Teleworking 101: Look to the Cloud for a Greener Summer
With Cypress hosted unified communications, if you have an internet connection, you can work anywhere. One Cypress user turned the beach into a productive workplace using a Wi-Fi box in his car.
For businesses, instituting a telework program can enable them to:
- Substantially lower real estate and energy costs
- Attract and retain talented employees without regard to geographic locations
- Develop an effective business continuity strategy
- Reduce employee absenteeism by 2-4 days per teleworker, per year1
- Increase the teleworking employee’s productivity by 10-20%1
- Benefit from telework tax credits, which are available in many states
For employees, the opportunity to telework helps them:
- Reduce stress and save time by avoiding long, draining commutes
- Save money on fuel, car maintenance and more
- Have a better work/life balance, with more time to meet non-work related responsibilities
- Be more focused during work hours by avoiding office distractions
Beyond these benefits, there’s a greener side to teleworking that let’s everyone, including Mother Earth, breathe a little easier. Even small changes in employee travel can have a big impact on the environment – tens of thousands of gallons of motor fuel can be saved, hundreds of barrels of crude oil reduced, and thousands of pounds of carbon monoxide never emitted into the atmosphere.
But where should companies start when implementing a teleworking program? A successful teleworking program begins with a robust mobile communications solution, and cloud communications – particularly those that deliver unified communications functionality – are an ideal choice.
Powerful enough to fully support remote workers while being economical enough for today’s smaller enterprises, cloud unified communication solutions make it easy to replace hallway meetings and water cooler conversations with instant messaging, chat, file sharing, desktop video and online whiteboarding, making it easy for employees to collaborate on projects, even if they are not physically in the same office.
And with leading cloud solutions such as Cypress’ C3 IP and C4 IP, companies can implement all the functionality they need with no upfront capital expenses and no need to hire and train additional staff to manage the solution. Companies receive all of the hardware and software they need for a single monthly cost. The solutions can be customized for each user, so everyone gets exactly what they need – whether they work at the office, home or anywhere in between.
For more information on teleworking, its benefits and how to get management buy-in, visit www.cleanaircampaign.com.
1Clean Air Campaign: “Teleworking – An Expert’s Opinion”. http://www.cleanaircampaign.org/Our-Services/Employer-Services/Alternative-Work-Arrangement-Consulting/Telework/An-Expert-s-Opinion
