Written by Karen | 28/11/11 00:00
The Olympic Games will be an exciting time for our capital city, but with over 11 million spectators and athletes set to make our busy transport infrastructure even busier, how will businesses be affected? Londoners have been reassured that TFLS’s investment of £6.5 billion into transport infrastructure enhancements, will make us better equipped to deal with the expected influx of traffic. However at peak times, in key areas (London Bridge, Bank and Canary Wharf) traffic will likely exceed capacity and the advice to businesses is to consider having employees work from home, or commute to and from the office at different times, via different routes and methods of transport. Working remotely from home is not a solution that is undertaken lightly by businesses, but with the right planning and technology it’s very much achievable. Through
VoIP employees can take their extension home with them – allowing for calls to be made and received as if based in the office. Remote workers can connect into the office
WAN through secure access connections, whilst affordable video conferencing and coloration tools further facilitate employees’ capacity to remain productive. Whilst the Olympics may highlight the importance of remote working, it’s something which is consistently echoed throughout the year, with hazardous weather, the impact of the recession and public sector strikes. A quotation from the head of marketing of Alcatel-Lucent, Manish Sablok, sums up the situation concisely: “Mobility is redefining the workplace, as the borders between personal and professional, home and office, device and application disappear, so these three requirements should form the cornerstone of a business’s IT infrastructure to support flexibility and mobility – and not just during a traffic crisis.”