Principia: Power from Simplicity

With all the handwringing done by companies about their green credentials and the need to reduce costs it continues to stagger me that more of them are not turning to remote working, especially for their IT department.

The availability of high performance PCs in almost every IT workers home makes this a real no-brainer. Companies could provide virtual devices to remote workers. The workers install and run these remote devices (virtual machines running approved versions of company software with appropriate VPN connections) on their own hardware and connect in to work.

Iomega recently announces a new package (pdf) that combines VMWare with one of their USB drive products that can be used to clone a PC to virtual form. This USB drive, loaded with the virtual PC, can then be plugged into another machine and the virtual PC run on the host.

Alternatively companies could provide download images for remote workers. Log in to the central server, download your virtual PC image, and run it on your home computer. Login to access the corporate network.

Both of these solutions allow for securing the virtual PC. Disabling USB ports, CD/DVD recorders and so on.

There will be some additional cost to the company in term of telecommunications, they will need improved network connectivity, but this is more than offset by the savings of not needing to provide desk space, lighting, heating, etc. for those working remotely. Additionally, all problems relating to transport problems are removed. There’s no need to worry about driving through snow to get to work when you can log in remotely (a particularly apposite example given the current weather and the estimated £1.3Bn losses caused by people being unable to reach work). And companies can claim a significantly reduced carbon footprint by virtue of not demanding their employees drive fifty miles each way to work every day and not having to provide the aforementioned heating, lighting, etc.

Although remote working cannot be practically extended to all IT workers (and some may not want to work remotely), it is certainly appropriate for many. In particular development and maintenance teams, most operations workers and support desk operators, and most, if not all, management functions. A core staff in server rooms will be required for installation and maintenance of physical assets, including the all important network connectivity.

Most IT workers’ activities do not require them to be in the same room. In fact, even workers in the same room will often e-mail or instant message one another in preference to walking to another’s desk.

With realistic broadband speeds now being available to most households in the UK it is perfectly possible for meetings to be held using conferencing software. I would hazard that these meetings would be more productive too since attendees could be working on other matters while waiting to make their contribution. Meetings could also be automatically recorded, making misunderstandings less likely.

So what is stopping companies adopting remote working?

Principally, trust. Companies simply do not trust their employees. If you are compelled to attend a site then the company feels they are better able to monitor you. This is of course hogwash. Being forced to sit at a desk in an office is no guarantee that you are being productive and any manager who thinks they are ‘keeping an eye’ on employees like this really needs to assess their priorities. A worker is assess by what they do, not where they do it. If the work can be done sitting on the beach, why not let it be done sitting on the beach? The company loses nothing, the work still gets done.

It is ironic that companies are more than willing to reduce costs by outsourcing IT functions to foreign climes but are reluctant to allow their own employees and contractors to provide the same services remotely.

The case for companies to not only allow but to actively encourage remote working is overwhelming and it will happen eventually. The question is not if, but when your company will adopt more remote working.