CIO's support of the remote worker getting a boost

Implications: 1.  Faster bandwidth leads to more options for remote workers.  2. Support for remote workers give IT executives more flexibility.

Analysis: Why is it that the best Unix Administrators love to snowboard and live in the mountains?  Do Oracle DBA's need to live in Small towns?  And why do the best network security administrators want to live in the desert?

Ok... So I am joking a little here.  But quite frankly, I want the best talent regardless where they live.  So supporting remote workers is a must in today's world.  And with better bandwidth, I have more options.

I recently looked at my calendar and found that I had over eight hours in one week of phone meetings and / or webex sessions.  So, if I am working remotely from a significant number of my meetings, I can imagine my technical staff needing very little face time.

And the technology has definitely kept up.  Cisco has its IP communicator software that lets users have their office phone with them at all times.  Every company has a webex-like solution and Microsoft live server meets many of the remote presentation requests.  And then I realized that many younger workers today are just as comfortable using instant messaging as they are email.

What I finally realized was that I had a lot of remote communication options, but I did not have a remote workers strategy.  We in IT were addressing each request for a remote worker as a one off solution.  Or even worse, we were leaving the remote office worker to figure this out on our own.

I feel that this article has given me a wake-up call to get serious about the remote workforce.  I need to build a strategy that allows for remote workers that does not compromise security or IP retention.  Many people commute to work up to an hour, so if I could get even one hour of that time in productivity, then it would be a huge boost to the companies bottom line.  The "market" for this kind of productivity gains is huge and growing.  And I need to be ahead of this curve not behind where I am now.

The strategy is bigger than just having a plan for the remote sales person.  It can now be setup for many people within the company who want to work remote for even one day a week.  And with the costs of commication droping and the cost of office space rising, the economics favor the remote work force.

So, send me your comments.  Confessions of a CIO that fell behind the curve.