What is a phone actually for?

First it was text, then camera, then video, finally connection to the internet and suddenly a mobile phone was not just a phone but an entire communication device in one small package. So much so that a recent advert for a mobile listed all the features and then as an afterthought added “and it also makes calls”.

Now Royal Mail has added to the range of possibilities by launching a range of intelligent stamps. These stamps, portraying Great British railways incorporate image recognition technology which when viewed by the Junaio app on iPhone or Android opens up a film of Bernard Cribbins reading W H Auden’s poem – The Night Mail.

This venture by the Royal Mail is just the latest in an explosion of applications for mobile phones. So much so that one business contact recently gave up looking at all the options and e-mailed all their contacts to find out what applications they found useful on their phones. With so much available, it is sometimes easy to forget that a mobile phone is also there for making calls.

The same can be said for the business phone. Taking advantage of the same internet technology that launched the mobile phone into another dimension, the office phone can now be so much more than a single line with a phone on the end. VoIP calls over the internet have slashed telephone call costs whilst the availability of virtual switchboards has opened up a world of options to even the smallest business.

Call recognition, automatic call forwarding, call recording and messaging are all possible at a fraction of the cost of a normal switchboard. This means that every business from a one man band upwards can present a completely professional image to all their callers. For example, if you are unreachable for a period but know you want to pass a message on to a client if they phone then you can record the message which will only be played in response to an incoming call from a set phone number. Alternatively, you can set your phone system to divert certain calls only to your mobile, whilst providing a recorded message to other callers. Using systems like this means your important clients won’t be frustrated at not being able to contact you and your professional image will be enhanced in your client’s eyes.

Yes, sometimes we have to ask ourselves what we actually need a phone for but by making the most of the internet revolution we can at least enhance our businesses image and save costs.