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The rise of remote work has changed business communication.
Statistics show that an increasing number of businesses are using Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) to make and receive calls. And the shift is understandable.
First, with a good VoIP for remote employees, businesses can reduce communication costs by up to 50% compared to hardware-based phone systems.
In fact, VoIP can reduce initial communication costs by up to 90% for a new business, since it eliminates the need for costly on-site hardware.
On top of that, adopting a phone system designed for remote work can save employee time through centralized interaction, leading to significant performance and efficiency improvements.
It can also help boost customer satisfaction among other benefits.
Yet many businesses still struggle to find a phone system for remote employees that strikes a balance between mobility, professionalism, and privacy.
This case study breaks down how a software company leveraged iPlum’s phone system to enhance remote worker collaboration, streamline daily communication, reduce costs, improve customer experience, and ensure compliance.
Table of Contents
6. iPlum — A phone system built for remote work
The company background
At the time the company featured in this case study reached out to iPlum, it had 50 employees. One notable gridlock was that its entire workforce operated from a single office using traditional desk phones connected to an on-premise system.
On paper, the communication looked straightforward.
However, when the lockdown began, the system’s inefficiencies became apparent.
It was then that the company’s leadership realized the business needed a reliable communication system built for a remote workforce.
An ideal phone system had to meet the following requirements:
- It had to assign a business number to every employee, tied to their existing device.
- It needed to route calls efficiently
- It had to protect customer-sensitive data
- It had to allow the company to project a professional image to all callers
- It had to be reasonably priced
The company scoured the market for a good VoIP solution for remote workers.
That search led them to iPlum, a cost-effective, mobile-first business phone system designed to help streamline communication for remote employees.
The challenge
When the company transitioned to remote work with its existing phone setup, communication quickly became disorganized. It had fifty employees working from home, all using different devices and channels.
As a result, calls that once passed through the office system were scattered between personal phones, emails, and messaging apps.
About 48% of employees used personal numbers to reach clients, resulting in a mix of personal and business communication, which raised concerns about privacy and compliance.
Response turnaround also worsened.
Internal tracking showed that 37% of client messages went unanswered or delayed during the first few days of remote work. The average response time rose to eight hours per inquiry.
Moreover, call routing problems exacerbated the situation, as many callers were redirected multiple times before reaching the correct person.
The IT department faced mounting pressure to sustain the old setup.
It spent close to 10 hours weekly troubleshooting routing errors and license issues, a situation which would have cost the company about $8,000 annually in maintenance had it not been corrected.
Furthermore, the business experienced 4 hours of system downtime per week, causing missed calls and interrupted workflows.
Even worse, customer satisfaction dropped from 9.1 to 7.2 within one month.
On the one hand, missed calls increased significantly, resulting in reduced renewals and follow-ups, which, by extension, impacted the company’s bottom line. On the other, employee frustration was at an all-time high, thanks to slow coordination and rising complaints.
Clearly, the existing system could no longer sustain reliable communication for a remote workforce.
The solution
Having pinpointed a phone system for remote employees that’d fit into the company’s requirements and budget, it was time to switch to iPlum.
The rollout took seven days from registration to full deployment. All fifty employees were onboarded successfully and started the iPlum app on their existing devices.
Once live, iPlum’s cloud-based phone system replaced the fragmented communication setup that had been slowing operations.
Below is a rundown of iPlum’s solutions for remote workers and how they benefited the software company.
- Phone Tree with auto attendant and extensions
iPlum provided a structured routing menu for all departments. Now, each employee could receive a unique extension, allowing clients to reach the right person more quickly. As a result, call connection accuracy rose from 62% to 98%.
- Dual-mode calling (carrier + VoIP)
With the iPlum cloud phone system, employees could make and receive calls through either Wi-Fi or carrier networks.
The dual calling mode ensured high call quality even in low-connectivity remote areas. In the end, the call drop rate decreased from 6.5% to 0.8%, a significant boost for client satisfaction.
