UC
Sprint and Google recently announced integration of Google’s voice service with Sprint’s mobile phones, enabling Sprint customers to use their Sprint mobile numbers as their Google Voice number. This move allows Sprint customers to easily take advantage of Google Voice’s unified messaging and simultaneous ring capabilities, as well as discounted long distance calling. It also underscores the need for companies to develop proactive enterprise mobility strategies that define policies and approaches for areas such as device ownership, application restrictions, and phone number ownerships.
As a disclaimer I’ll note that I’ve been a Google Voice user since it was GrandCentral, which Google acquired in 2007. The beauty of Google voice (along with similar services from Ribbit Mobile and Ring Central) is that it effectively “hides” your real phone numbers, while providing single-number reachability to any number of devices. For example, calls to my Google Voice number ring my cell, office, and even my SkypeIn number, enabling me to pick up the call on my office phone, cell, or laptop. And the beauty of a voice proxy service is that I can change underlying phone providers without having to worry about changing my phone #. All I need to do is change the simultaneous ring numbers in their Google Voice account settings. Gone are the days when changing a cell phone or home phone provider meant having to distribute new phone numbers to contacts, utilities, clients, and so on.
And, if I miss the call, Google’s voice messaging service captures the voicemail in a single unified in-box, accessible via web or Google Voice app on my mobile phone. (It even transcribes the audio recording into text, which provides for a fun experience as you try to decipher what a caller really said as you read “pitch fun club again, kids compare pay and its home, O.K.”?).
While voice proxy services provide a great deal of functionality for individuals to simplify inbound call routing, they also provide some challenges for employers. Companies can lose control of phone numbers; e.g., a sales person can establish their own personal Google Voice number that rings their company-provided phone, distribute it to clients, and then take their Google number with them if they leave the company. Voicemail messages left in services such as Google Voice are outside of corporate control – meaning inability to comply with retention policies or privacy controls as mandated by regulations such as HIPAA. Only 8% of IT leaders say their mobility initiatives are “extremely successful” as many struggle to keep ahead of the rapidly changing technology curve. Few have established policies for phone number ownership or use of voice proxy/overlay services.
The bottom line: here’s an area where IT, line-of-business, and HR managers need to converge to establish acceptable use policies for personal voice proxy use. Meanwhile, IT managers should evaluate the opportunities for voice overlay services to reduce operating costs and simplify phone number, voicemail, and in-bound call management for wired and wireless services.
