Driving down cost is at the centre of most business decisions these days. Innovative firms have looked to implement flexible benefits to replace bonuses and help retain key employees. At the same time, a recent catalogue of man-made and natural crises has seen the mobile working revolution gather momentum. Businesses are increasingly recognising tangible benefits from working away from the office and have begun to see it as an essential part of an overall business continuity strategy.
A YouGov survey revealed that the recent extreme weather affected over 70% of workers in the UK and over a hundred million working hours have been lost by staff not being able to make it into the office or having a much longer commute than normal. The recent heavy snow has merely served to highlight the need for businesses to have flexible working in place; many events last year also demonstrated this very same point.
Anyone using the UK motorway infrastructure on a regular basis will have experienced gridlock, and probably frustration at being unproductive for long periods as the chaos clears. Although we may reluctantly accept the daily inconvenience of travel disruption and delay as part of working life, there is a direct cost to business.
A Trafficmaster survey found that, on each working day, up to 40% of drivers experience at least a one hour delay. This is equivalent to around to 200m working days a year and costs the UK economy £20bn. The Eddington Transport Study, a government report into the future of Britain's transport infrastructure, highlighted similar findings and estimated road congestion alone will cost the economy £22bn a year in lost working hours - never mind the knock on effects from productivity lost as a result.
Although IT may not be able to solve the country's daily transport challenges, it does offer solutions to reduce the impact of regular disruption and enable employees to be more productive when they are out of the office. And the benefit of remote working goes further when integrated as part of a wider business continuity solution, ready to implement when something exceptional or unplanned occurs.
In April, controversial protests surrounding the G20 summit caused chaos on the streets of central London, with many commuters choosing not to travel into the office, and some businesses advising nonessential staff to stay at home over the two days rather than face the crowds on the street. April also saw the first wave of panic about swine flu - a story that has continued to dominate headlines and will no doubt resurface as we enter winter.
London was hit again in June when the tube strike left workers either stuck at home or severely delayed. The cost in working hours lost from the 48-hour strike was reportedly £100m.
Each of these events has strengthened interest in mobile working as part of a business continuity strategy or benefits package. Remote working has gone beyond using webmail or a Blackberry device for communications, with developments in technology and applications now presenting a wide range of solutions to fit all business requirements.
Mobility has extended the perimeter of the traditional corporate network, presenting new challenges in securing both information assets and the infrastructure outside of the office. As well as implementing technically robust solutions, users need to be trained, informed of their responsibilities and understand the potential dangers when working away from the office on a laptop or other mobile device. Aside from encrypting the mobile device itself, it is essential that any connection back to the corporate environment is secure and files transferred to and from are inspected to avoid introducing malware or permitting a security breach through unauthorised access.
Implementing a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution offers a high degree of flexibility, securely connecting people via the internet when away from the office. Many organisations already benefit from using this type of technology amongst key personnel or specific job roles. However, given recent events, many businesses are now looking for solutions that they can implement instantly on a large scale in times of exceptional need as part of their business continuity strategy.
There is no doubt that the way business works is changing - who knows where we will be in ten years' time? Companies investing in secure remote working solutions now not only provide greater flexibility in how employees work, but offer them a hugely valuable benefit. More importantly, this will help ensure that their business is able to continue working in a crisis.
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