Switch and Sprint Team up for a More Modern Workplace

By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

There's no doubt that the workplace of late has seen some fundamental changes. An increasing number of technologies are on hand to change how we connect to others, and how we carry out a normal day's workload. In some cases, the workplace isn't so much a place as a concept, fueled by mobility and the bring your own device (BYOD) doctrine. But that change comes with challenges, challenges the new coalition of Switch Communications and Sprint (News - Alert) are teaming up to help address.

The pair recently brought out Switch, a new unified communications (UC) service for businesses that helps to drive the growing BYOD phenomenon that's a major draw for the Millennial generation. Both location-neutral and cloud-based, Switch helps to work regardless of where the employee happens to be at the time, and offers up voice and video communications as well as messaging and presence tools. It works with a huge variety of devices, not only working on desktop systems but also for the two biggest mobile operating systems: iOS and Android (News - Alert).

Sprint, meanwhile, brought its mobility expertise as one of the United States' biggest carriers, but also its deployment and support services, allowing Switch Communications to join in and build a mobile solution regarded as a clearly comprehensive option.

A host of benefits are set to arrive with Switch, including perhaps the biggest, lowered costs. With Switch, users reportedly get access to unlimited domestic calls and texts for $15 per month per seat, and that's great news for those businesses needing to make a lot of contact. Plus, businesses get access to simpler operations, thanks to the lack of need to stock hardware or install software for what hardware's in place, as well as an organization that can better support mobile operations. On top of it all, there's a potential for greater profitability as the office can better work from a variety of different locations and at different times, making for greater flexibility and productivity.

Switch Communications' chief revenue officer, Jeanne DeWitt, offered up some comment around the new release, saying “Businesses have been shifting their core productivity applications to the cloud, and voice is a key component of that experience . . . Switch instantly improves the communications experience not only for the end user but for operations, freeing up IT resources to focus more on strategic business needs.”

The mobile workforce is increasingly a part of everyday operations, driven by a need to better balance the demands of life outside work and increased globalization where work can't stop at 5:00 p.m. No one wants to miss out on a major account because a work day on the other side of the globe started two hours after the work day ended on the East Coast. That means flexibility is a necessary part of business any more, and since we can't all live at the office, being able to take the functions of the office on the road with users makes sense. While this comes with a few problems of its own—like work finding its way into vacation time and the like—it's also posing great opportunities, and depends on the best in communications to make it happen.

Switch and Sprint are likely to have a great new development on hand here for driving the future of work, and it's all thanks to the ability to communicate regardless of location, opening up new opportunities and making work more effective all around.