There are fewer remote workers in governmental agencies

In November the American City & Council (ACC) has conducted a survey which found out that 27% of respondents working in a governmental agencies are allowed to telecommute.

In the same survey another question was asked: “Considering the growth of mobile device usage and the greater broadband features, do you plan to allow more employees to telework?” The answer is, at least, surprising. A staggering 75% answered “No.”

What might this number mean? Governmental agencies are getting behind when it comes to revolutionize the workplace and to implement telecommuting as a viable work option. 

Elaborating on their responses, some of the respondents have said that showing up for work is one way of showing the public that they are accountable, while another explained that remote work was only available to accommodate those that are physically challenged and other special cases.

It seems as if governmental agencies still don’t understand what remote work means and what it can do for them, as studies have showed that telecommuting reduces travel expenses and increases productivity as well as employee happiness.

Sure, many governmental employees cannot do their jobs from the comfort of their homes but imagine how much governmental agencies would save if they allowed a more significant part of their workforce to work from home.

Still, some people, like Steve Oppermann, believe that in 2012 more governmental agencies will institute and expand remote work programs.

Steve Oppermann, an HR & EEO consultant, has said to the website GovPro that he thinks “the federal Telework Enhacement Act, as well as administration support, will continue to have a positive effect on expanding telework.” 

The Telework Enhacement Act was created to stimulate and accelerate the rate at which governmental agencies implement remote working policies, but it might not enough if the agencies don’t perceive what telecommuting can do for them. As long as telework is seen as second rate work, telecommuting will have difficulty in becoming a standard practice in governmental agencies.

Remote working solutions, such as RHUB 6-in-1 web conferencing and remote support appliance, can revolutionize the way the agencies relate with their employees, increasing their own productivity while cutting on costs.

Governmental agencies are getting behind in adopting remote work

In November the American City & Council (ACC) has conducted a survey which found out that 27% of respondents working in a governmental agencies are allowed to telecommute.

In the same survey another question was asked: “Considering the growth of mobile device usage and the greater broadband features, do you plan to allow more employees to telework?” The answer is, at least, surprising. A staggering 75% answered “No.”

What might this number mean? Governmental agencies are getting behind when it comes to revolutionize the workplace and to implement telecommuting as a viable work option. 

Elaborating on their responses, some of the respondents have said that showing up for work is one way of showing the public that they are accountable, while another explained that remote work was only available to accommodate those that are physically challenged and other special cases.

It seems as if governmental agencies still don’t understand what remote work means and what it can do for them, as studies have showed that telecommuting reduces travel expenses and increases productivity as well as employee happiness.

Sure, many governmental employees cannot do their jobs from the comfort of their homes but imagine how much governmental agencies would save if they allowed a more significant part of their workforce to work from home.

Still, some people, like Steve Oppermann, believe that in 2012 more governmental agencies will institute and expand remote work programs.

Steve Oppermann, an HR & EEO consultant, has said to the website GovPro that he thinks “the federal Telework Enhacement Act, as well as administration support, will continue to have a positive effect on expanding telework.” 

The Telework Enhacement Act was created to stimulate and accelerate the rate at which governmental agencies implement remote working policies, but it might not enough if the agencies don’t perceive what telecommuting can do for them. As long as telework is seen as second rate work, telecommuting will have difficulty in becoming a standard practice in governmental agencies.

Remote working solutions, such as RHUB 6-in-1 web conferencing and remote support appliance, can revolutionize the way the agencies relate with their employees, increasing their own productivity while cutting on costs.

52% of the companies planning to increase their spending in network equipment

After a 2008 and a 2009 which took the world on big ride through economic recession, making companies big and small delay their ICT investment and network upgrades, 2011 finally saw the global economy take the first steps towards economic recovery and analysts are now expecting that companies all over the world will resume their investments and spending in better infrastructure.

According to a new GIA (Global Industry Analysts, Inc.) report which takes a look at the global networking hardware and software industry, the information technology and communications (ICT) market will reach $214.2 billion in 2015, with 52% of the companies planning to increase their spending in network equipment in the immediate future. 

