BT mobilises working life with Office Anywhere

Employees who spend some or most of their time away from their desks can now keep in contact with office activities as well as saving their company money thanks to a new service launched today by BT.

BT's Office Anywhere claims to provide Windows PC-like functionality with real-time access to e-mail, calendar, contacts, documents and the web but from a voice-over-IP (VoIP)-enabled smartphone small enough to fit in a pocket.

The handset compatible with the service, the quad-band HTC S620, is currently available free-of-charge to those signing up for a new contract.

"BT Office Anywhere is a breakthrough solution for small and medium sized businesses - it gives them the freedom to carry on doing what they do best, getting to and staying in the thick of the action, without losing touch or missing out on new opportunities," said Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business.

Contracts can be tailored to suit individual usage needs. For example, customers can opt for either a 250 or 700 minute-a-month bundle, both of which include unlimited calls (for up to an hour) to UK landline numbers by mobile VoIP in Wi-Fi locations.

Calls to UK mobiles are capped at 25 pence for up to an hour and international VoIP calls from the UK to landlines are capped at 10 pence or 20 pence for up to an hour depending on location.

Pricing starts at 39.50 a month for the 'lite' version with 250 minutes bundled and is capped at 75.50 per month for the Unlimited offering with 700 inclusive minutes.

Those who already have a BT Business e-mail account benefit from up to 7.50 a month discount depending on which package they opt for.

Maggie Holland

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.