By Natasha Lomas, 13 March 2008 12:59
NEWS
The megalithic corporate HQ which deforms the city skyline could be a thing of the past if a technology trend toward remote working continues.
In a research report into the 21st century workforce, analyst house Quocirca predicts: "In the future it may make sense for businesses to have more numerous small locations near to centres of population to reduce commuting and be closer to customers. Businesses that do this will rely increasingly on electronic collaboration technology to keep employees in communication with each other."
While most businesses are still based on a traditional HQ plus branch offices structure, remote working is now commonplace; according to the research, around 70 per cent of enterprises polled said at least a quarter of their staff work remotely at some point during the working week.
Pressure to shrink carbon footprints and attract and retain talented staff could see workforces becoming more distributed, said Quocirca.
The report said: "In the future, carbon taxes may drive businesses to open smaller locations, relying on technology for collaboration between workers and reducing the distance that both employees and customers have to travel."
The research shows once a business develops a culture of remote working the level of service experienced by remote workers becomes increasingly important to it - or, as Quocirca analyst and report author Bob Tarzey explains, distributed working becomes "a fundamental part of what they do".
Laptops are currently the most embedded devices in distributed business practices, said Tarzey - having been around for longest - but he said he expects to see that change as more and more business processes are enabled on mobile devices such as smart phones.
The Quocirca research was commissioned by Riverbed Technology.
A separate survey of UK and North American IT chiefs, conducted by network security company AEP Networks, has found 94 per cent either already allow or plan to allow network access to remote workers.
Comments
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1. Richard
We've been expecting this for decades, but strangely it doesn't happen.
Yesterday, I attended an exhibition of government plans to build thousands of extra houses in my already crowded area.
Already, new houses are being built on the industrial estates, in back gardens and on the fertile farmland - just when we need increased food production.
So, the area is now largely a "dormitory" for long-distance commuters: Some cram onto the overcrowded trains to London; most commute by car.
With no local facilities, people have to travel to everything by car.
Most of the new houses are unsuitable for efficient "home working."
It's hard to see how the government's building plans can help meet their environmental aspirations or how the present model of long distant commuting can continue.
So I do hope that someone devises a way to make remote working practical.
2. Karen Challinor
anyone know or even is a home worker ?
I know of one and she is a telephone sales peson
where are all the others ?