Are you working from home yet?

Since broadband became a reality, so too has the concept of working remotely from the office. You might have thought, in the business world, there would be a mass migration to teleworking but, from what I can see, this hasn't happened yet and doesn’t look to happen any time soon - so what is holding it back?

Naturally, not all tasks can be carried out remotely, and others may benefit from the immediacy of face-to-face contact, but look around your office and you might see a large portion of tasks where teleworking could be carried out quite easily.

I have been flying the teleworking flag for some time but the impetus from employees and business is still not there. It seems business is still clinging onto the old notion of bricks and mortar as the cultural change in mindset has not yet been realised - but if remote working can succeed in other areas of life then why not the tasks we perform everyday?

To look at the success of performing functions online remotely look at services such as shopping, banking, and social networking – all of these things are common place tasks to do from home, so teleworking has some catching up to do.

There are a number of benefits with teleworking including business continuity – as long as this is considered upfront as part of the teleworking strategy. Introducing business continuity into your teleworking strategy can give two benefits in one – it can provide a more flexible working environment for your business and your staff and it can mitigate risk in case of business disaster. Savings, too, could be gained from the reduction in need for daily travel to the office (and the natural reduction in generated paperwork) – as long as this is balanced against the cost of providing the remote access environment.

We do need to ensure the remote environment is suitable, that health and safety checks are regularly made, that the environment is suitable, and the equipment, furniture and software is suitable and appropriate for use (see Working From Home: Choosing A Suitable Work Area for a handy checklist). From the technical and business end we need to ensure the right strategy is implemented, that goals are identified, and that the infrastructure is in place to support potential 24x7 access. This may include:

• enhanced backup arrangements
• authentication controls
• mirrored computing environments
• equipment standardisation
• increased helpdesk requirements
• tighter security control
• a drop-in environment where workers can arrive at the office and work as if they were teleworking

Once workers become detached from the tether of the office desk they may find they can work from any number of places – all of which need consideration. Locations may include home, customer or supplier premises, or perhaps even the local coffee shop. No more arguments over whose turn it is to get the coffee in.

From a software services point of view we can utilise virtual pribvate networks (VPNs), instant messaging, presence indicators, micro blogging, voice over IP, document management, conference systems, electronic mail, intranet, PDA and virtual desktops to provide a work-like environment for staff (although much of this is not as nicely integrated as it could be). For this to work effectively, office-based paperwork needs to be kept to a minimum, scanned, and placed in a document management system for easy search and retrieval.

However, here is the gotcha - the services (including broadband) and software you use for home are probably licensed for just that, home use, and may not allow business use, so check your contracts before committing yourself and your employees.