Credit: Sprint
Sprint is hoping to cash in on the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend in the workplace with a new feature that allows companies to add a business line on employee’s personal devices.
Dubbed “Sprint MultiLine,” the feature allows businesses to retain ownership of the additional voice and text number that is installed on a worker’s BYOD device. Sprint indicated this separation of voice and text lines will help businesses optimize the reimbursement process and increase productivity. Additionally, Sprint said secure voice and text recording on company-owned lines will be available to ensure compliance for regulated enterprises, like financial institutions and healthcare groups.
“Sprint MultiLine delivers a solution that allows businesses, ranging from large enterprises to SMB customers, to overcome real challenges in the ever-growing BYOD environment,” Sprint Business President Jan Geldmacher commented. “Sprint offers an unmatched level of flexibility and simplicity of a second line service, allowing businesses to own the number, ensure compliance, and manage costs, while allowing employees to carry one phone while keeping their work and personal communications completely separate.”
Sprint said the feature will be powered by Movius, and will work across Android and iOS devices on any carrier. Companies will be able to keep and transfer the work lines when employees leave.
The idea behind the offering is somewhat similar to what T-Mobile offers with its DIGITS feature, even if the execution is different.
DIGITS allows users to load multiple numbers on a single device, and allows businesses to give their employees DIGITS numbers to use on their personal devices, no matter what carrier they have. If an employee leaves, the company gets to keep the DIGITS, as well as the contacts associated with that account. Unlike Sprint’s MultiLine, however, T-Mobile’s DIGITS takes things a step further by allowing users to receive calls and texts and check voicemail for that number across internet-connected devices including tablets, smartphones, and computers.
But both of these features are playing to a need for businesses to better manage a mobile workforce and a rise in BYOD programs in the enterprise.
According to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) June 2017 Enterprise Mobility Update, just over 90 percent of enterprise IT heads indicated their companies are in favor of BYOD programs.
“With Bring Your Own Device a market characteristic that is here to stay, it is critical that employers have options that allow individuals the flexibility of using their own device for personal and work use while reducing capital and operating expenses and ensuring compliance,” IDC’s Enterprise Mobility Research Director Denise Lund observed. “Products like Sprint MultiLine are designed with this in mind.”
Filed Under: Carriers
