Telecommuting and the Mobile Worker

Telecommuting and the Mobile Worker

CIS 336 week 4 assignment 2

Enterprise Architecture

Telecommuting jobs have inflated exponentially over the past few years and still is expected to grow. There are impacts that telecommuting has on energy conservation which will be discussed. The degree in which the infrastructure should be established for employees to maintain organizational functions in the event of a natural disaster will be described. There are also multiple advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting from the IT managers point of view. With the development of bring your own device (BYOD) to the IT infrastructure will also be discussed with emphasis on concern to data management, green computing, IT support, knowledge, security, and telecommuting.

Telecommuting helps with providing video and voice communications as well as data to individuals for use in their place of residence in such a manner as if they were working in an office within a company or business. Being able to work from home allows those employees to be able to avoid traffic during peak hours which saves time and money for the individuals. Energy consumption will also be reduced for the organization because those who telecommute will not be in the office. On the IT side of the company, the cost will be cheaper as well because the employees would be using their own personal equipment which they will have to maintain but they will require remote access to the company’s network. Employees from home also increase “green computing” which is the use of less paper use because information is sent digitally.

Numerous factors come into play, with those who telecommute such as children, disabilities, as well as those individuals who need medical care. Regarding those who have children, they can be more active in their children’s lives due to another fact of working from home. Because of this helps for those who are on a tight schedule throughout the week. Being able to work from home gives the parents the ability to get their children ready for school and not have to worry so much about the commute to work. Those who live with disabilities having the chance to work from home gives them an ability to earn an income while not having to worry about the struggle of trying to find a way to work. Those who require any aid or medical care this gives them an opportunity to be able to reduce their expense for their care because of the income they would be able to generate from home.

In the event of a disaster, businesses should set up an infrastructure, one in which would be established such as if it were to happen to the company itself. Any disaster can occur at any moment which can disable the individual from being able to access the network itself. For those who can work from home, they should have a place that they would be able to back up any data that they may be using; to a designated location. Obviously, any downtime hinders the company operations, but in these situations, it needs to be understood. Regardless of the situation though, the individual needs to realize that their home is now their office and they need to treat it as such.

Telecommuting advantages

Disadvantages

  1. The individual saves time and money for not having to commute to work which can also prevent sick days from occurring.
  2. Independence of the employee is increased because they are not consistently watched as if someone was over their shoulder, which builds confidence and control in which they are working.
  3. There could be a company savings due to individuals that are “green” for the business, economy, and the environment.
  4. Employees do not have to be near the headquarters of the company such as the employee could live in a different geographic location.

IT infrastructure, it is prone to security risks especially with the use of BYOB. It is hard for IT to keep track of all the devices that access the company network. Individuals who bring their devices to the work environment could have malicious software on their devices that could potentially put the company at risk because it could breach their security protocols. Data management can be easily accessed through telecommuting because individuals can access data from whatever location they are. Regardless of the time of day. Because of this, it allows the telecommuting employees the ability to perform their daily tasks as long as there is no service interruption or any other distraction throughout the day.

  1. A decreased rate of human interaction can be expected because individuals will become isolated as they work from home.
  2. The workload of those who work from home could be perceived as not as necessary or as complicated as those who work in the office.
  3. Managers are not able to manage those individuals who work remotely as well as those who work in the office.
  4. Those who work remotely can have a different perception of time and timelines.

In closing, telecommuting has the ability to impact a company on a rather large scale regarding finances and energy conservation. The lifestyles of those who are in these positions are affected because of the transition that they have to go through, especially those who transition from an office to home. Infrastructure needs to be the same for those who work from home as those who work in the business footprint. The many advantages and disadvantages that need to be taken into consideration primarily efficiency, productivity, and the IT standpoint. BYOD could hinder, but it can also promote growth within the business, take into account of a possible security risk but also think about the fact that employees could access the needed data while they can move throughout the organization or even at home.

References

Pearlson, k.e., Saunders, c.s., Galletta, d.f., (2015) Managing & Using Information Systems. (6th

ed.). Hoboken, NJ (pp. 86-90)

Reynolds, B. W. (2011). Advantages and Disadvantages of Telecommuting Jobs. Retrieved from FlexJobs: https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/telecommuting-advantages-and-some-disadvantages-for-good-measure/ Rouse, M. (2016). TechTarget. Retrieved from BYOD policy: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/BYOD-policy

Rouse, M. (2016). TechTarget. Retrieved from BYOD policy: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/BYOD-policy

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