- Secure texting and group messaging
iPlum’s encrypted texting replaced informal messaging apps.
With the new service, employees could manage client updates, internal coordination, and project notes through secure iPlum channels. In addition, the system archived business texts automatically, ensuring compliance with internal and regulatory policies.
- Auto reply and business hours settings
The company could now set automated replies during off-hours, allowing employees to acknowledge incoming messages instantly. The feature also improved client trust by confirming receipt and follow-up times, eliminating the existing communication breakdown.
- Voicemail transcription and email alerts
iPlum allowed the company to convert voicemails into text and send them to the employee’s email. As a result, the average response time for voicemails dropped from eight hours to 2 hours.
And the best part is that employees could review, respond faster, and in context, wherever they were.
With the iPlum phone system for remote employees up and running, the company’s communication reliability improved almost immediately, restoring client confidence and internal accountability throughout the entire workforce.
Within the first week, onboarding reached 100%. IT setup time decreased by 85%.
The results
The company’s leadership was glad it adopted iPlum phone solutions for employees just in time. Here’s what the director of operations had to say.
“The transition to remote work could have easily disrupted how we served our clients. iPlum gave us structure when we needed it most.” — Director of Operations
The table below summarizes the impact iPlum had on the business.
And here is a quick overview of these numbers.
Communication efficiency
iPlum’s call connection reliability improved almost instantly. The phone call helped reduce missed calls from 30% to below 2%. In addition, call routing accuracy improved from 62% to 98%.
And because clients could reach the correct department more quickly, the average response time across calls and texts decreased by 75%, resulting in smoother coordination and fewer message backlogs.
Employee productivity and satisfaction
The company’s internal surveys revealed higher satisfaction scores, increasing from 6.1 to 9.2. In addition, employees appreciated having separate business numbers, which eliminated personal contact overlap.
Customer experience and retention
Client feedback reflected a direct improvement in service quality. The company’s satisfaction ratings soared from 7.2 to 9.4, while complaints about missed calls decreased by 75%.
Furthermore, first-call resolution rates rose from 68% to 91%. And, the repeat customer rate increased by 21% as clients gained confidence in the company’s responsiveness.
Cost and IT efficiency
The company reduced its monthly communication expenses by 42%, from $667 to $383.
Before adopting iPlum, a significant portion of the company’s monthly communication budget was allocated to maintaining outdated VoIP licenses and servicing desk phone hardware.
In addition, the IT department spent hours resolving routing issues, which increased labor costs in an already expensive system.
But after moving to iPlum, the company eliminated license renewals and desk phone upkeep.
Lessons learned
The experience proved that communication systems built for physical offices rarely perform well in a remote environment.
Moreover, the company’s transition showed how quickly productivity and customer service can decline if your business phone system doesn’t align with today’s “nature of work.”
From the project, leadership identified the following lessons:
- Adaptability is essential: Your phone system for business must evolve with new work models to prevent disruption and inefficiency.
- Consistency is paramount for reliability: It helps to provide every employee with the same calling and texting features to maintain a professional communication standard.
- Privacy is important for today’s business communication: It is crucial to use business numbers and encrypted messaging to protect employees and clients from unnecessary exposure.
- Simplicity saves money and resources: At times, all you need to do to cut communication costs and save time is to replace legacy, outdated systems.
- Data visibility builds accountability: Access to call logs, message records, and response times gives management a bird’s-eye view of daily operations as far as communication goes.
The company now treats iPlum as an integral part of its communication framework.
More importantly, leadership views it as a long-term solution for scaling secure, professional, and efficient remote communication.
iPlum — A phone system built for remote work
iPlum has everything you need for seamless employee communication and collaboration, from a robust phone tree to secure texting and everything in between.
As evidenced in this case study, the platform transformed how a 50-person software company managed remote operations, customer calls, and internal coordination in multiple ways.
Are you running a remote or hybrid workforce?
iPlum is your go-to phone system if you’re looking for a dependable solution to optimize communication, protect privacy, and maintain professionalism at every touchpoint.
