Telecommuting is Here to Stay
The advancement of technology has led to an explosion of terms used to describe what was once simply called telecommuting. No matter what it is called, telecommuting is the future of business and employment.
Today, the phrases Virtual Office, Teleworking, Cloud Computing and other like terms are all describing the same thing: the ability of employees to work for a company (or with each other) without having to commute to a central physical location.
The idea that telecommuting won’t last is much like the now comical idea that computers were just a fad.
Telecommuting isn’t the wave of the future anymore. It is here now and unless you are on board you will be left behind in the evolution of business.
Embrace the Virtual Office and Any Business Comes Out On Top
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- Perhaps most telling is the litany of companies that have increased productivity by allowing employees to telecommute. Work-At-Home.com features a list of companies that are open to telecommuting or open work scheduling.
You’ll be surprised to find that the list is full of companies nowhere near the technology sector. These behomoths make the shift because it is profitable and intuitive.
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- Back in 2007, BloombergBusinessWeek.com ran an article in their Debate Room to foster the discussion of telecommuting’s pros and cons.
Obviously, technology in 2007 was not what is today. Despite this, the debate swung decidedly in favor of telecommuting. The discussion pointed to the cons of telecommuting to be little more than problems that would be solved with emerging technologies.
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- In a more recent article at the CIO Network Blog (we found it at Forbes.com), author Eric Savitz outlines some of the ways “virtual work” has progressed.
Today many companies are watching their offices shift from a tradtional model to the virtual office, even if company brass has not authorized the shift, wrote Savitz. This is due to new (and increasingly mobile) technology as well as the younger workforce’s use of this technology.
No matter what catchphrase it falls under, the virtual office is the next step in effective business practice. Be it Fortune 100 companies or fledgling internet based start-ups, businesses choosing to ignore the cost effectiveness of the virtual office will not be viable in the near, and very real, future.
