Is Telework on Your Wish List? Pareto Networks Offers IT Considerations List

Launching or expanding an at-home worker, i.e. telework program should be on everyone’s wish list. The array of reasons including cost savings/productivity gain—up to $20,000 per employee/year reports the Telework Coalition—ability to attract and keep the best and brightest regardless of location or mobility, unparalleled flexibility and business continuity/disaster recovery.

Having employees work from home reduces pollution and accidents and limits the spread of dangerous but less deadly but still output-sapping communicable diseases that add up to lower healthcare costs. And it lowers taxpayer-subsidized road and transit expenses.

There is though some pain involved on the IT side in implementing telework. There must be effective, efficient and secure processes and tools in place to enable, connect and support remote workers with the enterprises.

There are issues such as enabling continuously high quality of service for VoIP on residential lines: which is critical for home-based contact center agents and security concerns about the use of WiFi (News - Alert) in home environments. For such reasons overburdened IT managers have been leery about telework programs.

If telework is or is being contemplated for your list, Pareto Networks can help. It has compiled its own list of the top technical considerations that IT managers should address in 2011 to ensure their telework solution meets company and employee needs prior to making the telework transition.

1. Company-wide strategy and support, particularly executive endorsements/commitments
2. Device and network compatibility – including support for both wired and Wi-Fi connectivity
3. Instant, hassle-free configuration and deployment 
4. Robust network security
5. Support the simple extension of IT infrastructure – including rock-solid voice and video support, remote network printing and integration with other VDI capabilities
6. Access to on-premise and SaaS (News - Alert) applications
7. Efficient use of bandwidth
8. Ease of use – including keeping the network up-to-date (patches, updates) and running, with on-demand, remote troubleshooting
9. Visibility into all network activity to understand exactly what’s going on
10. Robust reporting to support compliance requirements

“Pareto is focused on eliminating the complexity and reducing the costs of extending enterprise resources to teleworkers and remote sites worldwide,” said the company. “Through a cloud-based network infrastructure, enterprises can easily deploy and gain centralized control over all their remote networks.  Supporting a mix of broadband connection types (from DSL and cable to Metro Ethernet and 3G) Pareto's patent-pending on-demand provisioning enables firms to roll out a completely controlled remote network environment. One that delivers high quality-of-service users require, and the security, visibility, remote-troubleshooting and reporting features one needs to easily manage your distributed enterprise. [Our] zero-CAPEX, pay-as-you-grow subscription allowing businesses the flexibility to quickly scale the network up or down as their needs change.”

Recently, Pareto Networks introduced a definitive guide to teleworking, a dedicated eBook, which explores the benefits and barriers to telework. It looks at the technical and cultural requirements to support teleworking, and the considerations necessary to ensure enterprises have what they need for an effective telework deployment in their workplace.