Johannesburg — Enterprises must provide workers with tools and support to ensure business continuity

META Group research indicates that full-time telecommuters (those who have no workplace other than a home office) have doubled in number since 2000. Add to this teleworkers who spend more than 50% of their time working outside an office, and the number becomes staggering. Enterprises that ensure these workers are provided with appropriate tools and support are able to continue business as usual regardless of circumstance.

According to Johan Theron, director, META Group South Africa, most offices today are digital and this has increased the speed of business dramatically. In addition, market globalisation means that companies of all sizes have to work and interact on an international scale. Instant access to enterprise applications and real-time information, regardless of the worker's physical location - at head office, in branch offices, at home or on the move - is now widely demanded.

"In the virtual workplace, it is possible for companies to facilitate collaborative mobile working and allow employees to be more effective by giving them access to the information they need when they need it," says Theron.

"Enterprises must establish guidelines for telecommuters traversing the remote site (home office) and for accommodations while within corporate premises. This strategy will ensure business continuity regardless of physical location," said Elizabeth Ussher, vice-president with META Group's Technology Research Services. "Teleworkers in many industries (eg, hi-tech, finance, sales) have become an integral part of the workforce 3/4 their demands are increasingly seen as legitimate and taken into consideration when crafting an IT strategy."

Teleworking policies continue to change as cultures and technologies mature, providing the framework for expansion from the travelling salesperson to the enterprise knowledge worker. Currently, more than 90% of enterprises use dial-up services to support such workers. However, functionality requirements for knowledge workers include the ability to access all relevant corporate and customer information, which demands reliable broadband access via cable modems, DSL, and other always-on Internet solutions for the remote workstation portfolio.

"By 2004, 40% of Global 2000 (G2000) companies will have an always-on broadband services policy that encompasses acceptable use, sourcing, payment/reimbursement, and service-level expectations (to include required quality of service for VOIP) for small, fixed remote sites and teleworkers. By 2006, 60% of G2000 organizations will have adopted such technology policies," added Ussher. "Among the reasons enterprises are considering convergence (eg, voice, data, video) are remote access by telecommuters to telephony features (including voice mail and station-to-station dialling) and access to non-telephony applications (eg, corporate applications), underlining the need for an enterprise-wide telecommuting strategy to include support."