Remote and mobile working tech "essential"

24/11/2008

Remote and mobile working is becoming an essential part of any organisation's tech strategy - not only for flexibility and the work/life balance of employees but also for business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

More than 3.4 million people - 12 per cent of the working population - regularly or permanently work from home, according to the latest labour force survey from the Office for National Statistics, and Friday 18 May was designated 'national work from home day' to encourage millions more to ditch the daily commute and stay connected without having to physically go into the office.

Gavin Whatrup, group IT director at marketing and advertising agency Creston, said: "Remote and mobile working are essential components of any service-based organisation. Being able to access corporate resources regardless of geography, time or situation increases efficiency, assists in flexible working policies, and is a key element of business continuity planning."

Richard Rundle, IT director at airport operator BAA, added: "Our infrastructure and our applications - both legacy and new - have been re-engineered to ensure all employees can work from home whilst ensuring our environment remains secure."

Organisations are taking a variety of approaches to accommodate remote and mobile working. Nick Masterson-Jones, IT director at Voca, said: "We are augmenting laptop and BlackBerry technology with highly secure access to desktops from anywhere with an internet connection via Citrix sessions. We find that accessing email from home PCs is particularly popular."

Midlands law firm Browne Jacobson has implemented remote working technology to enable its lawyers to respond more easily to clients. Peter Birley, IT director at Browne Jacobson, said: "We have invested in what has now become the Microsoft Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG 2007) that gives secure access from any Internet Explorer PC, whether at home or in an internet cafe. It is also a great work/life balance tool."

The university environment is one where demand to be able to work from on-campus and off-campus locations is high and Newcastle University uses thin-client technologies to ensure students and academic staff can do so.

Paul Hopkins, IT director at Newcastle University, said: "Our challenge is currently to open our infrastructures so that all visitors to our campus, such as academics and students from other institutions, or people from industry, can rapidly connect their laptops to our networks when they come on campus."

Article from www.silicon.com

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