Remote working; it's the technology, stupid!

Remote access technology has been instrumental in helping to forge a social and commercial revolution.

A report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) suggests that 46 per cent of UK businesses now offer some form of teleworking option to their staff, a figure that has more than trebled in the last two years.

If accurate, this is a huge victory for both technology and common sense. Not least because it indicates that, in some quarters at least, many of the old prejudices about responsible working adults turning into mischievous truant schoolchildren when let off the nine-to-five leash have finally been overcome.

IT has been instrumental in this turnaround, though perhaps only because its proven success has given bosses one less thing they can object to when considering a home working request.

The technology is there and it works. From the simple reliability of remote access to office email systems combined with internet links and mobile phones, to the sort of IP telephony and centralised applications being used by call centre staff to utilise office systems and databases from different locations.

If the CBI figures are wrong - and there may be instances of employers’ being unwilling to admit they do not offer flexible working options to their staff when questioned - the barriers to widespread adoption of home working are certainly not being raised by either a lack of suitable technology, or its reliability.

As always, the biggest hurdle is people’s attitudes, loosely based on their fear of one thing or another. Employers are scared that workers they cannot physically see will be putting their feet up and avoiding hard work. Employees are scared that working flexibly will limit their chances of promotion and the scope of their wider career advancement.

Both scenarios are occasionally true, but hopefully remain the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, home working can be successfully implemented using reliable technology, sound working procedures, and the willingness of both sides to be flexible.

If homeworking figures continue to climb at the pace the CBI suggests, remote access technology will have laid the foundation for the most significant alteration in global working practices since the beginning of the industrial age.