News
Remote Working On The Rise
07/01/2010
By Lea Pachta
Technology firm reports strong rise in inquiries from small and medium businesses (SME's) wanting remote working for staff due to bad weather.
As the cold weather continues to grip the country and more and more companies struggle to keep their offices open, a growing number of firms are relying on remote working to keep their operations functioning, through the cold snap and saving themselves thousands of pounds of lost revenue.
The Forum of Private Business estimates that businesses could lose as much as £230mn as a result of staff being off work due to the freezing weather conditions. An increasing number of firms are relying on hosted IT and communications solutions which enable workers to communicate with each other and access data regardless of their location.
Outsourcery, the leading communications and hosted IT company reports a 20% rise in inquiries over the past few days, from small to medium sized businesses wanting help with putting in place integrated communications solutions as a result of the disruption from the bad weather.
Many firms are recognising the value of real time communication tools such as instant messaging, presence information, voice and video conferencing, Live Meeting for group discussions and document sharing can bring to their operations. Businesses can see the availability of all their employees - whether they are talking on the phone, meeting a client or checking e-mails - and contact them in the most appropriate and time-efficient way.
The technology has proved vital for many SMEs recently as snow and ice continues to cause major problems for employees travelling to work and important business meetings, amid police reports of "mayhem" on the nation's roads. Local councils have reacted angrily to accusations that they were not prepared for the current cold snap and blamed Britain's travel misery on... continued on page two >
Advertisement
Rate
Bookmark
