Death To The Desk Phone? One Company Says Yes

A new start-up is trying to help companies do away with their desk phones.

The company, called Dialpad, was founded by Craig Walker, the man who oversaw the launch of Google Voice, Google Talk, and Google Talk Video. Companies such as Uber, The Weather Channel, and Fairchild Semiconductors are already using Dialpad’s technology.

What does it do?

“We have a laser focus on making the desk phone completely unnecessary for companies of any size,” said founder and CEO Walker. “Across our 25,000 customers, only 15% are currently using their desk phones, and we are seeing that number decline every month. The rapid growth of Dialpad reflects the demand for the platform as well as its market acceptance.”

The company’s technology allows customers to make and receive calls on their mobile devices, tablets, or any other telephone. It offers voicemail transcription, analytics, group messaging, and allows companies to reduce their IT expenses, according to the company.

A survey from earlier this year supports this trend. Among the findings:

• 84% of responding companies already have remote workers.
• 42% have a workforce that is 50% to 100% remote: 51% for SMBs, 32% for enterprises and 31% for midmarket.
• 67% indicate that employees are allowed to work from home.
• 83% say their organization will increase their reliance on a remote workforce in the next three to five years.
• 61% of respondents bring their own cellphones to work.
• 89% think their phone should integrate with Salesforce, Google Apps for Work, Microsoft Office 365 and other cloud software.