Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s leaked memo banning telecommuting at the company received a lot of media and corporate attention as contributing parties debated the pros and cons of remote working. While some may argue that telecommuting has significant advantages for businesses of all sizes, Yahoo is a major corporation with resources far beyond those of the average small or medium-sized business. Many particularly small businesses or startups look to telecommuting as an attractive option that allows them to get their business off the ground. In a recent article for The News blog, contributor Umer Ali Khan argued in favor of telecommuting, noting how more corporations are adopting it as common practice.
“Telecommuting is a fairly modern term that employs and enables company’s workers to work independently and use computers that are connected to the internet to communicate with each other from different places,” Khan wrote. “People commute in places, cars, trains and buses to work and to other activities on a regular basis; commuting is part of our lives. It relies on the internet for document exchange; video conferencing for meetings and cell phones thus employees remain keeping in touch.”
The Secret to Telecommuting
In a recent PC World article, contributor Christopher Null offered secrets based on his experience over the last seven years working from home that can help to ensure especially productive and successful telecommuting.
“If you telecommute the right way, you’ll save countless hours that you’d otherwise waste in commuting,” Null wrote. “You’ll also enjoy a more stable life, and do a better job. But if you do it wrong, working from home can wreck you.”
Enabling Effective Telecommuting for virtual business
Teleworking is only available as an option today due to certain technological advancements that have emerged in communications, which allow people to collaborate in much the same manner as they would in a traditional office environment. In order to make sure telecommuting initiatives are successful, technology needs to be appropriately used. For example, Null recommended that employees investigate their at-home connectivity, consulting their internet service provider regarding upgrades for bandwidth and faster data service.
Video and phone conferencing are used often today in business, both from within and outside the office setting. Null noted how scratchy phone connections are a constant annoyance for conference calls and suggested making a few changes to phone services to clear up issues. AccessDirect’s PBX telephone system could be an ideal solution for meeting all voice communication needs as employers can select plans and set up service directly to the mobile phones already in use by employees. While business VoIP is often used by organizations to reduce costs and improve communications, most other VoIP configurations can deliver benefits to individual users as well. A virtual PBX system from AccessDirect is VoIP compatible and leverages the power of the cloud to provide easy service.
Writing for Business 2 Community, contributor James Daugherty outlined a few ways to encourage remote culture and at the top of the list was investment in the cloud. The cloud enables a dispersed workforce to collaborate efficiently. AccessDirect provides cloud solutions as well as hosted PBX for businesses that allow easy telecommuting. Enable an effective remote workforce with AccessDirect’s telecommuting technology today.
