reliably when the phone has been idle for a while, rather than appearing to work fine in testing and then missing calls a week later.
Notifications and ring settings
Check that incoming call notifications are loud and visible enough that staff notice them on a mobile screen, particularly if they are also fielding calls, texts and app notifications from other sources.
Security on personal devices
If staff are using their own phones (a "bring your own device" approach), you need a way to remove business call access if that phone is lost, stolen, or the employee leaves. This should be part of your wider device and access policy, not an afterthought.
A fallback plan
Softphones depend on an internet connection. If a member of staff loses connectivity entirely, what happens to that call? Make sure there is a sensible fallback, such as calls routing to another team member or a receptionist, rather than simply ringing out.
Getting the rollout right
The technology itself is reliable and well established. Most problems come from rolling it out without testing it properly in the conditions staff will actually use it in, or without a clear policy for personal devices. A short pilot with a handful of users, covering home working, mobile data and a few different handset models, will surface most issues before they affect customers.
At Valetech Solutions, we set up and configure VoIP phone systems for SMEs across Greater Manchester, including softphone and mobile app rollouts for remote and field-based teams. We test call quality and failover in your staff's real working conditions rather than just in the office, so you know it will actually work when a customer calls. Get in touch with Valetech Solutions to talk through your phone system.