By Amanda Ciccatelli, TMCnet Web Editor

Telecommuting is increasingly becoming an effective business strategy as companies are hiring employees from outside their immediate office, city, state and even country. Companies are finding that they can broaden their search for talented workers and expand into new locations they never could have before.

“Telecommuting is not a new business philosophy—this concept has been around for a number of years,” Kevin Baranowski of IT solutions provider Align told TMCnet in an exclusive interview. “Telecommuting has not been a hot topic until recently because the technology required to allow a telecommuter to be effective was missing: internet access from home was less common and limited in terms of speed; accessibility to systems and applications from outside the office were not available; additional phone numbers had to be provided to contact the telecommuter; and working from home didn’t provide the ‘team’ atmosphere associated with an office setting.”

These days, VPNs, Teleconferencing, Soft Phones, Shared Desktops, and Remote Access to servers allow for business practices to be administrated from anywhere outside the workplace and prove to be just as effective as physically sitting in the office.

“A company headquartered in New York City can have as many employees it wants in various markets, but not at the expense of opening up a fully functioning office. Costs to a business for an individual telecommuter can be anywhere between $1,000 to $10,000. However, an entire new office can be significantly more,” explained Baranowski.

The key to success, according to Baranowski, is ensuring that the businesses provide the right tools for telecommuter to maintain productivity. Companies with project-based employees working can take advantage of these technologies by staying connected to their headquarters without having to be in the corporate office.

“Telecommuting should be thought of as, not just the idea of employees working from home, but as employees working while not in the office” he explained. “Present day working hours are much longer than they once were, telecommuters are able to justify the additional hours due to the benefits of working from home.”

With telecommuting, geography does not restrict where and who you can hire. An employee in Kansas may be less expensive than an employee in New York City—where cost of living is higher and the salary would reflect that, explained Baranowski.

For example, an airline that uses telecommuters to receive reservation calls has agents spread throughout the country with phones tied into the corporate ACD. When the agent is logged in, they receive calls in a queue, as though they were sitting in a room with 20 other agents. When they are finished, they log off their phone and further calls are directed to other agents that remain logged in.

“This reduces rent costs, Telco Carrier costs, and general office expenses significantly,” he said.

Companies looking to establish a small presence in a new market that don’t want to open up an office can utilize telecommuters to create that market. A telecommuter that has the appropriate technology tools available to them can be just, if not more, efficient than if they were to work in an office all day.

A well-known company is the telecommuting space, Cisco (News - Alert), provides SoftPhones, instant messaging, as well as conferencing functionality allowing telecommuting employees to have access to other employees as if they were communicating from the office. With the instant messaging tool, an end user can see who is online, who is busy, and a co-worker’s calendar. They can send an instant message to bring in more people to add to the conversation. If a user is having a conversation and needs to get on the phone with that person, or chat with them over video, they can just push the call button on the instant message and phone will dial that individual.

The Cisco phone system allows for an easy setup at a home office and the ability to connect it back into the corporate infrastructure. Once the phone is connected into the system, the user has full capabilities similar to that of an office phone.

“Increasing a company footprint on a person by person basis, allows a business to grow strategically, and avoid opening a full office that requires the staff needed to support it,” said Baranowski. “Business as usual, has been changing. With businesses increasingly adopting some great tools, business as usual, will continue to change and be more effective.”

Want to learn more about today’s powerful mobile Internet ecosystem? Then be sure to attend the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo, collocated with ITEXPO West 2012 taking place Oct. 2-5 2012, in Austin, TX. Co-sponsored by TMC (News - Alert) Partner Crossfire Media the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo provides unmatched networking opportunities and a robust conference program representing the mobile ecosystem. The conference not only brings together the best and brightest in the wireless industry, it actually spans the communications and technology industry. For more information on registering for the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo click here.

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