Landlines: why they will always have a value in business

Boston, 10 March 1876, three days after his US patent had been granted, Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell leaned into his rudimentary liquid transmitter and uttered the immortal words, “Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you.” Next door his assistant, Thomas Watson, heard him loud and clear.

The moment held great significance – the world was about to become a good deal smaller.

Evolution

Since then, we’ve seen the arrival of plenty of ground-breaking business devices, like the fax and the pager. But while their impact and significance have lessened, the humble desk phone has lived on – providing a reliable and simple method of business communication. We don’t think twice about picking up the phone to talk to customers or suppliers on the other side of the world.

It didn’t happen overnight – in fact it wasn’t until the 1920s and 30s that landlines really became a business fixture in the UK, and by 2003 it was estimated that there were 1,263 billion landlines in the world.

Imagining life without a desk phone

When was the last time you were in the office and didn’t use your landline? You’ve probably used yours several times today already.

As much as we rely on our desk phones, we do take them for granted. You’d be forgiven for thinking landline technology has pretty much reached its zenith – and the focus of communication technology has now switched elsewhere.

Of course, technology has brought us stunning mobile connectivity, and the possibilities from 4G are simply enormous for all businesses. But the unpretentious desk phone is just ‘there’, part of the furniture in every sense.

The hidden value in a humble desk phone

Economic circumstances mean businesses are always looking for new ways to minimise their overheads, so perhaps a little time should be spent considering the costs hidden in those unobtrusive landlines. And there’s a way to make quite dramatic cost-savings – with virtually no disruption to the status quo and retaining precisely the same infrastructure and telephone numbers. After all, we search about for cheaper insurance, gas and electricity all the time.

It really is something to get excited about. To find out how much we could help you save, contact us here.