Office Productivity
Officescape Launches New Telework Solution
Published January 16th, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
Officescape is getting off to a busy start in 2009, no doubt leveraging the credit crunch and the down economy that’s buoying its industry.
After broadening its Office on Demand service last week, the company is announcing the launch of its Office@home solution.
Office@home does what it sounds like – offers services that allow enterprises to setup and manage home offices for their teleworkers. This is part of the architecture of a distributed workforce, whether it’s a multinational company or a small group of partners scattered across the country.
A Word about Telework
The number of Americans whose employer allows them to work remotely at least one day per month increased 63 percent, from 7.6 million in 2004 to 12.4 million in 2006, according to a report issued by WorldatWork.
In total, the sum of teleworkers (both employed and self-employed) working remotely at least one day per month has risen 10 percent from 26.1 million in 2005 to 28.7 million in 2006.
“The current data suggests that technology is no longer a barrier to telework,” says Rose Stanley, work-life practice leader at WorldatWork. “We estimate that 100 million U.S. workers will telework by 2010. The dramatic rise in telework will take place in part because more and more companies are realizing the cost benefits from telework and are viewing it as a tool to attract and retain employees.”
What Office@home Has to Offer
The Office@home solution is tapping into that growth potential. The solution promises state-of-the-art technology, consolidated services and other tools teleworkers need to do their jobs efficiently. The package is designed to offer an total solution from one provider on one platform. The service hangs on communications, computing and security.
Here’s what you get with an Office@home package: unified communications, conference services, software and computing services and broadband management. For companies concerned about information security, the package offers VPN management services and user ID access control for remote access to corporate servers.
Let’s drill down into these services and their benefit to teleworkers. First, unified communications and conferencing services. These allow workers to connect and collaborate with coworkers even while working remotely.
Then there’s broadband management. Officescape consolidates broadband service procurement and billing. The result: significant cost-savings and one point of contact if service issues arise. That’s a key benefit for a distributed workforce that might otherwise use various providers, bill the company separately, and have to spend hours on the phone if the service goes out.
Consider security. The Office@home solution gives companies the ability to offer a secure VPN connection to each end-user and grants them access to Officescape’s own business software applications.
In case you aren’t familiar with Officescape, it’s one of the leading office service providers in the nation. It’s the same company that offers Virtual Office and Telework services. The company has a reputation for reliability and staying on the cutting edge of high tech services.
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About the Author
Bill Brookshire January 19th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Officescape is certainly moving quickly to capitalize on the demand for virtual offices and solutions for a distributed workforce in 2009. I’m sure the company was planning these new offerings for some time, but the roll out is strategic as we read more and more about the benefits of serviced office space and virtual offices in a down economy.
Maggie Correta January 19th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Officescape continues to launch innovative products for alternative office space users.
The Office@home solution has teleworkers — and their organizations — covered. I found the aspect of security an important one. Studies have shown that employees are one of the biggest leak-threats in terms of information, and that may cause companies not to embrace telework. But with robust security in place to safeguard information transfers, this is quickly become less of a concern.
Elizabeth Sanchez January 20th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
With all the talk about teleworking for so many years, I’m surprised it took this long for a company to roll out a solution like this. I’m sure there are others, but the way Office@home is packaged makes it attractive, easy to understand the benefits, and easy to implement.
I’d be interested to learn how much uptake Officescape gets on its latest product to empower virtual workers and distributed workforces. That data would be telling in comparison to all the experts who suggest that one day we’ll all work from remote locations.
Rob Zeus January 21st, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Virtual offices and serviced offices seem to be golden geese right now. With so much focus on the market, it’s going to no doubt cause new competitors to enter the market, as well as existing competitors to roll out new products.
Office@home is a prime example of that.
This is a good time for the serviced office industry because we’re going to see innovative solutions to meet the demand for (1) displaced workers looking for low-cost solutions to launch a business on one side of the spectrum and (2) large companies looking for ways to effectively communicate with mobile workforces.
Marcus Hester January 28th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Unified communications is a huge piece of the virtual office technology puzzle. Large companies like IBM and Cisco are working towards these ends. Virtual office technologies like presence — knowing if your contacts are available, in a meeting, etc. — are vital to a distributed workforce.
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