Free Essay On Telecommuting And The Mobile Worker

A sound and comprehensive energy policy is the need of the day. Policy makers are desperately trying to develop policies that could help in conservation of energy, alternative fuels, carbon taxes etc., in the long run and which would help the environment. The use of information technologies, like broadband services would help in telecommuting and this would in turn help benefit the economy and the environment without the consumer having to sacrifice anything. Increased use of telecommuting will help in cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and this would in turn increase consumer benefits, investment and in the generation of jobs(Golder, 2005).
Using personal vehicles, to and from the workplace is said to account for half of the greenhouse gas emissions. Every vehicle used approximately produces 5.0 tons of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other man made gases. If workers are allowed to telecommute, it will reduce the number of vehicles on the road. This will help save energy and resources. With broadband services providing seamless data, video and voice communication becomes easy and workers can use it from their homes just like they would in an office. Workers can telecommute either full-time or part-time, depending on the nature of the job.
There are also a lot of economic benefits to telecommuting. It gives job satisfaction and increased quality of life and time. There is also increased productivity and decreased absenteeism. Letting employees work from remote leads to reduced training cost and increased job opportunities. The effect on the environment from telecommuting is remarkable. The direct and indirect effect of telecommuting on the environment is significant as it provides reduced gasoline consumption and in the energy used. There is a reduced pollution and greenhouse emission and telecommuting helps in reducing traffic congestions. Computers would also be used responsibly, also popularly known as ‘green computing’, where computers and resources are used in an environmentally responsible manner. It also includes the implementation of energy-efficient central processing units, servers and others peripherals. Many offices have also reduced resource consumption and the proper disposal of electronic waste has been implemented(Golder, 2005).
Telecommuting restores the quality of life and helps solve logistical problems that are associated with home and office. Telecommuters like working independently and are self-disciplined. They know to work without supervision and are confident about their problem solving skills. They should also be good communicators with their co-workers and clients. Once they begin telecommuting they improve their communication skills, which benefits the business.
Describe how the business infrastructure should be designed so that employees will be able to continue to perform business functions in the event of a disaster (i.e., storm, hurricane, or earthquake) that destroys or makes it impossible to access the buildings.
Planning for a situation like storm or an earthquake will help in protecting the organization. What should be done if the data center where the infrastructure rests is lost totally? How will the business handle this situation? In the face of any disaster planning for the next mode of operation should be in place. There should be policies that are definite and can be instituted in case a problem arises. Businesses should also be ready to use as much distributed technology as possible to ensure that the infrastructure, right up to the hardware. This will ensure that even a single point of failure cannot bring down the broader system(Golder, 2005).
Natural disasters can affect the system and also the staff. So contingency measures have to be in place as to how people can actively respond and how to safeguard the infrastructure at such times. When the power is lost, data centers are affected. While planning infrastructure strategy, a distributed data center approach should be incorporated. Working with an outsourced cloud provider can be of help in such circumstances. Cloud providers have contingency plan for a wide range of situations and will have set things in motion well in advance (Choo, 2005).
Businesses have to be better prepared for disasters either in traditionally hosted systems or those present in a cloud that will have various drivers to address legal issues like data privacy and operational concerns. This
solution offers the business a flexible infrastructure, secure backup, monitoring operations, third party connectivity and data application recovery management services.
Determine four (4) advantages and four (4) disadvantages of telecommuting from an IT manager’s point of view. Elaborate on each advantage and disadvantage.

Advantages

The first and foremost advantage of telecommuting is the reduction in traveling time and costs of working space. Reducing the travel time also leads to an increased level of job satisfaction. This is due to an increased control over location and completing the work on time. There is an increased productivity in work as interruptions and meetings that are common in offices is absent when working from home.
Another advantage is the ability to adjust working hours, depending on personal needs. He/she can adjust the work schedule to flexible hours. This leads to spending quality time with family and friends. This can contribute to improved family relationship and better quality of work as a result.
Telecommuting can reduce the cost of hiring, leasing and buying of real estate to provide offices the hiring of professional labor. With the cost of real estate skyrocketing each year, reducing costs relating to building infrastructure can help the business in a big way. Other costs like electricity, water and parking spaces are also reduced in the process and there is sufficient savings.
There is an increase in retention of valued employees. When businesses lose workers when employees undergo changes in life like relocating to another place due to the career of the spouse, the business may be able to utilize the services of the worker by letting him/her telecommute. This reduces the need to look for new workers and the cost of training them.

Disadvantages

Though telecommuting is effective and useful for businesses, there are disadvantages too. One of them is that direct supervision of workers is not possible. As workers are in remote locations some in faraway places workers cannot be contacted quickly or supervised easily. This leads to delay in solving work related problems.
Less productivity is another problem faced by some businesses. Some telecommuters are unable to work from home as there are a lot of distractions and they have limited capacity to focus on the work at hand. Work can get delayed due to these distractions.
Security problems too arise with the remote access needs of telecommuters. Passwords have to be periodically updated due to security reasons and employees have to be informed.
There is no face-to-face interaction among employees and so social networking becomes less. This also leads to a loss of brainstorming ability among colleagues and the informal bouncing around of ideas becomes difficult. Employees lack a positive impact due to the absence of a positive work environment. This affects their overall morale to a certain extent.
Examine the effect of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to the IT infrastructure with regard to security, IT support, knowledge, and data management, green computing, and telecommuting.
Bring Your Own Device or BYOD as it is popularly known is the growing trend in the IT sector. With long of technological changes in the industry, employees prefer to use their own devices to access corporate data. This initiative has evolved to empower the workforce through the consumerization of IT. The force behind BYOD is self-sufficiency among employees who own laptops, tablets and smartphones. These devices are advanced equipment like lightweight iPads and large screened phones and this is changing the way people want to work. The best thing a company can do is to be aware of the benefits and understand the risks involved (Choo, 2005).
However, there are some advantages of BYOD. The employees are satisfied as they can work flexibly. There is a considerable amount of cost savings as spending on hardware is reduced. Software licensing and maintaining devices are reduced. There is a gain in productivity and employees are comfortable using their own devices. The staff is also more productive and satisfied at work and more motivated. If a company decides to use the BYOD strategy they have to ensure due diligence is conducted in evaluating the benefits versus risks.
Though BYOD seems attractive companies have to consider the risks in allowing corporate data to be accessed on personal devices that they have little or no control over. Security is a big risk and another point of concern is the loss of devices with limited password protection. This also brings in the threat of being hacked or from viruses. Another disadvantage is that the company has to integrate and support a wide range of employee devices. This can be complex as there are several versions of the operating system.
It would be better for a company to implement a clear BYOD policy. The key issue in any company is to guard against data loss or leakage. If a risk assessment is carried out against the various threats and the appropriate mitigations are put in place, the BYOD may be a workable plan. An effective BYOD solution would be to secure the data and not the device alone. This way, the IT departments need not worry about compromising security. Overall, BYOD is about being innovative and assisting workers to put in their best and ultimately the companies will benefit from this idea (Choo, 2005).

References

Choo, S., Mokhtarian, P. L., & Salomon, I. (2005). Does telecommuting reduce vehicle-miles traveled? An aggregate time series analysis for the US. Transportation, 32(1), 37-64.
Gainey, T. W., & Clenney, B. F. (2006). Flextime and telecommuting: Examining individual perceptions. Southern Business Review, 32(1), 13
Golden, T. D., & Veiga, J. F. (2005). The impact of extent of telecommuting on job satisfaction: Resolving inconsistent findings. Journal of Management, 31(2), 301-318.