magazine
29
01732 759725
Room for all
So unstoppable has been the rise of
the smartphone and the mobilisation
of the UK workforce that a few
years ago even the office deskphone
seemed under threat.
In fact, the deskphone has proved
remarkably resilient and, through a
combination of its own qualities, the
limitations of smartphones and continued
innovation, it remains an office staple.
The deskphone is far from irreplaceable.
Softphones and mobile phones are more
than adequate replacements and there
are plenty of organisations that have
standardised on these alternatives – even
if only for some applications.
Yet, as WilfredWood, senior product
manager at Samsung Electronics, points
out, a deskphone is still all that many
people need.
“There are certain job functions
where a deskphone is preferable, where
people are desk-based, such as in an
accounts department, and where they
don’t have a company mobile so all of
their calls are made from a deskphone,”
he said.
He adds that deskphones are also a
better option for people who spend long
periods on the phone.
“People who use handsets for longish
conversations prefer to use a deskphone.
One hundred and fifty years worth of
technology has gone into designing the
feel of a handset on a deskphone.We
haven’t got the same duration of design
with mobile handsets – ultimately, they
are a flat piece of glass,” he said.
The classic example of people who
spend all day on the phone are contact
centre agents. Most of these now
sport headsets that provide even more
comfort than a deskphone. However,
that does not mean the deskphone has
been replaced entirely.
“People who operate in call centres
will be wearing a headset, but typically
they are backed off a deskphone device
rather than a softphone because of
reliability issues concerning the PC
the softphone runs on. If your PC
freezes or crashes, you will have lost all
communications until it comes back up
again. A typical deskphone is far more
resilient,”Wood said.
Communications
Growing sales
Wood adds that
for the time
being Samsung
is actually
increasing sales.
“People are not
going to the office
with only mobile phones.
There are people who have talked
about it but I think they see that there
are so many job functions where people
actually want a deskphone. Typically
within an office every desk will have
a phone and there will be hot desking
areas where people can choose whether
to use a deskphone or mobile phone.”
Samsung’s new phone system
handsets, the i6000 series, are designed
to make this choice easier by providing
tight integration between mobiles
and deskphones. Built-inWiFi and
Bluetooth connectivity enables a host
of useful features, such as automatic
synchonisation of contacts between
mobiles and handsets and the ability to
use a mobile as a cordless handset or
as a remote control to set up and make
calls via a deskphone. The addition of a
VoIP app provides seamless handover
from the deskphone to smartphone
in mid-call, and you can add a tablet
as a handset extension with up to 99
programmable buttons, giving one touch
access to functions
or extension
numbers.
Changing demand
Panasonic has a similar tale to tell. Like
Samsung, it is not seeing a big fall in
handset sales. However, Bob Mercer,
network communications group manager
at Panasonic, has noticed a shift in
demand.
“In the general business market
we are not seeing a huge drop off in
handsets, but we are seeing a migration
to more of an IP product than a standard
handset. That is one thing that’s
changing,” he said.
“A lot more people are changing
infrastructure and deploying an IP
handset, which can be a little more
feature-rich than a traditional systems
telephone. For example, the ability to run
video over IP.We have a new handset
launching early next year that has a
normal colour touchscreen but also an
in-built IP camera, which allows you to
make a video call handset-to-handset.
That technology is more interesting for
minimal face-to-face contact where the
traditional handset doesn’t cut it and
you have to do it through a PC. If you
use something like Skype for Business,
there’s an element of unreliability due
to the network infrastructure, because
you are using the same data network as
everything else.Whereas with a dedicated
network for IP phones you will have 6 9s
guaranteed end-to-end so the video call
is much more stable and reliable.We are
seeing that change coming through but
on-premise demand has not changed a
great deal,” Mercer said.
Another change noted by Mercer is
a reduction in the need for higher grade
executive phones.
“There is less demand than
before because things like unified
communications allow people to have a
simpler deskphone and push applications
onto their PC or laptop.We are selling
proportionately more entry-level
handsets than executive, so there has
Deskphone sales are proving remarkably resilient in
the face of competition from mobiles and
softphones. James Goulding finds out why
One hundred
and fifty years
has gone into
designing
the feel of a
handset on a
deskphone
Continued...
Mobile integration:
Samsung’s
new wireless
deskphones
automatically
synchronise with
a smartphone
Clearly better: Panasonic has
launched a new range of affordable SIP phones with HD voice.
