Collaboration technologies, if appropriately deployed, can ensure that home-workers not only maintain productivity levels but enhance them

As businesses evolve and operate at more global levels, working from home (WFH) has become more and more popular. The evolution of connectivity and related technologies, together with virtual private networks (VPN), now means employees have the same business access from home as they would in the office. But what does this mean for productivity?

There are two main schools of thought on this. One is that working from home opens the door for employees to shirk responsibilities (and spend time catching up on chores and other non-work

related activities). On the other hand, there is also the school of thought that employees become more productive due to enhanced trust, being away from the

distractions of the office and

being able to use their travel time for a few extra hours in the day. As many of you will have seen, this debate was at the heart of a memo sent to employees of Yahoo! earlier in the year, where staff were encouraged to work from the office in order to benefit from the energy and buzz that comes from being in the same location. This move

divided public opinion between those who objected to the decision, and those who supported it.

A WFH model needs to take many factors into account. It

depends largely on the nature of the business, the stage in the business?s life-cycle, the particular role that the employee does, as well as their personal circumstances. For geographically-spread out companies that

operate across multiple locations, as well as those that have employees that are regularly client facing, the WFH model often makes more sense. We are also seeing more roles having to collaborate with colleagues in different countries across multiple time zones, making a nine-to-five office job a thing of the past. Having to regularly take calls out of office hours in order to keep in touch with different countries means the traditional work/life balance model is being looked out through a different lens by many companies.

We also need to take into account the different socio-economic factors at play in the developed versus the emerging markets. In emerging markets, for example, you have a higher rate of extended family dependencies (that is, India). External childcare is also not as readily available as it is in the UK or US, for example. Also, infrastructure is not as developed (that is, getting to work is harder and

often takes longer). These scenarios are making it increasingly more important to have flexible working models in order to retain top talent within your business.

The technology stakes

If companies are considering a flexible working model, it is important to look at the ?productivity return-on-investment? for, and from, their employees. Research has shown that flexible working, including WFT, can actually

enhance productivity within the workplace (depending on the

particular role of the individual).

Supporting the flexible working trend, is the surge around bring-your-own-device (BYOD)? which is seeing employees wanting to make their own decisions around the types of devices they need to best do their jobs. Experts believe that increased globalisation and access to a broader range of digital tools will transform the workplace in the coming years, making working from home much easier and commonplace. Today, more than 621% of mobile workers are currently using their own devices for work.

In terms of demographics, Asia Pacific has the greatest BYOD adoption with 62% of mobile workers reporting they own the smartphones they use for work; closely followed by North America with 48%. Europe falls behind its Asian and North American counterparts with just 37 adopting BYOD. However, companies that want to adopt this model need to be ready from an IT standpoint to support a workforce that is very different from the workforce we saw five years ago.

While employers expect staff to be accountable and responsible for where and how they spend their time, employees in turn,

expect to be able to work with the tools and devices of their choice.

Is your IT team ready?

Employees of today are constantly collaborating with their colleagues thorough always-on connected devices. Technology such as two-way video means employees can be face-to-face while sitting across not only offices but two, three or even six different continents. Being at your desk no longer matters. As companies give or allow employees to choose the tools to work remotely, so does the dependence on application and services increase, particularly mobile services. Business networks inevitably account for greater scrutiny than ever, both within the enterprise and across the service provider. Everything ultimately depends on them?the quality, scalability, security and reliability of the network both within and outside the organisation is of prime importance.

In line with this, the conversation around WFH moves beyond just the question of ?shirking or working??to?is your company actually ready for it? Is your IT team set up to support it and do you have the network provisioning in place to support always-on remote working?

The future of the workplace The flexible workplace is here. It is no longer a question of the future. According to IDC, by 2015 the world?s mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion, and represent 37.2 % of the total global workforce. The study also suggests that the most significant gains will be in the emerging economies of Asia/Pacific thanks to?and certainly, contributing to?continued, strong economic growth.

Whether this model works for you as an organisation depends on your geographical nuances, socio-economic conditions, the nature and current stage of your business, and whether you are actually set-up to effectively support it to produce productive results.

The writer is vice-president, corporate, Tata Communications