Hot desking allows employees to log in to any available phone in an office, enabling them to retain their direct numbers, caller ID and voicemail access from any desk. This flexibility reduces the need for dedicated workstations, helping companies cut costs on office space and equipment while enhancing mobility and adaptability for employees. It also fosters communication and collaboration by letting employees switch workspaces as needed. The Vodia PBX hot desking feature supports this functionality by allowing users to easily log in and out of phones using a secure PIN, ensuring seamless call handling and improved productivity.
Hot desking allows an employee to set up shop at any desk or office in the building. They can log in to any SIP desktop phone in the office by dialing the Vodia star code *70 to hot desk to any available phone. The user also keeps his or her DID phone numbers and Caller ID attributes. The employee can make and receive phone calls from a personal phone number and access voicemail. If the employee needs to move to another location, he or she can simply log out of the VoIP phone and log in to another one.
Less Expensive
Hot desking can minimize the need for office space and is often used as a cost-reduction method. Hot desking allows companies to purchase a limited quantity of phones but gives each employee his or her own extension.
Boosts Communication and Collaboration
Allows multiple users to use the same desk and phone, although at different times
Hot desking can be used on a temporary or permanent basis
Outbound calls from the hot desking phone will reflect the user’s caller ID
All calls made to the user’s extension (or as part of a hunt group or agent group) will be routed to the new destination
Boosts Productivity
Any SIP device can be used for hot desking
Users can move to any part of the building and log in to any SIP-enabled phone
Workers can rotate the phone, reducing new equipment purchasing costs
How to Hot desk with Vodia PBX
Note: Users must set their voicemail PIN before they can use the hot desking feature.
The PIN is used in several areas of the system (e.g., when a user accesses the voicemail system from another extension or from an outside line when calling in to the system from the cell phone when using the calling card feature, and when hot-desking). When you create extensions, you can leave the PIN field empty and opt to have users set up their own PINs. Once a PIN has been set up, no one other than a user registered with the extension credentials will be able to go to the mailbox.
Go to the SIP desktop phone where you will be hot desking
Dial *70 and press the confirm button on the telephone keypad
Enter your extension number when prompted
Enter your voicemail PIN code for the extension number when prompted
The system will acknowledge the hot desking feature is in service
Audio example:
Note: The system will automatically log a user out of a hot desk each night. Also, after activating the hot desk feature, users will be notified via email that a status change has been initiated on their extension.
To log out of a hot desk:
To log out of a hot desk, users must dial *70 and the extension number from either the location currently registered as a hot desk or from a phone that's been configured to the extension. The system will acknowledge hot desking is no longer in service.
Note: Hot desking has limitations. Telephone preferences, such as ring tones, address book programming, etc., cannot be moved to another desk.
Join Vodia Networks on April 8 for a live, in-depth webinar on how real-time media streaming is powering the future of voice communication. Discover how Vodia PBX version 69.5.6 enables seamless AI integration, live call transcription using the Whisper API, and secure voice data handling. Hosted by Sales Engineer Eric Altman and VoIP Engineer Hamlet Collado, this session will walk you through real-world use cases, including OpenAI and Google Speech-to-Text integrations, MS Teams support, and new security features. You’ll also get a first look at Vodia’s AI roadmap and have the opportunity to ask your questions during a live Q&A.
Whisper, OpenAI’s Automatic Speech Recognition system, delivers multilingual, noise-tolerant, and technical-language-ready transcription through a streamlined encoder-decoder architecture. With Vodia PBX’s integration, organizations can choose between using OpenAI’s service or hosting Whisper AI locally for complete data sovereignty and control. This on-premise option ensures that sensitive call data stays within your infrastructure while still benefiting from powerful transcription capabilities. To explore deployment options, see our Whisper AI on-premise setup documentation, review a self-hosted integration example, or follow our cloud-based call transcription guide.
Vodia Sales Engineer Eric Altman attended Enterprise Connect 2025 on March 18 and 19, where he connected with partners and gained insight into the future of enterprise communications. AI was the clear focus of the event, with discussions centered on agentic systems, chatbots, and generative technologies. “It was certainly the main element in the atmosphere,” Eric noted. He also shared his excitement about Vodia PBX version 69.5.6, which includes real-time AI integration with OpenAI and call transcription using the Whisper API. The event confirmed that AI is rapidly becoming a core component of modern communication platforms—and Vodia is well-positioned to lead the way.