In 
Work is something we do, not something we travel to. While this is not yet a catch phrase in Indian organisations, but it seems well on its way getting there. With urban centres such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad getting more congested, the corporate sector is presenting its employees flexible work options that enable them to cut travel time and boost productivity.
A recent survey conducted by IDC revealed that 81% of executives polled across the Asia-Pacific region strongly agreed that telecommuting improves productivity. In 2005, only 61% thought so.
With the world indeed changing into a global village and work following the sun around the globe, employees find telecommuting the best option to deal with deadlines and spend quality time at home. For a rising number of businesses, telecommuting has proved to be favourable for both employer and employee.
If your company is in a business where employees do not need to be physically present to carry out work or if your organisation is facing problem finding an adequate and suitable workspace, then telecommuting is the answer. The concept has come of age, thanks to the availability of high-speed connectivity and handheld devices, at least in major Indian cities.
According to Kalyan Banga, Research Analyst at AMI Partners, Telecommuting penetration is on the rise across Indian enterprises, particularly amongst the SMBs. While it has increased from 3% in 2006 to 11% in 2008 amongst the smaller companies, it has jumped from 8% to 27% amongst the medium level enterprises. These figures point out the growing importance of telecommuting among Indian SMBs.
Among small businesses, telecommuting penetration is highest among professional businesses followed by manufacturing units, due to their remote production facilities and specific service needs. However, in the medium business segment, the penetration is highest in the banking and finance sector as they have agents and brokers working from remote locations.
But, like in other technology deployment, the concept cannot be rolled out without a proper thought out enterprise strategy for telecommuting. While telecommuting can offer a win-win situation for both the employer and the employee, IT managers need to tackle issuesfrom security to performance management to policy for data classification and defining access rightsto prepare their organisations for extending this facility.
Says Dr Deepak Shikarpur of Computer Society of India: Telecommuting is possible wherever there is clarity in the role, and data security is in place.
Besides, telecommuting requires robust technological support to enable hassle-free communication between the organisation and the employee. According to Shikarpur, a PC with wide screen and high bandwidth Internet with adequate audio is the minimum setup needed for home operation.
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