Business VoIP is one of the key factors helping to accommodate the current trend towards working away from the office, according to a survey by US technology publication, NetworkWorld.
The survey focussed on a sample of 600 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the US to discover the extent to which at least one staff member regularly works away from the main office, whilst performing just as effectively as if he or she were still sat at their office desk.
With technologies such as business VoIP (voice over internet protocol), remote working is now easier than ever; and, as expected, the survey revealed that over 60% of those questioned work remotely virtually every day; whilst 27% do so between two and ten days per month.
Whilst this trend has been identified in previous surveys, the NetworkWorld findings also identify the key impetuses behind the growing trend for remote working.
The first influencing factor is simply the ability of staff to work flexibly; 61% of respondents gave ‘employees’ flexibility’ as their main reason for adopting remote working.
The second factor identified by the survey is ‘business cost savings’, with 54% of those canvassed citing financial benefits to the company as the main impetus for working from home.
The third reason – the distance which staff have to travel to get to work – is of course a strong practical argument often given for home working. At 42%, this incentive narrowly beats the fourth, and equally practical, combined reason of wanting to ‘reduce commute time, cost and pollution’ – which just comes in at 41%.
Of all the tools utilised by staff to undertake remote working, business VoIP was cited by 25% of respondents – which is understandable given that it enables users to make calls using the same extension – and at the same call rate – as they would back in the office.
