There are many benefits to incorporating a telecommuting policy into most businesses, over 25% of companies have some level of telecommuting even if it's just a 'bad weather' policy.
However, making sure that the correct policies and procedures are in place will save on a lot of hassle down the road - think about the following aspects to ensure your trouble free telecommuting edge:
1 - Infastructure
We've all wasted a few hours work by forgetting to backup and save our work, frustrating but not a crisis. However, if a significant amount of company work is done outside of the immediate office network then making sure you have a backup is essential.
There are 2 broad options that can ensure the proverbial doesn't hit the fan - Cloud computing or a direct link to the company infastructure via broadband.
Linking directly to the company's database has been the most popular over recent years allowing telecommuters to change or add data and then the main network is backed up automatically. Although effective it can sometimes be slow, especially if the employee lives in a slow broadband area, and therefore frustrating. There is also a increased risk of a viral infection hitting your extended network.
A cloud service has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic -- a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider (the consumer needs nothing but a personal computer and Internet access). Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and a weak economy, have accelerated interest in cloud computing.
2 - Security
If the most sensitive data that your company uses is the price you pay for widgets then you probably won't get any pro hackers tapping in to your network but that data could still be very powerful in the wrong hands. A simple encryption and password protected system should be more than enough to protect most data but if you feel you need something stronger talk to a professional or take another look at cloud computing with high security as standard.
3 - Time or Results
One of the disadvantages of telecommuting, or advantage depending on your point of view, is that direct supervision of your workforce is not easily done. Depending on the tasks undertaken you should either pay telecommuters by time spent on a project or by results reached, given a stated level of quality. You may have a steep learning curve to realise the greatest bang for your buck but a well observed results experiment would be well advised at the start.
Other Telecommuting Policy Resources:
SmallBiz-Info: Establish a Telecommuting Policy
More than 25% of small businesses use telecommuting. And while there are clear benefits to telecommuting, it's not necessarily right for every business. If you are thinking of establishing a telecommuting policy for your business, ...
reasons to implement a telecommuting policy
telecommuting. being in the “web sphere” as it were, 3prime has the luxury of being accessible anywhere - at the office, from home, etc. b/c we have implemented a telecommuting policy that works for the ...
Related Articles:
- What is Cloud Computing? (java.sys-con.com)
- FCC chairman: Broadband access should be universal (sfgate.com)
- Canada leads G-8 in adoption of broadband Internet access services (newswire.ca)
No comments:
Post a Comment