Google Meet, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, kanban boards, email trails, Slack -- you name it. In the last six months utilisation of new communications has exploded as businesses have sought ways to keep operating through Covid-19 lockdowns.
In June, MTN said it had experienced a 51% surge in data traffic since February while Vodacom said more recently that its data traffic had risen 97.7% in the June quarter. Meetings have been a particular growth area. According to Aternity’s Productivity Tracker, the use of Microsoft Teams rose 894% between mid-February and mid-June, while the use of Zoom rose 677%.
To adapt to the new communications wave, the team at Mytelnet, a brand that has been in the market for eight years, has refined and refreshed the Mytelnet App. It is a David in a market full of Goliaths – but its competitive edge lies in its simplicity and low costs.
The Mytelnet App is downloaded onto each employee’s mobile phone, which uses your organisation’s contact number as a gateway, rather than requiring employees to use their own phone numbers for incoming and outgoing calls. Employees only require good-quality internet connectivity. All calls are charged at data rates, not voice rates – the current cost is 39c a minute.
The Mytelnet App is easy to access, user-friendly, does not tie your business into a contract, and gives clear helpful dashboards for reporting and control. It will accommodate anything from an individual with a small business to a medium-sized organisation with over 1,000 users.
Mytelnet fits neatly into the suite of essential communications tools that a business needs now to remain engaged and connected with its customers. These tools include voice-only comms (one on one and team), video comms (one on one and team), file management and sharing, chat (one on one and team), and document management.
But Mytelnet is in the business of voice comms. It offers advantages over some of the other tools that are currently being used for the same purpose. For example, WhatsApp is a great chat and voice platform, but it only calls mobile numbers that are on its platform. Using Mytelnet, the user can call any number (mobile or landline, on- or off-net), using a data connection. Whereas Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams are great for group or one on one meetings, it is not always necessary to use their video option.
In fact, most participants in meetings during lockdown have turned their videos off. So meetings could be held just as well using the Mytelnet App, with participants dialling in on their mobile phones over a data connection (either using their phones or other LTE, or Fibre connection). An internal company conference call is free. It is also possible to patch in a customer by adding the customer’s telephone number (mobile or landline). They need not download the app.
A part of the puzzle
Mytelnet is designed to boost your overall communications requirements. It is for business voice communication what Google Meet is for video conferencing, and WhatsApp is for messaging.
With the rapid global shift towards the home becoming a multifunctional hub, where people live, work, learn, shop and play, both individuals and businesses are refining their approach towards work-life balance and cost allocation. This means that consumers will start to fine-tune the different tools they use for particular purposes.
“We don’t see Mytelnet replacing anything, but it could be a great addition to make your remote work more efficient and to manage business communication costs in a contained space. Mytelnet effectively gives you two numbers on your existing mobile device which can be used to manage your private affairs and business communications from a single point,” Mytelnet says.
“What’s more, it gives you a dashboard, the Mytelnet portal, to manage users, numbers, call details and costs. We see this as a vital requirement of the new world of work going forward, to manage your work and personal life with heightened efficiency and keep costs in a separate space - personal or company”.
More comms control
Mytelnet makes it possible to track employee call spend across the company. Users will also be able to record calls, while management will have the ability to download recorded calls to keep on record for a variety of reasons.
Many employees working from home are having to use their own phones and data and claim back from the company, and it becomes onerous to separate company-funded calls from personal calls. Using Mytelnet, company calls go through the app and personal calls go through the employee’s private number.
Mytelnet’s central hub will allow account admins to create a user profile for each employee, allocate numbers for each and group relevant users together according to their department or team. When customers call the organisation, they can choose which department they wish to speak to. Mytelnet can allocate a receptionist or an answering system with an interactive voice menu depending on your business needs.
As an early sign-up special, all new users can enjoy free lifetime access to the platform, while only paying 36c per minute for local mobile and landline calls. Head to the Mytelnet website for more details.
Comments