Tech

Benefits of Hot Desking

Published on:

July 1, 2019

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.

Extension Voicemail PIN in Vodia PBX

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.

Snom Phone System - Vodia PBX
  • 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.

For more info about hot desking, please visit https://doc.vodia.com/extensions

Latest Articles

View All

Vodia Podcast: How Brandywine Built a Multimillion-Dollar Business with Vodia

Yori Kasprzak, founder of Brandywine Technical Partners, joins Vodia’s Eric Altman to share how he built a multimillion-dollar business and the role Vodia has played in its growth. From cloud telephony and CRM integrations to door systems, AI and mobile workforces, he explains how Brandywine solves customer challenges with Vodia’s open platform and shares advice for partners looking to grow. His story shows how finding customer pain points can create business opportunities beyond traditional phone services.

September 17, 2026

Turn PBX Activity Into Customer Invoices with Vodia Billing

Vodia Billing turns PBX activity into customer invoices by bringing call rating, recurring charges, taxes, invoice generation and payment tracking into one dedicated platform. Built for Vodia PBX fleets, it can process CDRs, count recurring PBX items, produce branded invoices, connect with Xero and QuickBooks Online, monitor overdue payments and flag potential fraud. It also gives MSPs clearer visibility into margins, helping them understand not only what customers owe, but what their services are actually costing to deliver.

September 15, 2026

Keep Talking: AI and the Future of Business Communication

From the moment humans learned to speak, communication has shaped how we live, work, and connect. Today, voice remains one of the most natural and information-rich forms of human interaction, even as business communication expands across chat, video, messaging, and digital platforms. As AI becomes more deeply integrated into phone systems and contact centers, voice may play an increasingly important role in how intelligent systems understand context, respond to people, and support real-time communication.

September 9, 2026