Does teleworking really work? How can a teleworker be as productive as an employee in the office? This white paper covers the advances in technology that make teleworking successful- and provides solutions for challenges teleworkers may face.
There is a new class of workers out there-working from their homes nearly autonomously. Some call
them teleworkers, some telecommuters. Armed with remote access to their organization's network, with tollfree numbers, VPN's and mobile phones, they escape traffic jams, bad weather, and high fuel prices, and are able to find the right balance between personal and professional life.
1 White Paper: The Art of Teleworking
INTRODUCTION physical commute to a central place of work is 1 replaced by telecommunication links . There is a new class of workers out there-working from their homes nearly autonomously. Some call However, this is only the beginning of the story. them teleworkers, some telecommuters. Armed with Teleworking is not just an arrangement; it is a way of remote access to their organization's network, with toll- life. It requires changes in behavioral patterns that go free numbers, VPN's and mobile phones, they escape beyond the usual. It also requires a lot of creativity to traffic jams, bad weather, and high fuel prices, and are stay in touch with people inside and outside the able to find the right balance between personal and organization. Most teleworkers have two lifelines to professional life. their organization-remote VPN access (for access to e-mail, calendar, and Intranet documents) and a But when does teleworking really work? How can a telephone (for real-time communication). With no teleworker be equally or even more productive than an technical on-site support, a failure of even one of these employee in the office? This paper analyzes the lifelines leads to serious problems. Experienced teleworker's primary challenges and offers ideas for teleworkers therefore prepare for the worst case overcoming them. It highlights the advances of scenario while all systems are working. For example, technology that make teleworking truly successful and workers frequently: of greater benefit to both teleworkers and their ? Add redundancy to their communication links organizations. ? Configure multiple VPN servers ? Make sure they get e-mail on their PDAs (in case VPN over Internet fails). BUSINESS DRIVERS FOR TELEWORKING ? Prepare for worst-case scenarios, such as a computer crash, due to a virus, bad configuration, Why has teleworking become so attractive to millions or hardware failure by backing up data religiously of people? Organizations, especially enterprises, are and even keeping a backup computer in case trying to reduce costs in hard economic times, and that something goes wrong with their primary one. includes real estate costs. As a result of globalization, organizations are also becoming more distributed, and Distance the actual locations of their employees or members is not as important as it once was. In fact, some As a teleworker, you face several major challenges. government organizations mandate a certain number First, obviously, is the distance between your of employees to work remotely as part of the colleagues. If your team is distributed around the organization's recovery planning. globe-which frequently is the case today in large companies-teleworking is very natural. Even if you Individuals want to telework for variety of reasons. work in your organization's local office, you will meet a Some want to stay in their home town and work for the very small portion of the team and will already be same company after the local company office has using technology to connect to the others anyway. But closed. Others work on a temporary basis for different sometimes you are a part of a project in which almost companies, which makes physically moving to be near everyone is at a certain location and you are one of a company office impractical and unnecessary. the few "remote participants" linked to the team by phone. The feeling of being disconnected is clearly Internet Service Providers are also interested in there, especially when all team members are jumping teleworking; they want to increase the value of their into a heated discussion, interrupting each other, Internet access service and sell premium broadband raising voices, referring to some drawing on a white packages. For them, a teleworking solution is a good board. It is astounding how easy it is for the way to add value and capture a larger piece of the participants in the main location to completely forget enterprise business. about the existence of remote participants. Teleworking with a telephone feels like meeting THE KEY CHALLENGES OF TELEWORKING everybody in the dark. It works well for one-on-one conversations, when you have certain background Teleworking-variously referred to as telecommuting, information about the person on the other side; this e-... [download for more]