With networking speeds going beyond the 10-Gigabit Ethernet and with the increase of cheap and innovative solutions available in the market which take advantage of such speeds, enterprises are feeling the pressure to update their networks to avoid server congestions.

The market for Ethernet Switches will also start to grow to 2012, after having slowed down in 2009 and 2010, in part due to a global economy coming back from a deep recession, in part due to an increase in the adoption and deployment of data centers. Another market that will notice an increasing demand is the Router segment, since the use of Remote Access Servers and Virtual Private Network is increasing as well.

The fact is that, with increased networking speeds, SMBs are starting to feel the need to give their employees better solutions to enhance communications at the enterprise level. Such solutions include video and web conferencing, which allow companies to deploy conferences, as well as remote support, which allows companies to remotely provide assistance to their clients directly on their computers, saving money and time and increasing productivity.

The increase in investments is expected to rise especially in the government, healthcare and financial sectors.

RHUB offers Remote Support and Video conferencing in one appliance

Video conferencing is one of the best innovations to hit the market in these last few years. Though video and web conferencing exist for more than a decade, only in the last five years did video and web conferencing solutions became cheap and advanced enough to be adopted by companies all over the globe and to be an important part of their daily operations. 

Video conferencing is so important that it changed the way people communicate and meet in a business environment, allowing for people who are distant from each other to meet face to face and work on a virtual environment.

But video and web conferencing solutions are not alone. Together with remote support solutions, video and web conferencing can be much more effective and extend its usefulness.

Remote support solutions allow for its users to remotely connect and to provide direct support to someone else using their own computer.

How useful is this during a video or web conferencing call? Imagine that you’re talking to somebody and a problem with the computer in the other end of the line arises.  Using a remote support solution you can solve the problem directly without the need to be there and without waiting any time. 

Now imagine that you’re using a conference call to teach new employees or colleagues. A remote support solution enables you to be talking to them and, at the same time, to be showing them directly on their computers what they have to do, where to find the documents they need and how to use software and other tools.

And then there is customer support. Using video conferencing and remote support, you can talk to customers face to face and to be providing assistance to them on their workstations. All this saves time and money.

The best news for companies who need or would like to have both video conferencing and remote support is that there are solutions in the market that provide both remote support and video and web conferencing, such as RHUB TurboMeeting and TurboSupport appliances. 

Enjoy more flexibility by using RHUB Remote Access Appliance

The 21^st Century is the century of virtualization. Many companies are leaving their physical spaces behind and becoming virtual, while others are finding something in between, adopting technology which allows managers and employees to connect remotely to their offices and work from any part of the world.

But still many others frown upon remote access and look at it suspiciously especially because they fear, and not without reason, that by opening connections to their office computers they might be creating a channel that could be explored by hackers to access sensitive data.

While this might be a real issue that concerns IT managers, the truth is that many remote access solutions today have incorporated safety measures in their products in order to assure its users that their connections, their computers and their data is safe.

By using SSL encryption together with proprietary encryption and by keeping your connections locked behind a firewall, remote access solutions, like RHUB 6-in-1 web conferencing and remote support appliance, will keep your computers and connection safe from harm.

Now that the main worry has been addressed, let’s take a look at the benefits of remote access.

As it has been said before, the main benefit of using remote access is that it allows you to access you workstation from anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection. This means that you can be home and connect to your office just to do some work, and even at vacation and connect yourself from the beach if there is wireless connection available. But most of all it means that if something urgent comes up that only you can solve, you don’t have to be physically there to address the problem.

Another great benefit from remote access is that it allows you to work remotely with other people on the same virtual environment. Imagine several people working in different offices in different locations, remote access software is a great way to help them work together on a common problem.

It is also great as a teaching tool. By providing other people remote access to a computer, you can teach them, talk to them and guide them through the learning process. Once again, you can do this from the comfort of your home if you wish to or from another office if needed be.

Finally, it is the best tool there is for customer service. By allowing you to access a customer’s computer who is experiencing problems, you can quickly solve it without any additional problems.

Remote access greatly benefits companies by providing a greater flexibility to managers and employees alike. The technological advancements that took place in these last few years have made these solutions much more safe and efficient. Companies implementing remote access solutions will take a big step into the future.