Home workers strain helpdesks

Staff need training before being allowed to use work systems at home, report warns

IT managers will need to do more to ensure data security and to train staff to support home working, which will continue to grow until 2010, according to a new report released by consultancy Deloitte last week.

Deloitte predicts that advances in broadband, network security, IP communications and other tools will allow more employees to work from home. But the rise in home working will lead to an extra burden on helpdesk staff, according to Deloitte partner David Tansley.

“The technology for delivering office environments to people’s homes is becoming simpler and more reliable,” Tansley commented. “But because you don’t have your colleagues around to tap on the shoulder [when working from home] some organisations are experiencing an increase in trivial calls [to IT helpdesks].”

Home workers are also more likely to use their own software and tools, creating more opportunities for confidential data to escape past the network perimeter, Tansley warned. “The Catch-22 is that while there are many things making IT support of remote working easier, there is also an increasing likelihood [remote workers] are contravening IT policy,” he added.

Deloitte also predicts that firms will increasingly use offshore facilities to obtain more skilled staff, rather than merely to reduce costs. However, Tansley advised IT managers to move cautiously.

“IT departments are getting smaller and offshoring and outsourcing [is growing], but firms are underestimating the size of teams that they need to manage the interface with the outsourcer,” Tansley said. “We [also see] IT departments don’t provide training programmes to give their IT professionals [the skills] to fill new roles.”