How UC mobile apps could vanish from smartphone screens
About 10 years ago, unified communications was young, smartphones were new and the mobile knowledge worker was revolutionary. The UC mobile app was inevitable and promised to make and receive work calls outside the office. The potential was brilliant, except UC mobile apps never took off.
UC mobile apps make sense because several problems arise when using a personal number for work. For the employer, there’s the threat of turnover and customers calling former employees. For the employee, there’s the loss of boundaries and getting work interruptions at inappropriate times and places.
UC mobile apps mostly work, but often with compromised quality. However, the real culprit preventing adoption is the perceived effort. Making work calls from outside the office usually means opening and using a separate app. That’s not normally a major barrier to adoption, but it’s an awkward additional step on a device that natively makes and receives calls.