Are you setting up a home office, or refurbishing an old one? Perhaps you’ve just started a business or are looking to re-ignite a freelance career. While you might consider investing in a file cabinet or two, the home office of 2012 looks significantly different from the home office of only a decade ago.
Tablet computers, smart phones, lightweight printers, e-readers and many other small gadgets have replaced the Rolodex and massive desktop computer of yesterday. The techno-gadgets that are now big-sellers amongst business people are further evidence that for many, the office is a disembodied place that will travel — be it to a hotel conference room a continent away, or to the coffee shop down the street. And having the flexibility to do that is indeed important.
And yet having a bright, welcoming work space in your home has ceased to lose its appeal for millions of people around the world. The home office not only provides a psychological boost, peace of mind, and a place for you to focus amidst the temptation of household chores, but it also gives your local customers and clients a physical place to visit, providing a sense of stability both for the customer and for you, the small business owner or independent contractor.
One device that melds the comfort of the old with the adaptability of the new is a VoIP phone. A VoIP phone oftentimes looks like a more traditional home landline and yet it features advanced technology that allows you to use Web-based phone providers such as Google Voice, Skype and other companies that offer local and international (occasionally free) Web-based calling.Click here to view available VoIP phones from Gigaset.
As Wikipedia points out, VoIP phones have features that more traditional analog phones don’t support, including email IDs that are often easier to remember than phone numbers, and Web-based storage and access of names and numbers across various Web platforms such as Gmail. Many VoIP phones, which again often appear simply as cordless phones that dock in a station, feature screens on the docking station that display emails, online news, text messages and other information that might be gathered on a smaller smartphone but without the sophisticated, established look associated with a VoIP phone. If you have a secretary or work associate in your home, VoIP phones even allow for call transfers from one VoIP phone to another.
Of course, the reason many people have VoIP phones is not merely for their more established, sophisticated look, but because the sound quality is often better on a VoIP phone than it is on a smartphone. Many VoIP phone users report greater confidence in having multi-party phone calls on their VoIP phone than on their smartphone. So do some research today to see if a VoIP phone might be for you.