By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
For some workers, the desktop telephone is joining the adding machine and typewriter on the list of obsolete office equipment.
In a move that other companies might soon follow, Sprint announced Monday that about 8,000 employees at Ford Motor will jettison their desktop phones and use cell phones exclusively.
Ford joins a few mostly small or midsize businesses around the nation that have gone wireless. More could be coming.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a widespread trend, but clearly we’re moving in the direction where wireless is invading the fixed space,” says Eugene Signorini, who follows wireless trends for the Yankee Group, a technology consulting firm. Ford plans to start removing desktop phones by the end of March for the first wave of the 8,000 engineers who received their new cell phones, says Jackie Shuk, Ford’s manager of product operations.
“This is a bit of a culture shock, giving up that land line,” she says.
But most of the engineers in the product development group are eager to make the shift, she says. The conversion is expected to be finished this year.
The group, based in Dearborn, Mich., was chosen because employees are often away from their desks and “require a lot of collaboration and a lot of instant communication,” says Ford telecommunications manager Jeff Lemmer.
Thanks to PSFK for the pointer.
